If you are thinking of getting into Astrophotography, may I suggest choosing another genre

[Cage]

With the Pacific Peso in free-fall mode I decided to pay a deposit on an upgrade kit at a reasonable price, plus they are getting very scarce.

Be baked beans on toast for a week or so.

[ameerat42]

With the Pacific Peso in free-fall ...

Be baked beans on toast for a week or so.

--Only a week for you? Hah!

[martycon]

Thanks for the Chuckle!

[Cage]

Thought I'd update this saga.

The stepper motor kit arrived for the EQ6, I fitted it, and it worked perfectly.

So now I was ready to take some awesome nebula shots, sort of. Did some testing in my yard and it soon became apparent that my focusing method was not at all up to scratch. Got a Bahtinov focus mask , did some test shots, ran inside, looked at them on the desktop, ran back outside, did some more test shots, ran back inside etc, etc, etc ...... Gawd, this is a pain.

The answer, of course, was a laptop. Bought a 'cheap 'n' cheerful' Toshiba Satellite, slow as a wet week, so I swapped out the 500GB spindle drive for a 128GB SSD and flicked the 2GB of RAM for an 8GB stick. It's now quite a reasonable unit and able to handle CS6 easily.

During this testing period it was becoming apparent to me that I was soon going to look for reasons not to load all this 40Kg of gear into my ute, in particular the 16Kg head. Being in my declining years I contemplated how much longer I would be comfortable with it. Procrastinated over the decision for a while, (I've taken procrastination to an art form), and came to the realisation that I really needed the HEQ5 Pro that I'd decided on in the first place.

Put it up for sale and it's now gone to a new home in the Pilbara.

OK, back to square 1.

Used the proceeds from the EQ6 to buy a new HEQ5. Did a bit of negotiating and managed to buy it from a local B&M store at the right price.

Are we there yet?

Not quite. Hmm, not real happy with my proposed mounting method as it looks a bit dicky to me. During my research it occurred to me that to get the awesome shots that I expected I really should look at some sort of tracking device. So grabbed a mounting plate that allowed my camera to be mounted on one side and a tracking scope on the other. Added a 50mm WO 'scope and a ZWO ASI 120MM-S camera to go with it.

Is that a light I can see at the end of the tunnel?

I've probably been ready to do some serious shooting for about five weeks, however there is another denominator in this equation. The bloody weather. You only have a narrow window of opportunity of less than a week either side of the new moon. In the last five weeks there have been two very clear nights, both after 45°C days, and the night sky was shimmering like a desert mirage.

And I know, I just bloody well know, that somewhere not too far down the track I'll wonder how much better my results would be with a dedicated astrophotography telescope than with my much loved Nikon gear.

The new set--up, taken in my lounge room that I should be painting instead of being on here !

HEQ5 and mounting set-up.jpg

[mudman]

hey cage, are you getting into astrophotography, or pumping iron in the dark

[Glenda]

Must have missed this post originally but it gave me a chuckle this morning. I won't even pretend to understand your new set up Kev but hope it all goes well and Mother Nature comes to the party with clear skies for you. Looking forward to seeing some awesome nebulas from you. Next step - building an observatory on your property.

[ameerat42]

(I will consider your advice, Cage, and look into scanning electron microscopy instead)

The whole assembly looks so integrated, which (part) is the stepper motor?

[Cage]

hey cage, are you getting into astrophotography, or pumping iron in the dark

Muddie, to date it's pretty much been the latter.

- - - Updated - - -

Must have missed this post originally but it gave me a chuckle this morning. I won't even pretend to understand your new set up Kev but hope it all goes well and Mother Nature comes to the party with clear skies for you. Looking forward to seeing some awesome nebulas from you. Next step - building an observatory on your property.

Glad you find my trials and tribulations amusing Glenda. I've actually invented several new swear words.

Unfortunately an observatory is not an option at my current address due to trees and adjoining buildings.

- - - Updated - - -

(I will consider your advice, Cage, and look into scanning electron microscopy instead)

The whole assembly looks so integrated, which (part) is the stepper motor?

Glad you were paying attention Am.

The stepper motors are fitted internally and turn the cogs on the RA and Dec axis.

[piczzilla]

Insane setup Kev! *whistles* Not sure I understand what's going on in that super looking gear lol~ Can't wait to see the shots you'll get with it. Sorry to hear about the unpleasant experience too (speaking of which, I'm having issues with my IR conversion service too, this kind of experience is not limited to astro it seems...)

[Cage]

Insane setup Kev! *whistles* Not sure I understand what's going on in that super looking gear lol~ Can't wait to see the shots you'll get with it. Sorry to hear about the unpleasant experience too (speaking of which, I'm having issues with my IR conversion service too, this kind of experience is not limited to astro it seems...)

Hi Erny,

Sorry to hear you're having problems with your IR conversion. I'm still going to get my conversion done by LifePixel in the States. I did lots of Googling looking for feedback and they were far and away the ones with the least negative feedback.

Hope you get it sorted.