SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Haven't really had anything worth posting, till now.
Long story short, I got frustrated with my lack of ability to actually do something worthwhile.
My home-groan focuser finally stopped working, no, it turned out to be a Godsend.
I replaced it with an ZWO ASI EAF unit for $200. Best $200 I've spent in a long time.
Been trying to get up to speed with the Telescope, Losmandy mount, ASI 1600mm Pro w/EFW, ASI 290mm guide camera, and now a new focuser ASI EAF to figure out. But the magic is coming together.
No color images yet, but probably soon. I've been running the filters, and now the Auto Focus is adjusting for each filter and for each take.
In the last two nights I learned how to get the EAF to Auto Focus for me. Focusing was always a bane for me. What looked good was fuzzy garbage after the fact.
So for simplicities' sakes, I've been trying to nail down some clusters, and last night I did the Double Cluster twice, and swung to Altanik to see how that might work out. I was pleased with my attempts.
Then today, I discovered ASI Studio, which is a program they provide with the camera, will stack the images and it saves them as .FIT, .TIF, and as a .JPG
So I have a couple to share as jpg's

Right now we are getting some weather and possible rain. So playing with processing in between tearing my hair out.
I'm doing things in short time frames. I think the old long exposures blow out the stars. So I'm tinkering as I go along.
One regret is I tried to go to Mono when I now wish I'd stayed with a color camera so it was all done in the camera. I miss my Atik and it's simplicity. But hey, onward through the frogs.
I think once I get used to the new focuser and if I can learn NINA, it might reignite the fun again. At least I'm starting up with some highly encouraging equipment.
Still the old Orion ED80T CF telescope and 150mm guide scope. But most else has evolved. Love my Losmandy G811 mount. It just works.
I'd post the tifs for anybody to try, but they seem to suck right now. So it's jpg's for the time being. They are downloadable, have fun!

Double Cluster - After I pruned it.

(Download)

Double Cluster - As it came from the Camera and Stacker.

(Download)

Alnitak - And faint Flame Nebula, and a very faint Horse Head Nebula

(Download)

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

Welcome back my friend.

The EAF is certainly nailing the focus for you (I have two of them :))
Looks like you have a back space issue as the outermost stars are elongated towards the corners.

More data upon the flame nebula image#3 will reveal more data

regards

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Good to see you're making progress.

And yes, the Atik camera was about a simple as one can get and actually quite good. I still have my mono Infinity camera and filterwheel. It is almost permanently on a 300mm scope.

bwa

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi SonnyE
Great to see you back in the game. Looks like the auto focus works well. I've been using the auto-focus that comes with Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) and it works well at least on nights when the seeing is good but has trouble if the turbulence is moderate to high with a long focal length. I have SGP configured to refocus every 20minutes or so as the temperature changes which helps a lot. The mono cameras do take a lot more post processing work but have the advantage of using narrow band filters with lower light loss. It is a constant learning process which is part of the fun (be it frustrating at times). Look forward to seeing more of your work.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Mark!
Yeah, I'm not sure what is up with those corners. But I'm an amateur.
Amateur that's deeply invested in this sport. LOL!

I'm very happy with my ASI stuff, and this EAF is really impressive for the price. A couple of quirks, but I'm working around that. My next telescope (if ever) in going to have Rack and Pinion, instead of this friction drive. This can't be relied on. But it has low backlash.
The auto-focus seems to like me getting the focus really close first, then it takes over from there on a target.
Anyway, really happy with the EAF. Focusing has always been my bane at this.

LOL! I decided to get interested again just in time for the cloudy season. And the full moon is washing out my view something terrible.
But once I'm under way I can retreat to the house and run remote and thaw back out.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

My Infinity seems to have died. So, I got an ASI1600MM, with the 8-position filter wheel EFW, and I'm determined to figure out how to use it to make color images. So far, I seem to be chewing on the plate trying to bite off more than I can chew.
But I really like the ASI stuff in spite of my ineptitude.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I liked SGP when I test drove it. I almost had it working by the time the 45-day trial expired. But they have overpriced it for this frugal fart. And the developer got real huffy when I and another tester asked about formats other than .fits files. He told us to go get NINA. (In a F-you tone)
I have NINA and been dabbling with it, but the failed homemade focuser was a stump. So, I decided to give the ASI-EAF a run. So far, really happy with it.
I'm almost to the point I was dreaming of when I started down this road. Very automated and sitting in a warm house watching things work. EAA was always the dream, achieving the reality has been the challenge for me.
But I'm so close! Finally enjoying the pursuit again.

Marc G Loc: East Grinstead, West Sussex, England

Hiya Mate
Back spacing between the camera sensor & field flattener can be a royal pain in the butt.
Generic starting point seems to be 55mm +/- a few mm.
I spent many a session adjusting to get a flat field, but tbh it really is trial & error.
You also have to factor in the use of filters as filters will also alter the back spacing.
Good luck with NINA lol.
I have tried NINA a few times but always reverted back to APT (astro photography tool)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Not using a Field Flattener. I do have an old Orion .5 FF I could try for giggles. But it was worthless with the first and only G3 Star shooter. (Crappiest camera on Earth)
The spacing seems to be right from the literature. But that's just a shotgun measure at best. I can live with the Star Trek warp speed effect while I get use to everything and the newer stuff.

As far as the filters go, I still have to dial the EAF in to compensate for each filter. In time, in time. I should work on the fine tuning since I can run it from indoors. (Thanks to Ronny (Stepping Beyond) getting me operating remotely.)
But, sputtering along.

Nina has some good YouTube references now with some digging. Those help me a lot. I can pause, back up, and rewatch, until it gets through my thick head.
But honestly, I think my beginning equipment was so poor it messed me up. I'm trying to get rid of old ways I had to develop to get my first crap to not smell so bad.
I tried APT but that was a long time ago with dog doo equipment. If I remember right, I did buy into it. So maybe worth a fresh look?

Still haven't found a good cloud filter. So doing that the old-fashioned way, waiting for clear skies.
Tonight is expected clear here. And I got a solid sleep last night so maybe I can stay awake past 9 PM.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Hi Sonny, Woh ! take a beath going from OSC to monochrome with colored and narrowband filters has spacing between each piece of equipment to meet your backfocus. Marc hit the nail on the head. I only do 1 channel a night and it needs to be checked for focus each night out, it sits on the driveway permanently except thru severe hurricanes. Spacers, spacers, spacers, and more spacers , I had to reach 57.5mm I think from the camera sensor to the sweet spot and had to pull my coma corrector 2.5 inches out of the focuser tube after getting all the spacers in place to reach the sweetspot . I tell ya "gotta love this astrophotography "Rabbit hole". I still use team viewer and sleep after I run my light frames. I broke down and got me a Dark frame filter that keeps me inside after Polar alignment is done "no more putting the dust cover on" to take darkframes. Sonny , it took a while but, I'm not sitting in the cold anymore, Sgp handling everything else. You'll get it Sonny, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to have fun, unless you want to do some photometry or spectroscopy and astrophysics from your backyard on variable stars.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Well, I'm sitting here looking at some spacer rings ZWO supplied with the camera. So I reckon I better be stepping back and adjusting. One thing about our 1600MM cameras I've been impressed with is being able to use it during daylight hours with short exposures.
I can see a hill/ridgeline about a mile distant from my tripod set up, and focus on the weeds on the ridge. (Sorta) And I have other distant objects to use to get the CA dialed out. (I hope)
So I think I'll try that approach after I do a bit of study on it to refresh.

Yep, same page here. I have the 8-position filter wheel (EFW) After deciding on the "normal" filters, I decided on Hole 8 I'd put in a blacked-out filter. So, I took one of my first filters from Orion, masked off areas I wanted to preserve, and painted it flat black. Wa-La, my Dark Frame filter. It has worked great for dark frames for me. Goes automatic with the ASI Studio control.

Do you use the ASI Studio software with your camera?
I'm learning I can stack images, and save them, and get .tif results automatically saved, without the tedium of the past with a bunch of separate programs. I used to hate .fit files. Now I don't care. Since I'm a fart around, I've begun stacking stuff, if I like the results, I delete the rest of the files to lighten the load on my drives.
(I used to save everything. My drives became cesspools of useless crap. But I have some junk I've never revisited because I have more interesting trash to look at. LOL! A hoarder of useless imagery. )

I'll try your single-filter-a-night method. But I have to wonder if things like the moon can booger up the results. My few clear nights lately have been nearly invisible to the eye do to the glare of the bright moon. I can't just sit inside on a clear night in spite of the damnedable moon lighting things up like daylight outside. Sure as I do, I get clouds when the moon is declining.
So do you run all one filter, then stack that result. Then run a different the next night, stack it, then combine them later? The method of stacking and combining has eluded me for almost a decade now. I do get some faint images of things I know are there, but no color hints.
Where the Atik was almost instant gratification. Wa-La, a picture, in color.
Once the Atik became inoperable, I decided to go Mono and force myself to deal with it. So here I am.

Tonight, is supposed to be clear. So, I have my telescope on the mount under its cover. Just add my Baby Dell and roll with it.
I'm using Tight Vnc as my remote program. And it sure is nice to be inside when it is chilly. My mount has been set up for years now outside and lives under a tall BBQ cover with a smaller cover under that, and a 32-gallon plastic trash can over it. (Same one I've used since I started)
Like you, I simply mount my Telescope, plug in a few wires and ready to go.
I do, do a Polar Alignment each night with Sharpcap, then run the mount through an alignment. Get on a target, fiddle in the focus and do an auto focus now with the EAF. Once that is done, I scurry inside and thaw out at my desk computer and watch it run.
I started doing my Mount Alignment through my Main Telescope camera instead of my guiding camera. I think it is more accurate in the end.
I removed my camera and added one of the spacers that came with the camera. I'll see what difference it makes tonight. Seeing if I can get a flatter field of view. Probably going to be a long process getting the Star Trek Warp speed out of my images. LOL! At any rate, I'm heading down that road. Just unplug a couple of cables and unscrew the camera. Put it back with a different spacer and shoot a frame.

I feel like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Hey Sonny , your making strides in the right direction. It's a whole lot easier when you know someone with a similiar set-up. Ed , helped me get up and running . As far as spacing goes it depends on your image train. I have coma which requires a corrector which added frustration, I stepped back and pondered on the situation and pulled the corrector out of the focuser and then saw a large donut , kept pulling ever so slowly and star focus. I tightened thumb screws with pliers in Luminance was all I needed to start off. Sonny, you may have to add a field flattener which will be another piece to try to space. At this point it's trial and error until you get your initial focus, then it's bahtinov time and focusing each channel will be easy peasy. I had already got a spacer set when I got the asi174mm years ago and I only used a 2mm spacer. Those thin rings are worth their weight in gold, without you might break something in frustration kicking and screaming. I run one channel a night and then sleep while darks run , that is the way I roll and they come out better than the other bunch way plus they work with my flats .I don't waste the time running a batch of bias I take the avg. from my flats in my stacking program. I run sgpro and stack with ccdstack 2+and the finish in Pscs2. It is sure nice being inside during the boil and the freeze, scarecrow eh?