should i get?

[frosty geyser]

pretty good price in my opinion, i wanna do planetary imaging and im just getting started

[solemn drift]

meh

its a good scope but its not a great deal

and for planets 130mm isnt much

150mm minimum imo

[frosty geyser]

oh alr

[frosty geyser]

dyk what scopes r good for a tight budget🥹 cant find any

[crude ice]

Maksutovs for planets

The svbony new one is apparently good

Although the 130mm will also work but it doesn't have the focal length

You will need a barlow

130mm can work for planets if you aren't planning to fill up the full fov with the planet

[solemn drift]

dobsonian for planets

Maks are expensive

[solemn drift]

it's not focal length that's the issue, it's aperture

130 will severely limit your details

[crude ice]

Yeah fair

[crude ice]

Nah but at a budget of 300 it's probably the best aperture

[solemn drift]

you can get 150

[crude ice]

Maybe like an old orange c8

[solemn drift]

and if you have a good yard magnet, 200

holy autocorrect 😭

[crude ice]

If you can find that

[solemn drift]

i said used market

[crude ice]

How much do like early 2000s late 1900s orange c8s go for?

I've heard they keep their quality

[solemn drift]

I don't think they go down to 300 often

[crude ice]

What Abt a c6

Or even a 6 inch dob

[solemn drift]

yes you can definitely get a 150mm for 300

[crude ice]

A 6 inch dob is around 499 new in AUD so I think ur right

And they regularly go down in price aw

Also if Ur in Australia and end up buying a dob new then buy from Saxon instead of skywatcher

It's the same synta scope but rebranded and cheaper

Plus Saxon is an Aussie brand so warranty related stuff will be easier

[frosty geyser]

Sooo what should I get🤨

[crude ice]

A dob

Any scope with a 150mm aperture in ur price range

Which will most probably be a dob

[crude ice]

Also have a look at sites other than Facebook marketplace like classifieds on astro forums

Iceinspace and astrobuysell are some good ones in aus

There's a GSO 6 inch RC Cassegrain for 300$ rn

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=215921

I've never used an RC before so someone else can probably tell you more Abt them

[somber ether]

This ain't a RC

It's a classical cassegrain

It's not as good as RCs optically

Just get a c6 or c8 sct

[crude ice]

Is there a big difference?

For planetary

[somber ether]

for planetary it should provide better contrast ( rc has a very big Central Obstruction) but other than that it has alot of coma and it's very slow f/12 , it's only viable for planetary

id still prefer a sct over this.

[crude ice]

At the end anything that's above 6 inch aperture in his budget should be good

[frosty geyser]

@crude ice @somber ether @solemn drift fyi has to be less than 11lbs (5kg) too cuz im using a Sky-Watcher gti

[crude ice]

I use one aw

In that case get a dob

Plus you can use it for things other than imaging

Like visual

And it comes with the mount so you don't have to worry about the low weight capacity

Otherwise the only real scope that will work with a GTI is something like a 127 mak

But as @solemn drift said that's expensive

[frosty geyser]

Huh

[crude ice]

Keep looking on the used market for a dob

[frosty geyser]

Oh

Id have to ditch the gti?

[crude ice]

Nah

A dob would be in ur budget

So you could keep both the GTI and the dob

GTI for wide angle stuff

Dob for planetary and visual

[frosty geyser]

Ohh alr

Either way would the scope I originally mentioned still be ok for planetary, it’s the only one I can really afford right now since I blew up most of my money on the gti

Unless there’s something more optimal that won’t exceed $350 too much

[crude ice]

A used dob won't go over 350

And the original scope while alr for planetary it won't be as good as a dob

And if you decide to do deepsky astro then is won't work on the GTI without guiding

So if you are deciding to make it into an alrounder later down the track it will be tough without upgrading the mount

Honestly a used 6 inch dob would probably be the best thing

In your budget

Considering you have a gti

[frosty geyser]

I’ll get a separate scope for deep sky

[crude ice]

Yeah then dob

Dobs are fun to use aw

[frosty geyser]

But aren’t they too heavy for my mount

[crude ice]

No the dob will be used with its own base

No need to take it off and put it on the gti

That way you can even operate two rigs at once

A deepsky rig with the gti

And a planetary with the dob

Or even visual with the dob

[frosty geyser]

Oh man but I wanna do tracking

[crude ice]

Planetary doesn't need tracking

And if you have used goto for solar system objects before you would know that it hardly works

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

[crude ice]

Since they are always moving around goto isn't the most accurate

[frosty geyser]

Oh ok that’s a relief

[crude ice]

So performance wise it's not going to give you an advantage

Planetary needs sub second exposures

You will have to recenter

But since you are taking 1 minute videos it will only have to be like once

Not even maybe

[frosty geyser]

I tried shooting Saturn recently and it was moving quite fast tho

[crude ice]

The subsecond exposures won't have any motion blur from the earth's rotation

Just let it drift across the fov while taking the video

Center the planet on one corner and let it drift to the opposite corner

Will you use a planetary cam?

You can use something called region of interest with planetary cams

[frosty geyser]

Yeah I already got one, player one mars c II

[crude ice]

Yeah that's a great one

[frosty geyser]

Yup

[frosty geyser]

Ahh ok

[crude ice]

With region of interest you can just tell the software to digitally crop around the planet to keep it centred in every shot

While it is drifting

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

[crude ice]

That way you can take advantage of the high frame rate of the cropped fov while having the planet centred

[frosty geyser]

Haven’t tried that yet

[crude ice]

Idk if player one can do ut

Ik zwo can

[frosty geyser]

Oh

[crude ice]

I bet player one can do it

It's not something overly special

[frosty geyser]

Yeah I saw smth abt roi

[crude ice]

Yeah it's that

[frosty geyser]

Just didn’t know what it really meant

[crude ice]

Region of interest

[frosty geyser]

So itd be centered until it goes out of frame?

Or how does it work

[crude ice]

Yes

[crude ice]

Yes

[frosty geyser]

Ohhh

Ok wow that’s cool

[crude ice]

And then you would stop shooting

Center agaib

And start another video capture

[frosty geyser]

And repeat

Ahh

[crude ice]

Yup

[frosty geyser]

So all of the captures would just be centered

That’s convenient

[crude ice]

No need for tracking

[crude ice]

Ye

I mean stacking software can do that in post anyway

[frosty geyser]

Will I be able to stack all of em at once

[crude ice]

Like pipp

But the main advantage isn't the centering

It's the fps boost

Say at full fov you can do max 60fps

If you crop in the fps will go up

Since the individual image sizes are smaller and the buffer will take a longer while to fill up

But if you don't have tracking the planet will drift out much faster

But with roi it will keep centred while boosting ur fps

[frosty geyser]

What’s a buffer?

[crude ice]

It'll be better to put it in pipp and center each frame just to be safe

[crude ice]

Every camera has obe

Most simplest terms its just the computer part that saves the image

[frosty geyser]

Oh will pipp stack each video automatically

[crude ice]

Yes

[frosty geyser]

Oh ok

Ohh alr

[crude ice]

The larger the memory on the buffer the faster it will save photos

[frosty geyser]

Then I can use astrosurface for the finishing touches

[crude ice]

Yeh

Pipp to center

Registax to stack

And then any wavelets program to sharpen

And Photoshop for colours which I use

But I'm a deepsky person so this may not be the best way

[frosty geyser]

Wait im a bit confused srry

So

[crude ice]

Pipp is just for centering

For stacking registax or any other stacking program

They all do the same thing essentially

Registax is just popular

[frosty geyser]

But it would stack each frame tho right

Ohh

Ok

[crude ice]

Nah it would just output another video

But with each frame exactly centerwd

[frosty geyser]

Huh

Maybe cause I’ve never used it haha sorry

I’ll try it out once I get a don

Dob

But tysm

[crude ice]

Yeh

Check around on iceinspace

[frosty geyser]

Ill just buy on bintel

[crude ice]

And Facebook marketplace

[crude ice]

New?*

[frosty geyser]

More convenient

Yeah

[crude ice]

Fair

[frosty geyser]

It’s only $500 anyway

And the vendors are hard to talk with

Thank u I’ll show some progress soon

[crude ice]

It's 50 bucks more for bintel

Are you Sydney based?

[frosty geyser]

Yup

[frosty geyser]

Yes

[crude ice]

I've only worked with optics central

I went there once

And the guy there was super knowledgable

I heard they might be opening a store sydney

[frosty geyser]

Ohh rlly

[crude ice]

They got it 499 rn

[frosty geyser]

Where’s the company based?

[crude ice]

But if U buy rn U will have to pay shipping

[crude ice]

Melb

[frosty geyser]

Oh melb

[crude ice]

Legit 5m drive from my house

[somber ether]

Uh idts it possible to use any reflector on that mount

[crude ice]

Yeah

Maybe a 4.5 inch reflector

GSO has one

It's 2kgs

Maybe ...

[frosty geyser]

Dw abt it anymkre

[somber ether]

nah gti won't be able to handle to focal length

[frosty geyser]

I’m gonna save it for deep sky

Once I’m used to astrophotography

[crude ice]

Yes much better choice

[frosty geyser]

Yea

[crude ice]

I have one and if you use it right it's great

But it really has a tipping point

[frosty geyser]

What is it

[crude ice]

Lemme send you some photos of that tipping point

[frosty geyser]

I saw some reviews and imo it’s really great

[crude ice]

Yeah it will take alot

I've got nearly 4kgs on

[frosty geyser]

What does that mean 😨

[frosty geyser]

Does it work fine

[crude ice]

It's the guide graph

[crude ice]

Yes and no I think is the best fitting answer

[frosty geyser]

O

[crude ice]

I'll get great sub arcsecond tracking for 15 minuyes

And then all of a sudden there will be HUGE tracking spikes

Lasting like 4 minutes

I've got it perfected More now so it's a bit more rare

But it took some time

[frosty geyser]

What’s that

[crude ice]

Spikes in my tracking error

[frosty geyser]

Oh

[crude ice]

I've got a redcat 51

A dslr

Basic guiding setup with those stalk mounted finderscope thingos

And cheap 100$ guide cam

With an svbony powerhub

[frosty geyser]

I’m saving for one of these

[crude ice]

All comes down to around 3.9-4kgs

[crude ice]

I've loved it

Mines the older version with the lens style focuser

[frosty geyser]

Oo

They’re really loght too

[crude ice]

I think if you bug new an sqa55 is better

It's cheaper and apparently sharper

And it has an aperture adjustment so you can do daytime photography aw

[frosty geyser]

Ooo

[frosty geyser]

Wow

[crude ice]

I wouldn't put more than this on the gti

[frosty geyser]

Whered u get ur gti?

[crude ice]

Used off iceinspace

For around 600 aud

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

Warranty still available?

[crude ice]

Nop

[frosty geyser]

Rip

[crude ice]

That's the bad thing with skywatcher

Warranty doesn't pass over to a new owner

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

[crude ice]

But tbh fair enough from their side it makes sense from a business perspective

But still

If anything happens to my GTI im screwed

I'm diy happy enough to repair it myself thoufh

So I'm happy to take the risk

I've opened it up before too

[frosty geyser]

Scary

[crude ice]

There's just some screws at the front and the front place just comes off

Then you can look at the insides

[frosty geyser]

R u based in melb btw

[crude ice]

The thing I noticed is that the gear teeth are quite shallow on the RA drive

[crude ice]

Yes

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

What bortle level is ur area?

[crude ice]

6

[frosty geyser]

Oh

[crude ice]

It was 5 around 4 years ago

Now it's edging 7

I use duonarrowband filters though

And that helps a ton

[frosty geyser]

R u still able to do deep sky imaging or do u have to move

[frosty geyser]

Oh heard of these

[crude ice]

Nop I do it all from the backyard

[frosty geyser]

Wow

What do those filters do?

[crude ice]

It's narrowband filters for colour cameras

Which isolate a thin band of light

Specifically from hydrogen and oxygen in my duonarrowband filter

And cut off everything else

Since nebulae only emit mostly hydrogen and have alot of oxygen

You essentially are cutting off everything except the nebulosity

[frosty geyser]

Ooo

So it’s like

[crude ice]

This is a before and after

[frosty geyser]

Mimicking lower bortle skies

[crude ice]

Kind of

It doesn't work with broadband targets though like reflection nebulae and galaxies

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

So

[crude ice]

Only emission

[frosty geyser]

Only specifically for emission nebulae

Ah

So you’d have to get separate filters

That’s cool

[crude ice]

For colour cams it's just the one duonarrowband

If you decide to go mono you get the 3 sho filters

Sulfer hydrogen oxygen

And RGB filters for broadband

[frosty geyser]

Are they affordable haha

[crude ice]

No lol

[frosty geyser]

Sob

[crude ice]

I cheaped out

[frosty geyser]

How expensive can they get

[crude ice]

And got the svbony one

[crude ice]

The svbony one I got for around 160 in a sale

2 inch

[frosty geyser]

Dang

[crude ice]

The super thin band low reflection high end ones are insanely expensive

Can go up to 700

Optolong l ultimate is a good example

Or antlia golden ones

[frosty geyser]

Jeez

[crude ice]

Ik

At that point just get a mono camera and seperate filters

[frosty geyser]

What’s the purpose of monos?

[crude ice]

Higher sensitivity

Better signal to noise rstio

[frosty geyser]

Ohh

[crude ice]

You collect all light that hits the sensor

No discrmination

[frosty geyser]

Oh alr

Csn filters add colour to it or nah

Or you’d have to photoshop

[crude ice]

You merge the images from the different filters into an RGB image

Assigning one filter to each channel

Like sulfer to red hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue

There's more ways to do it but that's one example

Alr I'ma sleep

Bye

[frosty geyser]

Ahh

Alr

Gnnn

Ty for helping me!

[crude ice]

Nw

[barren bobcat]

'late 1900s' got me 😄

[crude ice]

I mean...

1990s

[barren bobcat]

Ik it just looks so ancient put like that

[frosty geyser]

Hey @crude ice btw should I get a barlow as well

[crude ice]

Ur using a mars c yeh?

Hold on one sec

[frosty geyser]

Yea mars c II

[crude ice]

And 6 inch dob?

[frosty geyser]

Yup

[crude ice]

A barlow won't hurt

Get a good quality one though

Like an apochromatic one

Low quality ones will hurt your image more than improving them

You can experiment without the Barlow by drizzling your photos

[crude ice]

Also bintel has discounted the dob 6 to 499

[frosty geyser]

Oo ok ty

[frosty geyser]

Yea I’m getting taht one

[frosty geyser]

Wow how do u do that?

[crude ice]

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

[frosty geyser]

Tysm

[crude ice]

np

Gn

[frosty geyser]

Gnn

[crude ice]

https://discord.com/channels/794642864218439681/1410063046075748494

Saturn with 130mm

[frosty geyser]

BTW would i need an adapter

[crude ice]

Nah