Skyguider Pro Upgrades

Hi @Mark Germani 

Indeed, I wish we had a motorized Dec plate on the Skyguider Pro, like the one on the new Adventurer ! Would have spare me some time when aiming my targets, with more precise adjustments.

Anyway my workarounds are :

- Manfrotto 300N pano head for my 71/347 refractor that is heavy (with the guidescope and electric focuser and filter wheel and camera...). It is expensive but I already bought it 10 years ago to make panoramic pictures with my camera :-)
https://www.manfrotto.com/fr-fr/rotule-base-panoramique-360o-300n/

- I recently bought the Novoflex pano head, that is much lighter, to use with my DSLR and its lenses (a Sony A99 and multiple lenses up to a 200mm f/2.8 ) or with a combo lenses + ZWO camera.
https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-637/panorama/panorama-panning-bases/panorama-panning-bases-products/panorama-ii.2189.html

Both of them are smooth to use, which is important when aiming your target, particularly at 350+mm focal length. They have marks/scale, which helps adjusting while using astrometry (you can easily reach around 1/3 degrees adjustments by eyes thanks to the marks). And once blocked, it doesn’t move, which is crucial... But don’t put more weight on the Novoflex than its limit, otherwise you lose those benefits.

Hope this helps.

Jeremie

Game changer for me have been:

• super solid tripod (Berlebach 312 astro)
• WO base
• Neewer Pano head + Artesky vixen clamp

@Mark Germani the pano head I'm talking about is this one: https://www.amazon.it/Neewer-Panoramica-Fotocamera-Alluminio-Treppiedi/dp/B07T9KQZBF/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=neewer+base+girevole&qid=1615927514&sr=8-1
I've actually bought 2 of them (1 for vixen, 1 for arca), and never had an issue so far.

WO: honestly, I'm very happy with the base, and for me it was a huge upgrade. If I could go back I would buy it again, no doubt about it. It really makes your life easier, and that's a big plus in this already enough complicated hobby
This doesn't mean you must spend money and buy it though, I know people that are happy with the default base, and are making cool unguided/guided pictures with it. YMMV.

My setup is:
* Berlebach 312 astro tripod
* WO base
* Artesky vixen clamp
* Nikon D7500
* TecnoSky AG70 F5
* APM Image Master 50mm f/4.1 guide scope
* ASI290mm mini

That's all simple and portable. The SGP is really a mini beast. With a solid tripod and proper balance, you can easily reach 300s exposures @350mm.
With my Tamzooka, I can get round stars at 600mm with 75s *unguided* subs !

I put this pano head on my SkyGuider Pro.  It has a Arca Swiss plate dovetail that I use with my Zenithstar 61 II.  My Z61 came with a reversible dovetail, one side is Vixen and the other Arca Swiss.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B084PB34P6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use a ZWO ASI294MC camera and connect the ST4 port to the SkyGuider Pro.  I control the camera and guide in RA using INDI running on a Raspberry PI 4. I use the 2 in ch iOptron tripod and stock iOptron base.

Here is an image I posted today, taken in December.  Only two hours of exposure time, 120 - 60 second subs.

https://www.astrobin.com/ljug6z/

The pano head is great for framing an object.  I get it close by eye and then use the plate solver in INDI to find out exactly where I am pointing and adjust accordingly.    Meridian flips are not fun though as you have to repeat the manual framing.  

-Nathan

Mark Germani:
Thanks for listing your setup! I'd love to see some of your work.

You're welcome I have made some posts on CN, but I didn't post them here (yet). It's some basic stuff, I've just stared last summer, so I've only shot 7 objects so far.

Mark Germani:
I can get about 90-120 seconds unguided with my WO Zenithstar 61, but I start having to throw out a lot of frames as the exposure time increases. Last night I was having to toss half my frames until I re-balanced east-heavy, then I only had to toss 1/3. No wind. It's frustrating when I know I have got 180s exposures with pinpoint stars, but not consistently. I'm guessing it's something either to do with how I'm balanced, or how smoothly the motor is working.

That's one of the issue I had with my SGP. Most of the time the session went fine and was pleasant, but sometimes I had to fight with some trailing.
Considering that I really want to move forward with this hobby (e.g. bigger telescope, autofocuser, etc), I decided to upgrade my mount last week. Now I own a CEM70

Mark Germani:
Do you have any secrets for unguided when you're using your Tamzooka?

Besides very good PA, very careful little east-heavy balance (remember to balance dec too!) and super solid tripod, not really!

Bear in mind that I did that mostly for testing (it was a 3h session). But I was surprised nevertheless.
The biggest problem of such small mount is that you can never be sure that you'll be able to reproduce the accuracy and the smoothness of the previous session(s). That's one of the reasons that led me to upgrade my mount.

OK, these are my upgrades for my semi-mobile rig. Semi-mobile: not suitable for the airplane or for hiking, but quite nice for either by car to a dark site or to be ready in ~15 min in my backyard:

I use it together with an ASKAR FRA400 (72mm, f=400 (or 280 with focal reducer), guided with the ZWO 30mm f4, asiair not mounted on the scope but on the tripod (what out for the cables ...). The total load on the skyguider is 4kg+ - so getting (uncomfortably) close to the limit, but still seems to work

WO base - very good, a clear upgrade!
tripod from my old vixen telescope - also help a lot w.r.t. stability

I played with panorama turntables - neever was not really satisfying, novoflex I found much more reliable (it better is for the price), but still was not fully happy w.r.t setup (though a considerable improvement to the original dec adapter).  I think the setup is perfectly ok and recommendable for a tele lens, but the 4kg weight of the above rig put the panoramic turntables to the limit.

So at the end I found a fine-mechanical mechanical turntable from some of my colleagues (pretty old, nothing easy to find or buy) with a 5kg weight limit and a micrometer - mechanically really a beast (0.5 kg). But now it is a really huge upgrade as I can use the micrometer to fine tune the declination. framing goes like a charm! Foto below. Would be a real asset to have something like that as an upgrade by some of the vendors. Foto below



Matthias

@GalacticRAVE your turntable with micrometric knob seems fantastic ! This is exactly what I miss to finetune the dec when aiming my target... well done ;-)

Thanks to all of you, this thread is going to save me a lot of time and, a few #$%#$, when moving the DEC axis, as it used to move/shift at the last moment when adjusting that screw…
CS !!
Claudio

I love how this topic has taken off! So much love for the Skyguider Pro

If any of you are interested, I recently started a group on Astrobin for Skyguider users: https://www.astrobin.com/groups/538/

I'd love to see all your work there!

CS!
Mark

If is light weight and work like a shit, do not worth to use it. Anyway, my set-up is under 5 kg  payload and it will be lighter in the next few months by reducing some items, in order to add the steppers for DEC. The control board is connected (or will be connected more precise) by a cable with the motor, and will be installed on the tripod, like that EAGLE from Primaluce Lab. Is a bit more laborious to install everything but it is definitely worth it.

Christophe Perroud:
This 360° pano head with fine adjustement knob

Your pano head has one extra knob that mine doesn't (I went with the Neewer in my original post). I'm guessing that's the fine adjustment knob. I'm curious - how does this work?

I had to flip the dec bracket long-side down after installing the Neewer head (it was only a matter of time). I like that it doesn't jump, but it's so slow and smooth that it's actually difficult to get it moving, and I often move past the target just to get it going, and then I have to back up. A fine adjustment knob might be just the thing.

CS,
Mark