Sensor tilt or focuser tilt? Please help :)

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Krzysztof Gaudy avatar
I've perfectly adjusted the tilt on my astrophotography setup, which consists of an Esprit 120 telescope, a Riccardi 0.75x reducer, and an ASI 2600MM Pro camera with a 2" filter wheel.




However, I've noticed an issue when rotating the camera within the focuser -whether manually or using the Deep Sky Dad motorized rotator. Depending on the rotation angle, the tilt measurement changes noticeably. Although the tilt remains within acceptable limits for this setup, the issue becomes visible through distorted star shapes, particularly in the right corner.


Importantly, I verified that tilt measurements at a specific camera angle remain nearly consistent across different areas of the sky. Therefore, the variation in tilt seems directly linked to the rotation angle? 

My setup: telescope, tilter, reducer, rotator, filter wheel, camera. 


Could someone please help me understand the source of these tilt variations, especially considering the use of a mechanical rotator? Any insights or explanations would be greatly appreciated
Well Written Respectful Engaging
Iosif Bodnariu avatar
Try only Camera and scope.

And add tilt, rotator, and filter well, one by one, and you will find.

This app to measure tilt where can be find.

Thankyou
AstroShed avatar
Get one of these and you will know for sure where the tilt is coming from, and if it’s the imaging train it’s very easy to sort in a few mins indoors, during the day in the warm, if it’s the focuser, then at least you know, and then can sort..👍🏻

https://youtu.be/iyH7vsAqcDA?si=-vmTMi08_7YzeRQK
andrea tasselli avatar
It's the rotator. Less is more.
Tony Gondola avatar
I wonder if putting the rotator behind the filter wheel might help, a bit less weight for it to deal with?
Lynn K avatar
I found that a Pegasus Falcon v1 increased my tilt on a FSQ106ED from 4-6% to 40% when rotated 180 degrees. I have a Pehasus Falcon v2 , but have not tested it.  I would suggest, as proposed in preveious post, to first test camera tilt in the most orthogonal set up you have. Do not worry about coma, because all corners shpould have equal coma in the stars in a flat chip.  Trying to matain correct back focus from a flattener or reducer in chip corrers while correcting chip tilt is near impossible.

Lynn K.
Helpful
CraigT82 avatar
AstroShed:
Get one of these and you will know for sure where the tilt is coming from, and if it’s the imaging train it’s very easy to sort in a few mins indoors, during the day in the warm, if it’s the focuser, then at least you know no can sort..👍🏻

https://youtu.be/iyH7vsAqcDA?si=-vmTMi08_7YzeRQK

Really nice piece of kit that is
AstroShed avatar
AstroShed:
Get one of these and you will know for sure where the tilt is coming from, and if it’s the imaging train it’s very easy to sort in a few mins indoors, during the day in the warm, if it’s the focuser, then at least you know no can sort..👍🏻

https://youtu.be/iyH7vsAqcDA?si=-vmTMi08_7YzeRQK

Really nice piece of kit that is

TBH, I think it’s a game changing piece of kit, at least it was for me, as tilt was tha bain of my Astro hobby
Dan Burns avatar
AstroShed:
Get one of these and you will know for sure where the tilt is coming from, and if it’s the imaging train it’s very easy to sort in a few mins indoors, during the day in the warm, if it’s the focuser, then at least you know, and then can sort..👍🏻

https://youtu.be/iyH7vsAqcDA?si=-vmTMi08_7YzeRQK

The April Sky and Telescope has an article on page 62 by Chris Schur describing in detail how to make a laser camera tilt tester.
Well Written
AstroShed avatar
Dan Burns:
AstroShed:
Get one of these and you will know for sure where the tilt is coming from, and if it’s the imaging train it’s very easy to sort in a few mins indoors, during the day in the warm, if it’s the focuser, then at least you know, and then can sort..👍🏻

https://youtu.be/iyH7vsAqcDA?si=-vmTMi08_7YzeRQK

The April Sky and Telescope has an article on page 62 by Chris Schur describing in detail how to make a laser camera tilt tester.

Yes I built my own to start with, and was fun also worked pretty well, here is a video of my build.

https://youtu.be/Gw2oTwb4GjY?si=6CJ9qnre6DGrzW7V
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