how improve my equipment

Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro Optolong L-eXtreme Optolong L-Pro Equipment Buying Advice
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duardito avatar
duardito avatar
Hi, actually this is my equipment:
- skywatcher EQM35 PRO
- zwo  533 MC pro
- sigma 150-600mm
- optolong L-extreme 2"
- optolong L-Pro 2"
- asiair  plus
- zwo 30F4 and 120mc

With these stuff I can get 300 seconds without star trails so I believe mount is working fine but I can't dither because sometimes a lose a lot of time to get a good guiding again and sometimes eqm35 mount has some strange behavior and I must double check it.

In the other hand my lens I believe is not best I must step down to f9 to avoid comma in images.

I am wondering to buy new dedicated lens or zwo am5 mount.

Wich one should you buy before, new dedicated lens means better quality, new am5 mount means better guiding and dithering therefore less noise.

Some hints are welcome.

thanks.
Steven avatar
Steven avatar
It's worth checking why that EQ35 has issues. It's a very good mount for the price and you're not close to any sort of weight limits on the mount. So, you shouldn't be having issues there and I don't see a reason at throwing $2500 at a problem with going into the mount first.

So I'd start there. Fine turning the mount, making sure everything is connected properly, making sure gears are good, oil/grease the gears maybe, make sure the power supply is good.. etc.. etc.. etc.. 

Next would be dithering settings and guiding.. a lot can be tweaked there. Making sure you're not dithering too aggressively, making sure the step-sizes of guiding are big enough, that the calibration does well enough, and the settling time (You might want to give the mount a little more time to readjust after each dither)


The lens, yea.. you would probably benefit from changing that. While it's not impossible to image with it, you will get better results with dedicated telescopes, or (in general) with prime lenses (fixed focal length), with a better aperture.. Getting an F4/5 scope with dedicated glass will do wonders for the amount of light that you can gather. - So this is probably where I'd spend money.
Samyang/Rokinon 135mm/F2 is a popular choice. Or loads of 250-450mm F4/F5 scopes. Doubles, Triplets, etc.

The mount should be able to dither just fine, my "shittier" NEQ3-2 does..running very similar weight and controlling the same way (asiair) so your 35 should be able do too.
It seems a shame to "give up" on the mount already.
Helpful Supportive
Daniel Arenas avatar
Daniel Arenas avatar
Hi @duardito,

I guess your goals are or a new mount or a dedicated lens. But, with lens, do you mean also a telescope?

I think that if your mount can support the weight, a wide field telescope from 400 mm would be a good option. A super APO refractor with a good f aperture (for instance f/5) could be the target. If you're a quality image seeker, no less than a triplet. In my case, I have an Esprit ED80 400 mm f/5 (a triplet super APO refractor). My camera is an APS-C format, an ASI 2600MC. But with yours 533 it will work well. You can use the webs telescopius or astronomytools to check your field of view and decide if you'd rather an 400 mm or less.

If the mount don't support the weight from the telescope, and you want one, then it could be a good thing to buy a new mount with the target on a telescope in the future. An AM5 mount, it's probably still newer ant maybe prices will low down in next months (or not). It depents if it will be a succes and the new standard mount instead of Skywatchers EQ6 or similar.

Kind regards and clear skies!
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