Guide scope

Get a small achro refractor with 1.25" R&P focuser if you hate helical focusers so much.

Most guide scopes will work with a standard planetary camera. I have an old Orion SSAG which is in a typical planetary camera format and it will thread on to both my 30mm SVBony mini scope and my ZWO Off Axis Guider. I have heard of people using a ST80 or one of the many 60mm doublets as a guidescope. I guess the big question is how much are you willing to pay. Something like an AT60 with the reducer would be fast enough and double as a widefield rig when you want one.

andrea tasselli:
Get a small achro refractor with 1.25" R&P focuser if you hate helical focusers so much.

I have one but it is heavy if i want portable and using a smaller imaging scope than the guiding itself [it is ST80 with dual speed focuser].

Joe Linington:
Most guide scopes will work with a standard planetary camera. I have an old Orion SSAG which is in a typical planetary camera format and it will thread on to both my 30mm SVBony mini scope and my ZWO Off Axis Guider. I have heard of people using a ST80 or one of the many 60mm doublets as a guidescope. I guess the big question is how much are you willing to pay. Something like an AT60 with the reducer would be fast enough and double as a widefield rig when you want one.

Funny thing is that i want to buy a guide scope to be used with my 60mm doublets or FRA400 which is 72mm aperture, so i want smaller than AT60 or 60 doublet, i do have ST80, if i use larger scopes i can think about using my 60ED or FRA400 or even ST80 for that or buy an OAG, but if i buy a small portable mount that can handle 60mm ED and a guide scope then i must use smaller guide scope than the main one anyway, sorry i didn't mention that in my OP, my fault and mistake.

I have two 60mm ED doublets, and FRA400 and ST80 and larger scopes, i am planning about buying maybe two small cheap mounts so i can use those two 60mm separately or a mount that can handle both 60mm ED with one guide scope, but not expensive big mount, i already have AZ-EQ6, so i have two options, buying smaller one for my small scope so i can do it even from my room window upstairs rather than go out in the yard, or buy big heavy mount in future when i can save it then i can place my larger scope and adding my smaller scopes too together, but this expensive big mount will take long time and headache to buy and setup as i don't have observatory or pier, so i think i will go with the first option of portable small cheap mount for now until i can save to afford bigger, and definitely this small mount need less accessories to handle, if the main scope with camera will be nearly 3KG, it means the guide scope with camera shouldn't exceed or reach 1KG anyway.

Because i have many planetary cameras including mono so i wanted to use those rather than buying extra one as a mini version, i am planning to buy OAG for my RC scope which will be in use in future later once i figure out the mount capability for it, but for smaller scopes such as my 60mm ED doublets or FRA400 or even my 8" F/5 Newt and 6" F/4 Newt and 90mm triplets i better think about something else.

My ST80 will be for solar dedicated, and i will use my QHY guide scope+camera for one setup and not swapping it between another setup i use, most likely QHY guide setup will be for my 90mm i believe or Newt, so i want another for either 60mm or FRA400 without using the same one setup between them all, i will leave one setup and another almost untouched, i might even buy two guide scopes so one from 60 and one for FRA400, and why not another for Newts.

If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Joe Linington:
If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Nice, i will have a look on that one, i might buy two, so thank you very much.

Yes, it is annoying, not just for focus but also for the cable connected to the camera being rotating with it, messy, so i thought that all helical focusers are the same, but then i saw some new helical focusers that doesn't rotate with things attached with it, so i could go with it, but i wanted to know about the guide scope itself first regardless which focuser it uses, my QHY mini guide scope is rotating from the front part of the scope and not back, that is nice to have so to leave the camera and cable alone un-rotatable.

Jerry Gerber:
I replaced the ZWO mini guide scope with the Skywatcher EVOGuide 50mm (242mm focal length guide scope.  I am really glad I did.  It produces better and brighter stars and makes guiding very reliable. 

https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/evoguide-50-apo-refractor

A bit pricey, if i buy this then i will use it with a larger scope such as 90mm triplet or 8" Newt, not with 60mm/72mm scopes.

Tareq Abdulla:

Joe Linington:
If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Nice, i will have a look on that one, i might buy two, so thank you very much.

Yes, it is annoying, not just for focus but also for the cable connected to the camera being rotating with it, messy, so i thought that all helical focusers are the same, but then i saw some new helical focusers that doesn't rotate with things attached with it, so i could go with it, but i wanted to know about the guide scope itself first regardless which focuser it uses, my QHY mini guide scope is rotating from the front part of the scope and not back, that is nice to have so to leave the camera and cable alone un-rotatable.

I strongly second Joe's suggestion of the SVBony guide scope.  That locking ring makes for great stability and since you don't need (or necessarily want) perfect focus for guiding, locking that ring makes the scope bombproof.  Understand that the scope is also a doublet, and performs (edit: as well as) (I was rushing to an appt. getting this out.) some of the other scopes from ZWO, etc, for half the price.  I got the 30mm one for under $50, less than half the price of everyone else out there.  It is also constructed better than my 60mm guide scope.  I added a Baader locking focuser on the rear, and also tried the Baader Clicklock for the 1.25 inch camera.  But went back to the other since I essentially have the whole setup locked and never even change the focus when using my portable system.  And you can buy it on Amazon.  It was funny when I saw a very a very similar thread on CN about guide scopes, and someone mentioned just getting a SVBony for 1/2 price and it was a good scope.  But the person asking the question, just kept ignoring the guy.  He was just incapable of understanding that you could get something for a lot cheaper, was a doublet, had great machining, and a nice locking ring.  So if you want to spend more money, get something else.  And buying on Amazon is simple and if you end up not liking it, trivial to return at no cost or hassle.

Alan

Tareq Abdulla:

Joe Linington:
If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Nice, i will have a look on that one, i might buy two, so thank you very much.

Yes, it is annoying, not just for focus but also for the cable connected to the camera being rotating with it, messy, so i thought that all helical focusers are the same, but then i saw some new helical focusers that doesn't rotate with things attached with it, so i could go with it, but i wanted to know about the guide scope itself first regardless which focuser it uses, my QHY mini guide scope is rotating from the front part of the scope and not back, that is nice to have so to leave the camera and cable alone un-rotatable.

Just to update with a photo.

You can see the threading on the front of the scope.  Smooth action.  The red focus lock is solid.  The machined tubing used to construct is quite thick and solid.  No sagging possible.  The dovetail is short, stout and very square to the rings.  Zero flexure on this.  On the 30mm scope, like this one, the rings have only one set of screws that just hold the scope snug to the rings.  There is very little tolerance between scope and rings, so no adjustment for aiming.  I learned that this setup is very square to my mount and points close to dead center of the field of view of my telescope's camera.  And all you need is close for guiding.   The camera stays fixed in this guide OTA and I pop the whole thing on and off the mount, throw it in a carrying bag with my cables when transporting my rig and just pop it back onto the mount when ready.  I mount it on the side of my ZWO AM5 with the AM5 dovetail shoe attached to the side of the telescope dovetail plate.  Never need to adjust anything.  They make other sizes, but I believe this 30 mm is a good match for your 60mm or even greater.  The AM5 seems to demand short guiding exposures and I work at 1 second exposures, at well less than unity gain.  The 30 mm seems to do fine.  There are brighter stars on the guider field, but PHD2 seems to choose the fainter ones.  The setup below includes a 21mm spacer that is leftover from my old camera and the camera is attached through the Baader helical focuser, which I never use for focusing, its just a decent holder that I had leftover from another build.  The Baader click lock worked, but was prone to unlocking too easily and therefore allowing a camera rotation and need to possibly refocus.  The spacer I have here is probably larger than needed, if at all.  The focusser at the front has a lot more play left in it, and as you can see, I have the camera buried just about all the way in, which is nice for stability.

I saw that Amazon now is charging $53 buck for the guider now.  They also have a 40 of almost the same design for ~$70, but the guider scope rings are larger and have the three screws for aim adjustment.  I do not like the higher dovetail stand and rings for the 40mm.  Would seem to add more moment forces and chance for flexure.  For me, I am happy to not have to aim at all.  If I needed this scope as a finder scope, I would probably want aiming adjustment.

Alan

Alan Brunelle:

Tareq Abdulla:

Joe Linington:
If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Nice, i will have a look on that one, i might buy two, so thank you very much.

Yes, it is annoying, not just for focus but also for the cable connected to the camera being rotating with it, messy, so i thought that all helical focusers are the same, but then i saw some new helical focusers that doesn't rotate with things attached with it, so i could go with it, but i wanted to know about the guide scope itself first regardless which focuser it uses, my QHY mini guide scope is rotating from the front part of the scope and not back, that is nice to have so to leave the camera and cable alone un-rotatable.

I strongly second Joe's suggestion of the SVBony guide scope.  That locking ring makes for great stability and since you don't need (or necessarily want) perfect focus for guiding, locking that ring makes the scope bombproof.  Understand that the scope is also a doublet, and performs (edit: as well as) (I was rushing to an appt. getting this out.) some of the other scopes from ZWO, etc, for half the price.  I got the 30mm one for under $50, less than half the price of everyone else out there.  It is also constructed better than my 60mm guide scope.  I added a Baader locking focuser on the rear, and also tried the Baader Clicklock for the 1.25 inch camera.  But went back to the other since I essentially have the whole setup locked and never even change the focus when using my portable system.  And you can buy it on Amazon.  It was funny when I saw a very a very similar thread on CN about guide scopes, and someone mentioned just getting a SVBony for 1/2 price and it was a good scope.  But the person asking the question, just kept ignoring the guy.  He was just incapable of understanding that you could get something for a lot cheaper, was a doublet, had great machining, and a nice locking ring.  So if you want to spend more money, get something else.  And buying on Amazon is simple and if you end up not liking it, trivial to return at no cost or hassle.

Alan

Hi Alan,

I buy from Aliex..... instead of Amazon, even eBay is better than Amazon in prices but AE smashed both for prices, i saw a lot of SVBony and other brands products at low prices, i even can buy 50mm guide scope cheaper or same price as ZWO 30mm, so i have enough options to choose, but i have to choose wisely for my 60mm doublets and FRA400 and 90mm triplets and maybe my 6" Newt too, i have QHY mini guide and QHY5LM camera which is an amazing combo, but i do have say 3 ZWO planetary cameras so i don't to buy another camersa only for guiding such as mini versions, i think two guide scopes will be enough.

Later i will think about OAG for my 10" and 8" scopes, there is one OAG very nice i think about to buy from my 10" RC, but i won't keep swapping it for 8" too, so i will buy another OAG for my 8" Newt, but i have to think what i will use, a mono camera or OSC so i can decide which OAG, and which focuser.

Alan Brunelle:

Tareq Abdulla:

Joe Linington:
If the issues is the rotating of the camera with focus, and you want small then the SVBony SV-165 30mm will work. The focus action unscrews the objective lens and leaves the camera alone, it has m42 threads to mount most planetary cameras or you can use a 1.25 inch adapter. It has enough focus to focus a planetary camera but you can also use m42 spacers. It has a locking ring on the focus and weighs nothing. I believe the ZWO scope is very similar. Mine has guided my mount down to 0.5 arc seconds and reliably maintains 0.6 all night with 3um pixels on a colour camera.

Rotating the camera would be annoying, you’d have to re-calibrate every time you adjust focus.

Nice, i will have a look on that one, i might buy two, so thank you very much.

Yes, it is annoying, not just for focus but also for the cable connected to the camera being rotating with it, messy, so i thought that all helical focusers are the same, but then i saw some new helical focusers that doesn't rotate with things attached with it, so i could go with it, but i wanted to know about the guide scope itself first regardless which focuser it uses, my QHY mini guide scope is rotating from the front part of the scope and not back, that is nice to have so to leave the camera and cable alone un-rotatable.

Just to update with a photo.

You can see the threading on the front of the scope.  Smooth action.  The red focus lock is solid.  The machined tubing used to construct is quite thick and solid.  No sagging possible.  The dovetail is short, stout and very square to the rings.  Zero flexure on this.  On the 30mm scope, like this one, the rings have only one set of screws that just hold the scope snug to the rings.  There is very little tolerance between scope and rings, so no adjustment for aiming.  I learned that this setup is very square to my mount and points close to dead center of the field of view of my telescope's camera.  And all you need is close for guiding.   The camera stays fixed in this guide OTA and I pop the whole thing on and off the mount, throw it in a carrying bag with my cables when transporting my rig and just pop it back onto the mount when ready.  I mount it on the side of my ZWO AM5 with the AM5 dovetail shoe attached to the side of the telescope dovetail plate.  Never need to adjust anything.  They make other sizes, but I believe this 30 mm is a good match for your 60mm or even greater.  The AM5 seems to demand short guiding exposures and I work at 1 second exposures, at well less than unity gain.  The 30 mm seems to do fine.  There are brighter stars on the guider field, but PHD2 seems to choose the fainter ones.  The setup below includes a 21mm spacer that is leftover from my old camera and the camera is attached through the Baader helical focuser, which I never use for focusing, its just a decent holder that I had leftover from another build.  The Baader click lock worked, but was prone to unlocking too easily and therefore allowing a camera rotation and need to possibly refocus.  The spacer I have here is probably larger than needed, if at all.  The focusser at the front has a lot more play left in it, and as you can see, I have the camera buried just about all the way in, which is nice for stability.

I saw that Amazon now is charging $53 buck for the guider now.  They also have a 40 of almost the same design for ~$70, but the guider scope rings are larger and have the three screws for aim adjustment.  I do not like the higher dovetail stand and rings for the 40mm.  Would seem to add more moment forces and chance for flexure.  For me, I am happy to not have to aim at all.  If I needed this scope as a finder scope, I would probably want aiming adjustment.

Alan

My QHY Mini Guide Scope has same mechanism, front focusing ring and lock, it served me well although in many nights guiding went crazy, or maybe it is something else as i get elongated or coma stars by edges from 3 minutes up to 10 minutes, but i know guiding is good enough because center stars are round and the nebula is there sharp, so it is another issue, but lately last year my guiding didn't work at all and i was using SW Wifi adapter instead of EQMOD, and that killed the guiding.