You probably got the kit 18-55mm kit lens with your camera and you can give it a whirl with that. It's only f/4 at 18mm but it will give you a taste and you can use 15-20sec exposures. If the bug bites you can look at better quality lenses with a wider aperture. The Samyang/Rokinon 14mm is f/2.8 and gets pretty decent results.
Hmmm considering the fact I'm aiming to do outreach programs with lots of kids and parents, I want to say the Skywatcher is probably going to be my go to mount. Heavy sturdy and can take some abuse. Also it keeps my muscles strong 😂
And now a year later, ZWO releases the AM5N ( N = New? ) mount with a slightly higher payload capacity w/o a counterweight and significantly lower RA Periodic Error and thru-the-mount USB & 12v Power.
Ohhh my god , Glenn - Thank You! You wouldn't believe how tough I've found it to just get the basics starting points for my DSLR / Lens set up. Got Canon 650D and a 70D and just now getting a Ef-S 50-250mm EOS lens. I'm now actually pretty damned motivated to get out of Melbourne's lights and get shooting!
G'day, Richard, glad you found it useful. Just note that a 50mm lens requires a much shorter exposure time than the "start at 15 seconds" I mention in the video if you want to avoid obvious star trails. If you've got the kit 18-55mm lens and zoom out to 18mm the 15sec will work much better.
I wish someone would do an in-depth review of the AM5 or other strain wave mount with a SCT at focal lengths greater than 1400mm. A 71mm refractor probably guides well on an AVX mount which is what I have with my C8.
You might have trouble finding one for the AM5 as ZWO state up to 900mm focal length is as much as they would recomend for the AM5: www.zwoastro.com/product/zwo-am5/
Fab tutorial thanks Glenn. Have been looking at the carbon fibre tripod to mount a WarpAstron WD20 but always thought it would not be stable enough. My old mount is a HEQ5 Pro so it was good to hear that the PE200 is compatible with the HEQ5, I was not aware of this and have not heard it said before. I take it, the smaller plate is used with the HEQ5 and that the fixed post on the head of the HEQ5 just slips inside (as it is not removable as with the 6)? Then this should be a very stable tripod for the strain wave head whether ZWO or other make? Thanks again
Glad you liked the video 🙂 Yep you remove the normal mounting plate and install the smaller one in it's place. The PE200 has a cutout in the base that will allow for that locating pin on the HEQ5 tripod 👍
G'day Glenn, thanks for the video, great content. My question to you is around a recommendation for a camera which can do astrophotography but is small and compact enough to carry on a motorbike. I am trying to connect both of these passions. I travel regularly to far flung places and to date have relied on my Olympus TG-7 to get the job done. Its sturdy, waterproof and doesn't take too bad of a photo. Unfortunately, I do not think it will cut it with astrophotography. What do you recommend I look at the replace the TG-7, and is small and compact enough to carry in my tank bag - a full frame DSLR is just way too big. Let me know your thoughts mate!
G'day, Andrew, I'm glad you found the video useful. There's a few _it depends_ in my answer but basically you will need a dose of pragmatism and compromise in the mix. Typically the smaller the camera gets, the smaller its sensor is ie: full frame, to APS-C to Micro 4/3. The smaller your sensor the shorter your exposure time at equivelent focal lengths compared to the larger sensors, which means higher ISO for equivelent exposure, and the rub is smaller sensors don't handle high ISO as good as the bigger ones. With those caveats, Have a look at the Canon R8 which gets you that full frame sensor but not a properly big DSLR body. The full frame both great for astro and travel landscape. If that's still too big, consider something like the Canon M6 which is an APS-C sensor. You get the smaller form factor but still an ok outcome. Going down from there you get into Micro 4/3 cameras which while they can do astro, the larger sensors do it better - depends on your expectations. BTW when I used to ride motorbikes I never like my camera gear (other than the tripod) attached to the bike, I was always concerned about vibrations passing through the frame, so I would suggest considering some kind of small but accessible sling bag or similar.
Without tracking you’re really restricted in how long you can shot for before obvious star trails. 10sec or less with a full frame camera and around 5sec on a crop sensor.
@@GlennMartinPhotography Yeah I found that out shortly after I made my comment. I successfully updated both the HC and the mount. I love my AM3 mount! Last night I was consistently under 0.20 on each axis for 5 minute exposures! Incredible.
After having done all my previous astrophotography with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, my first scope ever arrived today - the FLT 91. A big part of my decision to go with this was your review, Glenn. Thanks for sharing. Looks like I have several nights of lousy weather coming, but I look forward to that first clear night.
Very helpful video for me as a brand new AM5 mount owner. The only bit where I was briefly confused was when I submitted the command to update the mount firmware. Rather than leaving me in a window showing progress, it threw me out back to the main app screen. I thought that meant the process had failed, but actually once I just waited long enough (not long), I heard the beep of the mount restarting, and voila! Firmware updated. Your video made this a simple process, so keep up the good work! Now on to checking backlash in my EAF….
That's likely referring to the auto focus routine in the ASIAir App, but before you run that it's handy to have a reasonable focus to start with so the auto focus doesn't go spearing off in the wrong direction and getting lost (don't ask me how I know 😜)
@@GlennMartinPhotography Thanks! I just googled it and found a ZWO tech guy saying the backlash was only used when focusing manually (and when switching directions) in the app. I'll use your instructions to get any backlash sorted regardless. Can't hurt. 👍
I have an Askar 120mm APO Triplett on AM5. Even with the PE200 I watch every flip. Like you, I have a "battery " in the tripod sling. I think a weigt is equality important!
I tried to be brave and didn't watch my second to last flip because the filter wheel was up not down. Except post flip it failed to platesolve the target so lost two hours of imaging :(
The backlash you are demonstrating there looks huge. I started experiencing some serious backlash on my ZWO EAF and i tracked it down to slop in the main gear/shaft inside the EAF. Taking it apart and re-assembling is easy ( voids any warranty of course, but this is not a particularly expensive part). I applied a tiny drop of CA glue on the shaft before reinstalling the main gear to get a tight fit. Backlash is almost zero !
This has been explained by others. Your explanation is completely clear. I'll be doing this on all three of my EAF's soon. I like the ZWO ecosystem, but the lack of easy EAF interchangeability is not kool. I think replacing a split coupler might be possible? THANKS
Really glad it helped :) I'd like to think ZWO or your local astro retailer would be able to replace a split coupler, but *maybe* in a pinch using the next size up could get you by in the interim (assuming you didn't throw out the box :-D )
Thanks so much for this, Glenn. I was wondering how I was going to go about fixing the backlash issue, so thanks for making this video and having it just make sense.
One option you may want to look at for the future for not much more is the Primaluce Sesto Senso it essentially eliminated the backlash in my autofocus routine. Obviously that’s only going to be usable for Nina but if you ever do go that route, I don’t have to do any backlash compensation and my focus curve looks really good and immediately starts changing from the very first step
It's not usually a BIG problem if you're mindful of the conditions that you swap your lens in. This example was so bad because I deliberatly left the sensor exposed for a couple of hours which is not something you would normally ever do. I've rarely had to clean my sensors and the example camera was one I've had for 10 years.
