Building a Portable Astrophotography Setup for Moving Away! 

Some years ago, when you were all of 14-years old, Helena, a video of yours gave me my first lesson in how to post-process an astrophoto using Photoshop. Since then, with the help of you and others like Nico Carver, Trevor Jones, AstroStace, and Peter Zelinka, I’ve acquired a moderately reasonable facility with PS, and am even moving on to the new challenges and possibilities of PixInsight. You and the rest of this marvelous online community of educating astrophotographers have been such a boon to the hobby, even teaching old hands like me from the bygone days of film how to work celestial magic (even from light polluted cities like Los Angeles) with the digital tools of today. Thank you so much for all you’ve done. The very best to you as you set off on this new adventure! Not surprisingly, you will embark well-equipped!

Please post more often! We need folks like you on YT!

Congrats Helena. Enjoy your university experience. As a person who at one time used to teach in the university system, there was never anything better than engaged and interested students. Cherish your experience and thank you for your role in teaching me about astrophotography! You are truly an inspiration. Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦

HELENA IS BACK YAAY🎉

Huge congratulations on this next step in your life Helena! Good times ahead! 👍👍 That's an epic mini-rig you've got there, can't wait to see it in action!

Hi Helena: without a doubt you will do great at university and make a tremendous success of yourself. I seriously hope you continue with Astrophotography and find time to post videos between studying and PARTIES! You have been and will continue to be an incredible inspiration for all your viewers.

Glad to see you back! We are looking forward to videos from your next venture. I hope the skies are clear and clean, wherever you go!

You have wonderful enthusiasm for astronomy and astrophotography! I’m looking forward to future videos of your imaging adventures.

Great to see you back Helena! I’m quite a beginner but always something to learn from you. Thanks for all your videos! Nik

Great to see you back Helena. It's a magnificent set up for portable astrophotography. I'll look forward to your uni adventures with your rig. I agree the asiair equipment make astrophotography do easy and straightforward and everything just works. Good luck with university and have a fab time 😊

Your enthusiasm is infectious Helena 😃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Looks like a great set up to have some fun with!

Congratulations on being accepted at the University. So happy to see you back on line again. I found your videos very instructive and loved your enthusiasm. I look forward to seeing more of them. I wish you the very best.

Hello Hellena, very nice that you are back I hope that we see more 😊😊👍👍

Good to see you again! You are one of my biggest inspirations. Good luck in school! Looking forward to your next video!

Welcome back, Helena! Another outstanding video. Thanks for taking the time, and best of "luck" (which you WON'T need) at university!

well done Helena, great video. I love your passion for AP. Keep up the good work 👏🏼

out of the woodwork... :)

Great portable setup Helena and very well explained! Good luck at Uni and clear skies for Astro 🌌🔭

Very nice!

Thank you so much for posting this ... I was waiting for this one ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

That's a nice portable setup. I really like the idea of having everything packed in just one or two bags.

This rig is a little piece of art in itself.

You remind me of an astrophysics undergraduate that I had the fortune to know some 30+ years ago. She has since gone on to head astrophysics departments at prestigious universities. Go for it! :)

Love the setup!

Great video. Awesome compact rig

Hope you get the results you deserve and have a wonderful time at University. You will shine!

Thanks for sharing Helena.

Good seeing you on the 1s and 0s machine again, Helena! Cool setup. As drool-worthy as a big scope is, cam lenses have a lot to offer, and portability is a biggie. Look out, Uni world, Helena’s gonna take over!

Thank you for starting back up.

Always a pleasure to see your new uploads esp for newbies like me..... Hope your shifting be succesful....

Enjoy uni experience! And look forward to any AP vids you manage while there :)

Great to see you back on the channel again Helena. Nice rig 😁 Worth noting too that W&W will make your dew heaters with any specified cable length, very useful.

Yeah! Helena is back!

hehe. glad you've found out the power of asiair - best things I ever bought - got 2 in my observatory, and one for when I'm out in the motorhome. brilliant

Great to see you back! Always learn a great deal from your videos. I'm in Scotland too. Think we astrophographers are the only people who can't wait for dark skies😂

Jamazing Helena very cool 😎 👌🏽

Going to university? Oh, such fun times ahead. Stressful too, but also great fun. Good luck!

You’ll love the 135 rig, been running mine at 2.8 in Namibia for the last couple months and it’s been killer

Beginner here. Just wanted to say thank you.

Hiya, Stranger! great vid as always.

Good update. Congrats on your graduation and best of luck at University.

I think you've convinced me to get the ASI Air.

Hi Helena love you set up

I really like that photograph (comet).

Since your last video I've actually finally gotten into astrophotography, bought all of my gear, and got some shots of the Pinwheel supernova, so it's definitely been a while! I decided to go with a mini PC instead of the ASIAIR, so I just set up and then go inside and use Remote Desktop on my main PC to connect to it. I find it really handy because I can be watching a movie and just flick the screen to my imaging setup to see how it's going. Polar alignment is fun though, with NINA, running in and out of the house repeatedly and trying to remember things like: _"left by 20 arcseconds and up by 1 arcminute!"_

If you were shooting mono narrowband you could collect Sii or Ha during twilight. ;)

Great video, really informative to know what other people have as their kit. I currently have tripod, tracker, DSLR and lens. I am interested in trying guiding but not sure where and how to start. Your guiding set-up seems very nice, I would really appreciate a video/information on how it works. Good luck at uni.

Hi Helena, very nice setup, however, a word of caution about the AsiAIR, I own both the mini and the plus, both have terrible WIFI, so unless your rig is only a meatter of 1 or 2 meters from where you sit indoors, it will disconnect at random, or wont connect at all, the solution is to use a travel router to vercome this problem, ZWO still needs to get their act together with the WIFI signal issue, even though now they have added an external antenna.

Very nice set-up and overview. Did you consider one of the crop of harmonic drive mounts that have appeared recently? I suppose they are still quite expensive though.

Best wishes for university!!

Helena can you do a video on how you set up/ put the toghter with the Lens, adapter zwo filter drawer & the camera together. As there is a focal length involved in that setup?

You might want to get the William Optics high latitude base for the Star Adventure. It makes polar aligning so much easier and much less frustrating.

A very capable rig you've put together! Can't wait to see what you do with it. What are you studying at uni?

I love your accent!!

Missed your videos Helena!

I've got a lot of the same equipment! I do find the star adventurer wedge difficult to make small adjustments with, and i do wish I'd gotten the goto version, but it wasn't out and costs a lot more. I also find that the counterweight isn't enough on my longer lenses, but the 135 probably won't have that issue.

Wow what a set up and a costly one!

I feel I'm watching a future Sky at Night presenter.

Some years, You can setup the telescope or the portable for moving away 😃🥳

I love your accent.

Awesome video, did you know you can run your dew straps with the zwo mini and not have the extra wieght of the dew controller

Helena, great to see you're going to uni!! What are you going to be studying? Nice portable rig too!! You'll probably have quite a few peeps at uni interested in what you're doing. Oh, speaking of small portable scopes, have you seen the Askar FMA180 Pro? It's tiny!!! That'd be ideal with a setup like the one you're going to use at uni. Have a look at one, even if you don't want to buy one, just yet. It'd be a good investment, especially in the medium term doing astro from uni.

Nice to see you back, Helena! What about the battery? I use the asiair too and it requires 12V and at least 2Amps. And how do you connect the dews heaters? to the asiair or to the battery directly? Best, T

Really cool rig Helena! One thing ill point out that the spec sheet of the ASI2600MC Pro says it has D60-2 IR Cut protective window as stock. So the 2" svbony filter you have might be just a risk for halo's. I have the same camera but have not got to use or test if it cuts IR, astronomical darkness comes back here the last week of august :( I got inspired by the last gear video you did with the Shimoda backpack so i had to get one too! I got the V2 35 with large mirrorless core unit and managed to pack 60mm refractor, SWSA 2i, Guiders, Battery, Clothing, Cables, iPad and SNACKS + room to spare! What do you use for 12V dc power in the field?

Congrats on this new life phase! I’m running a very similar set up but Redcat and dslr and about to add the asi. Would you do us a favor and share any required bodging? So far I’ve had the two base plate screws pull loose on the SASW 2i, had to get bigger nylon washers and currently noodling what I’m going to do about the very slight wobble originating from the connection between the wedge and the tracker. The William optic replacement wedge is an option but I’m going to have a tea and a think before I address it. Which university btw? (Crud… maybe don’t answer that, the internet is weird) Cheers! Can’t wait to see how much more effectively you employ that setup!

do you not post anymore? love the vids!

Wait till you discover the Askar 200mm lens. I actually sold my Beloved Rokinon 135mm for it.

Helena, congrats on going to universe. I’m sure you’ll be successful in your educational endeavors. I wanted to ask about the AIR Mini. Are you using it for plate solving to get on target? I ask as I’m using a SWSA 2 like you and a ZWO 120mm camera with a guide cam.

Nice video. My new interest is radio astronomy. Do you have some university videos on the hydrogen line 21cm 1420 MHz radio telescopes? Thanks 👍

Hi, which adapter did you use to connect asi camera with Samyang lens? Thanks and nice video.

great video as always! hoping to make a rig similar to this, but a bit more affordable (being an unemployed English 17 year old makes it hard to feed hobbies 😅)

I guess I'm getting old as I feel the urge to say "stay safe" rather than "have fun". Really, though, I mean both. Godspeed!

Hello, I am going to do the same rig, except I have the asi533 mc, the question I have is do you find it hard to balance, haven't tried it yet just wondering how you have got on. Great video 👍

Any chance your coming to a uni in south wales? would love some tips haha. Goodluck!!

As having the exact same tripod . It's not a light tripod to carry around . I couldn't fit it to the side of my bag it was tooo big . Had to use the bag it came with in turn it became a hassle carrying around whilst Cycling

handy hint - usb dew heaters cost 15 quid. cut off the plugs, wire in series and stick a 12v plug on the end, and plug into your asiair - and it can control them as a dew heater - total cost 30 quid.

Nice vid! What are you going to study at uni?

Great video Helena. Enjoy Uni - what are you studying?

I thought the 2600 and see how they built in UV/IR cut filter in the window?

Go girl! Best of luck and success at UNI .btw what as you major? Best wishes. JJ.

Hi Helena, QQ how do you power the entire system and how do auto guide with the SWi - thanks ! :-)

I bought a StarAdventurer not too long ago. Still getting used to it since it is my first tracking mount. I did have my illuminator adaptor break on me. Not sure how. Anyone know where I could buy another one?

What happened to Helena? I know she said she is going to University it's been 11 months since and upload.

Really nice. What's the total weight of this setup?

Does the 2600 PRO work on the ASIAIR Mini? It hast no USB 3 Port.

Panamá 🇵🇦🇵🇦🇵🇦 saludo

Hello Helena, the UV/IR cut filter should be skipped with your setup, actually zwo asi2600mc's glass cut under 400nm and over 700nm, so if you are adding another optical element for the same purpose, it will block some lights (they dont have 100% transmission) and another source of other image artifacts

Hi, I have a question, does the Zifon YT-2000 work well for star tracking?

I have this system. But I can’t autofocus with the EAF because focus is so close to infinity so it slams against the stop. Are you having that problem.

Price of ASI 2600 is quite insane :o (top tier mirrorless APSC camera cost half of it and is far more complicated piece of equipment). Of course normal DLSR won't gather H alfa so well (and thats a big problem for any photo wide field rigs, without astro cam you're very limited to targets). But Helen, didnt you thought about ZWO Seestar? it's even more portable and a lot cheaper (but only 10s exposure time limited and narrow FOV) ?

Helena can you please write me that website you mentioned 7:51 ? Thank you a lot and have a clear sky :)

Hi Helena, I've built a very similar setup and just waiting on my lens. I've seen videos of affinity focus at stock being an issue for Astro photography on that lens, did you have any issues with your and did you carry out any mods on the Samyang 135

Hi. What, may I ask is your Major for Uni?

What will be your major in the University?

K, it's been 8 months this time. Where are you? We miss you again.

Congrats on finishing school and heading off to Uni Helena. I've been far more interested in birding photography than astrophotography the past year. Just easier to setup and use and get results. Plus, birds! PS are you going to the Taylor Swift Eras tour? I just scored a 2 track Pink demo CD and a I heart ? demo CD!

I would like the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi. I really don't have any money, although I work, I have a job. And still I can't afford it.. I love this astrophotography but it seems that at the moment I can't afford this device! I am so sorry!

RIP Alyn Wallace

you know the 2600mc pro has ir cut glass over the sensor, so you are doubling up on the filters in this configuration