Setting up for planetary imaging - Camera, ADC, Barlow
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Setting up my SCT for planetary and lunar imaging, including the ADC and Barlow.
For all who have been confused about what goes where, does it need backfocus, why they can't find it, how does guiding work, how does the ADC word etc - here is my whole quick setup process.
I tried my best to show everything as clearly as I could, sometimes not as easy when recording in the dark and half the stuff is on the scope and the other half on laptop screen! Hopefully it answers some questions and gives you a rough start this planetary season.
As always, thank you for watching and all your lovely support so far!
An absolutely wonderful, straight foward & informative video. I've not done planetary for 2 years and this really helps jog my memory on how it's done. Thank you so much !
Brilliant, glad it’s helpful! Good luck 😊
I like the way you present. Not dictatorial.
great video. I didn't know the Sharpcap had a focus assistant.
Focusing the sct from just camera to Barlow was very frustrating. Knowing which way to turn the focus knob was everything I needed to know. I need to do cullimation and dreaded the process of removing the Barlow to for cullimation . Good video thanks
Hello, from across the big pond 👋
Your channel came up on my feed this evening. Started watching and had fun binge watching them all 😂
Excellent tips, tutorials, and a wonderful presentation too! I can sympathize with the challenges of talking to a camera - I did it, for the first time, a while back for a pianist friend to wish her happy birthday and it felt crazy weird. IMHO, you are absolutely crushing it!
Every time I was on the back deck this summer and saw an overhead ISS flyby, I would regret not imaging it with the scope. So, after your video I’m inspired to give it a go. Yay! The final ISS image came out so clear and detailed. Bravo!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and journey with us . . . .
That’s really kind, thank you! Glad to hear you’re going to try for the ISS, good luck 😊 Hope it works out for you first time!
Thank you. Very useful video for me. I have an 8" SCT and this is great and clear guide. Please do more videos 👍
Awesome and really easy to follow tutorial. I am no novice to astro-imaging, both planetary and deep space, but even I picked up some really helpful tips from this video, so thank you!
* On the subject of our weather here in uk ( I'm up in Liverpool, North west England ) I have only had 2 clear'ish nights to do astro since mid June! It's been driving me crazy! LOL. Thanks again for another great vid!
Wes.
Thanks very much, so glad it could be of help! Yes our weather here has been unbelievable - how do you even explain to others how bad it’s been in the UK! Fingers crossed the winter isn’t like this.
@@CellistOnTheRoof LOL I know! It's been a nightmare! As you say, fingers crossed we are due an awesome clear spell of weather some time soon! Please! LOL
Another fantastic video Ivana, lots or really useful advice 👏
Really glad to hear it, thanks!
Excellent tutorial, I came across this just after ordering the same camera and ADC for use with my SCT!
Very good. I have not had good luck trying to rely on the finder scope to locate the object well enough to find it with the camera. My solution, since I have a small machine shop in my garage, was to make an adapter that allowed the placement of an eyepiece with a reticle to be substituted for a eyepiece. (The reticle eyepiece came out of a right angle finder scope) Now I KNOW that the object IS in the center. Not a guess. The reticle eyepiece comes out, the camera goes in, and the object shows up on the computer screen. Perhaps it should be noted that my scope is a Newtonian on an Equatorial Mount. This usually means standing on one’s head to view the finder, even with a right angle eyepiece. Soon I hope to get my Star Sense Auto Align set up. Hopefully saves wear and tear on the aforementioned head.
Thanks for the video.
This is a great video. Useful and practical information. Many thanks! Best regards, Henri-Julien
Just got this camera delivered today. Will be a new journey for astrophotgraphy. Thanks for the video. Helps a bit and I know I have a TON to learn now.
Great advice for a beginner like me. Got my first pleasing result of Saturn using my 127mm MAK. Thanks
Great job! I just purchased a 585 last week and tried to shoot Jupiter along with a 2x Barlow. Of course I could never find Jupiter cuz my FOV was too small but I wondered if I needed extenders. Apparently not. I’ll try your suggestion about taking the Barlow off first to make finding the object easier. Thx!
Thanks for the info,. It was very helpful. I was thinking about trying planetary photography with my SCT and was curious on how to setup and what equipment is needed.
This was great. Thanks so much. The video was easy to follow thanks to your detailed approach and not assuming any prior knowledge -- a big help for this DSO imager dipping a toe in the planetary pool. I'm also trying to use a flip mirror (although I have a finder scope that seems to work okay) so I have to decide where to put that in my EdgeHD 8 image train. Thank you again for a great video!
Glad you mentioned that you don't have to worry about backfocus for planetary imaging. I was slightly worried about backfocus as I will be using the ASI662mc with my Skymax180pro, probably with a x2 barlow, ASIAir on an EQ mount. Well, as soon as these cloudy skies in the UK clear and I'm not working! 😂
Great kit! If you can, do consider ditching the Asiair for a laptop or PC - they’re wonderful for deep sky but just don’t have the bandwidth for planetary and won’t get you the best out of that brilliant gear. Good luck!
@@CellistOnTheRoof Interesting about the ASIAir. I'll try both methods if I ever get a chance to compare. I went with the ASIAir Plus for ease of set up, alignment and use etc. It's been cloudy here for over a week now and the next 7 days aren't looking any better. Frustrating! Hope you have better luck on the south coast.
Some really useful, practical tips there thanks. That telescope is a bit of a beast! :)
Fantastic video, thank you so much for putting it together and sharing. I have always struggled with planetary and this has certainly helped me. Clear Skies!
I’m so glad it was helpful!
I always look forward to your videos. Good stuff, very helpful. Also, just noticed your scope stickers. Hello! from SD.
Ohh thanks so much! SD area has to be my favorite place in the world, we go to Carlsbad as often as possible 😊
Good video with lot of information. There are no much astrophotography videos using the fork mounts. Continue doing.
I am brand new to this and have a Nexstar 8se, so this was very helpful! Thank you!
Awesome content once again, your videos have given me a bit of a kick up the backside to do some 'hands on' imaging with my cpc1100. All of my deep sky rigs are designed to be fully automated so I can be lazy and sit inside and watch Netflix all night rather than be outside! Good info re the ADC, I don't have one of those, so will need to pick one up.
Thank you!! I’m so glad, and yes the time for planetary is definitely now. You have an awesome scope for it! I do my DSOs remotely too, but for planetary I need my fps speed high to beat awful seeing so my cables run short and my ROI tight. Depending on where you are you could possibly get away without an ADC, certainly for Jupiter at the moment! It doesn’t fully eliminate issues but it does help.
Well done and very much appreciated! 🔭
I'm starting to use the camera use this weekend and I've been wondering if my setup is correct. Thanks for the video.
Hope it helps! It’s a great camera, good luck with your imaging.
Really great tutorial. I'm transitioning from DSO to planetary imaging and i've definitely encountered the dreaded "why is everything just black" issue, and i wish i had this video then to show me i was simply too out of focus :).
I am imaging with a newtonian and i do have a 3x barlow to help with the focal length, but it seems like i definitely need to invest in an atmospheric dispersion adapter as well because i get pretty significant red/blue fringing when imaging.
Glad you liked it! Yes the ADC can be really helpful, especially here in higher latitudes. There used to be some expensive, really great ones around for sale but now it’s slim pickings, the ZWO one is pretty much everywhere and does the job. It doesn’t completely fix the problem but it does help. Good luck!
Thank you Ivana for the great tutorial 😀
Aw that’s kind, merci Charline 🥰 Especially since you don’t need it at all! 😄
@@CellistOnTheRoof 🥰😊
Very good and helpful Information, thanx a lot!
Thank you. Great information!
Thank you very much for this very helpful video.
Thanks for the video! ❤
Really glad you liked it!
Just bought the camera and I used it for the first time. It was ALL blurry. Through the eyepiece, it was tack sharp, maybe in need of some slight collimation. but through the camera even the moon was blurry.
It would be good to crop the imaging area for a faster frame rate when recording. That would also save on hard drive space. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Yes I use ROI when recording and I’ll touch on that in the imaging video soon. Thanks, glad you liked it!
Great content and video!
Hey you have the camera I just bought! I'm hoping to learn how to get good planetary images. I just got my first scope (it's only 500mm). It looks like you have a great setup. I will watch through your other videos to see what I can learn. I have tons of deepspace tools, but none for planetary (in fact: all planets are completely excluded from nina 😢).
Very very helpful thank you so much
Very helpful, thank you.
Awesome video and super informative! Thanks for the help...
Percent video! Thank you 🥰
❤Another Great Video Ivana❤
🌌Clear Skies From Rick in CA🌌
Great video. Your channel is really helpful
Thanks for your video. I am just starting to try a bit of planetary imaging and have all the equipment. I opted for the ASI585MC camera and use ROI to boost my frame rate. Have you thought about doing a video on the processing?
Glad if it could be of some use! I’ve thought about it, but it’s one of those things that are so dependent on conditions that there are so many different ways and things that work for me here don’t necessarily work for people in say, Florida, and a lot of it goes against the usual advice! We’ll see, maybe I’ll do one on how to image planets from the worst place for it, the UK 😄
Very nice video. Will you do a post processing video. Thanks
Thanks! I was thinking about a capture and process one, but honestly, not sure I’ll actually have the chance anytime soon. It’s been cloudy and raining here for about two weeks now, and the forecast isn’t changing!
Very good content - subscribed !
thank you; great video.
Great video, can you provide info about the UV-IR filter you are using please?
Thanks! Here I’m using the Baader 1.25” UV/IR, but I also have a ZWO one which works well.
Good.👍
Perhaps most of those who have Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector know that unlike Powermates, Barlows' magnification differs if you put anything in between a Barlow and a camera, but I think it's better to mention it here.
That’s a really fair point, although there’s still differing opinions on how much it effectively matters. I’ve tried a 2x Barlow before going for a Powermate and from personal experience, couldn’t find a reason to do anything differently. Many Barlows also have the advantage of being able to unscrew the adapter and screw into the ADC directly. Clear skies!
👏👏👏👏👏
That was very helpful as I am thinking of getting this exact set up to try planetary imaging.
Are there any alternatives to sharpcap as I will be using a MacBook?
As far as I know, Firecapture is available for Mac! I don’t use it but it’s very popular for planetary. Good luck!!
thank you for this video. question: I have the same telescope but have the ASI678 camera; how did you secure the camera directly onto the SCT? If I take out the diagonal, I just have the thread for the image train.
Hi! Sorry, I’m not exactly sure what you mean - the camera should have come with a 1.25” nosepiece which slots into the diagonal. If you take out the diagonal, that nosepiece just goes into the 1.25” visual back on the telescope!
@@CellistOnTheRoof Thanks. My SCT did not come with the 1.25" Visual Back piece from Celestron. I went ahead and purchased it to be able to secure the camera onto the scope. It was not mentioned on your video as a separate item to purchase that's all.
Ah right! The thing is, all SCTs I’ve seen around here come with the 1.25” visual back, so I didn’t think to mention needing it as it’s a part of package and usually included even if sold second hand. Glad you’re sorted, good luck with your imaging!
Thank you for this! I just bought my first planetary camera, the ASI224MC. Question: is it really necessary to download and install drivers on the camera prior to use? Did you install them? Thank you!
Hi! I’ve had to download drivers for most of my ZWO cameras! Hope that helps 😊
Any reason why you don't focus on a star first with a bahtinov mask, then move the telescope to the planet? Does adjustment of the ADC affect the focus?
Fine focus for me is always the very last step after everything has been done. While adding stuff to the imaging train, I find that defocusing makes it easier to find and center the target, and for adjusting the ADC I don’t need to be finely focused, by eye is good enough. After everything, if you prefer to use a Bahtinov on a star and focus that way, why not! Hope that answers it.
@@CellistOnTheRoof Thanks for the reply. Makes sense. I have not used the Sharp Cap focusing tool, so that might be just as good, or better!
Great video Ivana! I thought the Powermates didn't change the focus position?
Thanks Ben 😊 Yes the Powermates/Barlow definitely change the focus point and need readjustment, same as with eyepieces etc.
Hello, nice video. Came across your video while getting into atrophotography and binged all your videos! In your experience, does new moon/full moon impact the planetary imaging?
Hi! Not at all, planetary is great because you can do it at full Moon as well. Thanks!
Is there a reason you don't use an UV/IR cut filter on your camera?
Hi, I do and I mention it at 2:40 😊
but what about the optimal BF?
What’s BF, sorry?
Edit: just realized you meant back focus! No need to worry about that at all in planetary, you’re only using a tiny portion of the sensor and not looking for a flat field. The camera can just plug into the visual back and that’s it.
@@CellistOnTheRoof i want to use for imaging with apc sensor
Why are you imaging videos in RAW8 mode instead of RAW16 mode which gives much better details?
Hi, because 8bit is faster to write which gives a faster framerate. 16bit is better for DSO but has no benefit to planetary because of already shooting at high gain.
Nice one, thanks++ :)
Thank you, glad if it can be of use!
LARGE TELESCOPE with tiny mini powerful camera