Posts Made By: Ivan Gastaldo

Pretty cool stuff Dietmar, thanks for sharing!
By the way, I saw at least one of your shots in there...

Keith Woodard said:
My end-goal is obtain high-precision control over my GEM for astrophotography. Does anyone on this forum have shared experiences on this subject?

Hello Keith!

Well, I don't want to burst your bubble, but...

I used to own one of these mounts, which are more like a CG-3.
As much as I loved it for visual use, it has a ton of limitations.

The gear system is very coarse, the mount won't support much weight (and for Astrophotography you have to stay away from the maximum load to begin with), and the legs on the tripod are not sturdy at all.

For Astrophotography, THE MOUNT IS the most important part of the equation, it has to be HEAVY & STURDY (ROCK SOLID), not memtioning that it should also be smoother on its movements. The SkyView EQ-DLX does not have any of these features...

Even if you were able to adapt a CG-5 set of motors/controls, you still won't be able to use it for AP..., it is simply NOT designed for such a heavy duty task.

In my humble opinion, if you want to PLAY with Astrophotography, start with something like a Celestron ASGT mount. But in all reality, if you want to do it SERIOUSLY, you'll be looking into an Orion Sirius or Atlas as your STARTING point.

Please, don't get me wrong, it is nice to see people's enthusiasm for Astronomy and photography, but if you start the wrong way, you'll have much frustration and no enjoyment... so thats why I much rather make it clear and say it like it is.


Clear skies to you,

Awesome stuff Luca!
Thank you for sharing! 8)

Keep it up!

Great work Gilles! beautiful shots!
Keep'em coming! 8)

Really glad to hear you found & fixed your issue... 8)

Jim, awesome work, as usual! 8)
The WO66 is a great match for these "small chip" cameras (like the Orion Starshoot , for example) as it allows us to maximize the FOV...

Well done, and looking forward to your next shots!

Cool stuff, thanks Jason! 8)

BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Thanx for the link Maurice! 8)
Merry Christmas to you!

A Merry Christmas to you too Jason! 8)
Thank you for sharing your shots with us,


Ivan
8)

Very nice & bright!
Thank you for sharing Ido!

Clear skies to you, 8)