Posts Made By: James Benton

I have never heard of a conversion kit. I know most people just buy an antares 90 degree finder or one similar, it would be cool if there was a kit to make the meade 8x50 straight into an 90 degree finder

James

I used a flip mirror a few times and found it cumbersome. I dont use it anymore and sold it.

Some people use them alot and have great sucess.

I guess a lot of it will depend on the scope you use and the camera equipment you use.

James

Robert I cae across this site and way down on the page there is a conversion kit for the meade straight finders, its $69

http://www.astro-engineering.com/

James

I saw it and i give it 2 thumbs up. Its a very good movie. The filming was fantastic.

James

I have the LXD75 AR5 so I can not comment on the SC8. But the mount I can comment on.

Having gone from an 8" LX90 to the AR5 on the LXd75 mount I do find some things not so pleasing.

1. The tripod legs are small (to thin) in my opnion. and too short. I wish the tripods legs were a bit longer so Im not laying down on the ground to look through my refractor.

2. The eq mount seems nice, goto's are pretty good in the same part of the sky, if I goto the opposite side of the sky, the goto's are way off. Probablly due to me not having a good alignment.

3. The mount does feel a bit stiff in movement by hand, maybe needs the "hypertune" ie. removing the cheap OEM greese and replacing with some good stuff.

4. The first batch of scopes had missing pages from the user manual (typical) so people had to figure out where certain parts went and how to do a certain procedure. I was in the first batch. Thankfully the internet is a great tool for others to find answers and swap ideas.

There are a few yahoo groups dedicated to the LXD75, I dont have their names, but can post later tonight.

also there is a section here for Meade scopes, there is some LXD 75 info there.

also over at www.lxd55.com there is a message forum just for the LXD75.

This is my first eq mount and over all im happy with it. I mainly got it so I can make a custom mount to put my camera and an 80mm spotter scope for long exposure wide field astrophotography with out the scope on the mount.

James

Actually it sounds easier than adding information to the autostar.

Instead of doing an "easy" alignment, scroll throught he menu and select a 2 star alignment and you get to chose which 2 stars out of the database.

I have never tried this but I found the info on Meades web site

look for the selection on Alt/Az Alignment: and read that section, should be pretty easy

http://www.meade.com/manuals/autostar/ch03.html

James

I have a couple of these guys hanging around the light out side my front door, only thing is they go hide when I come out with my camera.

I think the lilttle chirping sound they make is so cool

James

Thanks for the info Dan.

I was searching the net and found a adapter that would allow me to mount the LXD75 EQ mount on a LX200/LX90 style tripod that is taller and more stable. I might go that route

James

yes it can, however the Star GPS can only be installed on one Autostar controler at a time. So you may need to look into what you need to do for him to be able to use the software. I think its just having to purchase a license.

James

Alex, on the Autostar goto the following menu for selecting the Moon tracking rate. the default is sidereal tracking rate.

Setup
Telescope
Tracking rate

This should get you into the right area in the Autostar 497 menus to select the Moon tracking rate.

James