Hello sir I will SEO your video give me your contact number

Heh, not just the UK, mate. Belgium here, and in my particular area, the humidity is unbelievable. No doubt something to do with the fact that the ground water comes up quite close to the surface, not to mention those ponds a couple of streets over. Good idea with the desiccant holder on the inside of the lens cap. I take my gear in after a session, as I'm a backyard astrophotographer without a dedicated observatory, but that makes moisture control even more relevant. You're bringing in cold metal and glass into a heated environment, and your gear becomes a dew magnet at that point. I work around this for now by leaving it in the unheated garage/workshop until morning, but adding some desiccant surely won't hurt either.

Man, that intro tune does _not_ match the tone of your videos. Completely different energy level. By the time the tune is done, I'm all pumped up to watch a 90's sitcom, not some guy in a shed calmly discussing astrophotography. 😂

Looks great. Please to hear the new FMA180 rings worked well. With those FMA 180 rings being Carbon Fibre PETG they will have even less flex compared to standard PETG rings that I make.

Thanks for that review, I was an early adopter of the original FMA180 so I was faced with the problem you outlined about mounting a guidescope and in my case an Asiair. I was unable to find a satisfactory 3D printed set of rings despite the best efforts of the printer so I more or less abandoned the project. I then discovered a young fellow in Chicago who owned a Mk1 FMA180 himself and he 3D printed a solution for me, it wasn't cheap but at least it gave me a usable widefield telescope that I could also add guiding to. It does look a bit weird but what the heck! I'd like to post an image here but that's not possible. I've subscribed to your YT channel.

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

I got a couple of them. They're great.

i think astrophotographers cook meth in their spare time....how else do they afford all this shit?

I've been using the Askar180 (paired with a QHY294MM) for about a year now and I like it a lot as a widefield astrograph. I have the older version, with an ZWO EAF (I've got the Deep Sky Dad bracket for the EAF). I use it mostly for narrowband; with OSC gives a bit of purple fringe, I think your version is better corrected. also own an Evoguide (with the Starizona FF) and I really like it for imaging. The focuser is exactly as you say, but is not that bad (in my humble opinion), you kind of get used to it, it's predictable. I achieve focus with a bahtinov mask and then lock the focuser, and that's it. The Evoguide gives very nice and round stars almost all the way across the fov, with almost no CA. I'd say give it a chance if you can stand the focuser. Nice review, clear skies!

Askar are certainly making some nice scopes. Looks like a very nice widefield setup.

Great review Stuart, thanks for sharing your findings

I own and love the Askar FMA135 for extreme widefield imaging. It is an awesome little scope. I am considering to get the FMA180 Pro as well! Best wishes!

Great video! I bought one of these for the same reasons... Its fabulous. It's a really solid widefield scope, I use it with the ASI533 in that role and have had great luck. When doing that kind of stuff I use the little zwo guide scope as the guider, and that is a rock solid pair. On my bigger scope, I have not had trouble mounting the FMA180 Pro using the shoe that comes with it, but you do want to check to make sure the little bolts on that are good and snug. Its fitted with a ASI178 when in that role. I'm really happy with mine also, it was a great find! Glad to see I'm not the only one who came up with this solution!

Looks a good bit of kit Stuart I used to use an ST80 for guiding but I've no room for it now so may consider one of these in the future, cheers clear skies

Interesting Stuart! I’m considering another guidescope! My evoguide works great with my Esprit 120, but my 400mm Askar has the 30mm f4 ZWO, which has been ok, but I’ve been thinking about upgrading! I also have a mead2000 that I want a guide scope for, probably not going OAG on that, so will need one for that! Lots to think about! How much was that scope Stuart?

I need some sort of cloud cam.. interesting idea stuart - maybe you should make a couple and sell them to us guys ;)

it depends on what the scope is that its guiding.. as the 50ed is longer FL but as a wide field scope Oh Yes.. i have the fma135 but now use that piggy backed with a samyang 135... anything that has a double use has to be a good thing.

Zwo duo band can be found for $71, it ha a wider band pass but s also nice. HYO is a knock off of this filter selling for $38

Have you ever found that the light used is not diffuse enough? In other words, that your flats end up showing the pattern of the light itself, from under the opaque layer?

Useful tips...thanks so much!

Great video mate, simple, cheap and effective solution to keep moisture off the most important part of the observatory!

How about the brighter stars? My Antila Golden narrowband filter yields no halos at all even Alnatik!

Autsch! 😣

Cool

Thank you.

Wondering what the weight of the unit is? I currently have a ZWO EAF on my 65PHQ, and while it's working well, the drama I have is that its a 377g weight, hanging off the left hand side of a 2.4kg telescope. It makes balancing the 3rd axis of the rig quite difficult. I've had to make a 3d printed outrigger that adds about 300g to the opposite side of the scope at the focuser end to try to correct the situation - which is ugly - but works.

Looks great, i plan to make one myself and will copy yours as close as i can, can i ask how you control the Dew heater ring !, is it just 12v on all the time ?,

You should have informed your users that Takahashi provides a 1.01x field flattener to make stars perfect with your new camera…

Hi Stuart great information mate

Good ideas Stuart, great ways to control your condensation problems! Luckily I don’t have any condensation issues in my obsey, because, as you said, its double lined and insulated! I like those little Bluetooth devices! Clear skies mate👍

Great video Stuart, as always super helpful, got to keep that mold off our gear 👍 keep up the great work. clear skies mate!

Nice video Stewart. Whereabouts in the Midlands are you. I'm Stafford area.

Very clever setup. Moisture building up in obsys can be a huge problem. I have tons of ventilation even with the roof closed but my biggest problem is dew during an imaging session where the walls can be absolutely dripping with moisture. I had to paint the inside walls as the bare boards were starting to grow mold. Something like your dehumidifier might be a good solution to help dry out the obsy the morning after if I can't open the roof to the sunshine if it decides to be rainy instead.

Thank you.

Very interesting mate, I've got a home made dome simply because it were cheap off eBay, I was going to go for the roll off roof shed but it didn't happen, there's plenty of ventilation around the dome hence why I'm always evicting spiders lol so conkers are on the shopping list when they fall in autumn. It does also suffer with condensation as the shutter is made from stainless steel so you can imagine what that gets like in winter. I'm pretty interested in your heater though as I do cover my scope through the winter but no way of keeping it warm. I don't suppose you could do a video of the build of it or what you'd need to buy, I'm not to fussed about an app as I suppose I could use a timer switch to come on & off. Clear skies

Great video. I am in Florida so considering a solar powered micro AC system to deal with humidity

great video Stuart! there is a difference with the o111 but they both look great not much in it. keep up the fantastic videos. love your channel 😀

For the rest of the month of June 2024, any order from Craftology3D will refund a 10% discount if you place the word AstroShed in the comments section of the order.

I’m lucky. Our local library has a technical center that has two 3D printers available to the public. All you have to do is submit the stl file and they print the part. Costs 10cents a gram for parts. Check libraries in your area.

I designed my filter holder drawers to hold one filter at a time. But each holder has a male bevel feature on one side and a female bevel feature on the other side. This way the individual holders can be locked together. Lets you carry as many filters as you need for a session. Also reduces the printing time to only a few hrs per drawer. found if you tweak the inside width , the friction is enough to firmly hold the filter drawer firmly in place. No magnets needed.

I love my SvBONY 220 dual band filter. Was pleasantly surprised by its performance as well.

Seems to be pretty decent filter for the money Stuart although the ultimate test would be to shoot a target with some bright stars for halos I guess but like you say at this price range it's a bit of a lottery if you get a good one or not. I bought a second hand Altair dual band last year to use on a second rig used it a couple of times & it seems ok but I haven't tried it on many targets yet so time will tell.

Nice review Stuart. Whats not to like about that filter. Looks excellent with that price point too.clear skies bud

So far svbony seem very hard work to deal with when trying to buy from them.

Hi Stuart looks like a nice filter , thanks for the review

Great review. Thank you. Incredible price.

Nice review Stuart! As you say, nothing in it! I do love my Optolong LExtreme, but it costs So much more than the SVBony!! Great images mate! Clear skies!

I’ve noticed 3-D printed Astro parts here and there, And wondered about them. It’s great that you pulled many 3d parts into one video. The desiccant idea is brilliant!

Great video and thanks! Would you mind sharing how you actually mount this device on your rig? What kind of bracket do you use and where exactly do you mount it?

Thanks for the great information