u/MyBenchIsYourCurl

Hello,

I am brand new to this hobby but have an al55i mount and an Asiair connected to my canon 70d and svbony 503.

I'm struggling with the workflow of AP. Mainly the whole idea of "home" position. I got my camera to focus for the first time last night, and plate solved successfully on the Asiair app. However when I went to use the GoTo function for a star I found on stellarium, it pointed at the ground.

I am struggling with the concept of "home" position, especially since all the guides on the internet use the setting scale on the RA and DEC axis, which the al55i mount doesn't have.

Since I'm in the southern hemisphere, I point my mount towards the south and have the counterweights down. Is this good enough for home? Do I need to use synscan or is the Asiair enough?

Also, the workflow confuses me. So far I've done: set home (or fail to so far), make sure the scope is balanced, set latitude, connect everything, focus the camera, plate solve, polar align, use mask to dial in focus, and start imaging. Is this order correct? Where am I going wrong? Thanks!

Hello again,

I've just begun using my AP setup of the al55i, svbony 70ed 503, canon 70d and an Asiair, and was just wondering if I could use the same battery (anker solix c300) cigarette adapter to power both the mount and the Asiair? I tried it today as a test run and it seemed to work okay with a splitter to both the Asiair and the mount, but I don't want to damage anything in the long run.

Thanks

Hello again,

I have a canon 70D, and was wondering is there much difference between a DSLR and dedicated colour cam (one that isn't cooled), or are they the same function? It is my understanding that a DSLR is fine for beginners but if a dedicated cam is much better id rather go with that.

Thanks

Hello,

I have recently purchased a beginner AP setup. As someone that has used a canon 70D for a while now, I decided to just get an entry level setup that could be upgraded later, thanks to the advice of this sub.

The setup is an al55i mount, svbony 503 70ed (new one with the in built field flattener), my canon eos70d that I already have, an Asiair mini and the dual band filter lens. I later plan on adding a 120mm mini guide camera and a 50mm guide scope. Eventually of course if I am really enjoying the hobby I would upgrade my camera to a cooled one, and upgrade the scope to the ASKAR 71f or similar.

For accessories I've also bought a bahtinov mask, the cables I think are necessary and a 2 inch t ring adapter.

Is this a good beginner setup? Is there anything else I will need? And how necessary are guide scopes? For now I'm happy with many 60 second exposures, but will want to go up to 120 or even 5 minute exposures eventually. Any other advice for me in general? I am on a bit of a budget so I wanted something I could upgrade as time goes on.

Thanks!

EDIT: Also forgot to add but my t ring isn't connecting very well and is quite loose. If I put it face down it falls off. Do I need to tighten it somehow? Thanks!