guider using a philips spc880nc flashed to spc900 ???

[Les R]

Is one of these suitable to be used as a guider? I appreciate its not going to be the best, but is it worthwhile buying one cheap enough?

There is one on ABS at the mo...

[Mike]

It would certainly work on a large enough aperture guide scope. You could use it for planetary imaging too.

[Les R]

Cheers Mike. I had already offered the guy full asking within minutes of him posting but I thought astrobuysell is down. I hadnt heard back then spotted Id not got a confirmation either. I "reported" the item as I knew there was a problem as I did it a second time. Turns out, yahoo (his email address is sky and routed via yahoo??) has problems.

Anyway, have spoken to the guy and cam is now bought and paid for and comes with the adapter for £35 delivered.

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=73552

[Les R]

The cam arrived ok. I removed the lens and screwed in the adapter. So far so good. But after removing the eye piece on the skywatcher finder on the 80ED, it's a slightly different size so doesn't fit!

I did buy a 9x50 Celestron which I fitted to the 6SE, so will check if the fittings are different. ( I'm sure it looks exactly the same!)

Anyone know what the adapter is called?  Obviously these adapters are not universal.

[The Thing]

These adapters are standard to fit 1.25 inch eyepiece holders, mind you I've also got a 2 inch one with a T thread... so it should fit.

[Les R]

These adapters are standard to fit 1.25 inch eyepiece holders, mind you I've also got a 2 inch one with a T thread... so it should fit.

In the finder, it has a screw in eye piece. The adapter I have is as you describe. The hole once the finder eyepiece is removed is nigh identical but obviously no good as its for a screw fit not able to hold something slid in.

[The Thing]

The eyepieces on finders are not interchangeable as a rule. You need a finder adapter to replace the whole back section

e.g. http://www.modernastronomy.com/accessories.html#accAdapters or
http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/t-thread-mount-adaptor-for-straight-finderscopes_d5246.html though they are t-thread adapters.

This guy used a bit he already had to adapt his finder http://buckeyestargazer.net/FinderGuider.html

Hope that helps.

[Mike]

Webcams are usually put into scopes such as the ST80 to use as guiders. For a small finderscope it is unlikely you would have enough aperture for an webcam which isn't particularly sensitive. You would have a lot of trouble finding guide stars with that setup I think. It's hard enough with a sensitive camera like the SX Superstar that I have. Either get a dual mount bar and an ST80 (or similar) and use that or get a dedicated guiding camera and use the webcam for planetary.

[MarkS]

Whats the focal length of a finderscope?

[Mike]

Mine is 225mm
F3.75

[Carole]

Les, what adapter are you using on the Webcam?  
Is it the the normal telescope adapter for imaging which is designed to fit a 1.25 nosepiece.?  

The adapter for the finderscope is one specifically designed for the purpose and to fit that particular camera.  
Bern could advise you.

Carole

[Les R]

Ok cheers guy. After watching a couple of the you tube videos on converting these finder scopes a while ago, I guess I rather foolishly believed they were suitable and worked!

Back to the drawing board then!

Actually, the WO66 that "got run over" should be suitable or is the field too wide on that also? I finally found out what the problem he was trying to describe was. What he was saying was that the telescope foot can't be rotated, so the focuser might not sit horizontal and the diagonal would need to be adjusted to suit your head position. Ie the OTA is what doesn't rotate. Everything else including the focusing works fine. He just described the problem poorly (like I probably just did too!) 

So would a WO66 be ok to use with a Philips 900 cam?

[Les R]

Whats the focal length of a finderscope?

On my way to work ATM. I will look to see if there is anything on it, but it is the standard finder that comes with the skywatcher 80ED.

Les, what adapter are you using on the Webcam? 
Is it the the normal telescope adapter for imaging which is designed to fit a 1.25 nosepiece.? 

The adapter for the finderscope is one specifically designed for the purpose and to fit that particular camera. 
Bern could advise you.

Carole

The adapter I was supplied with fits the cam fine. It would fit into a telescope in the same way an eye piece would. The problem here with the finder, is the eye piece actually screws in so what I have wouldn't work. The adapter that was posted above would work to get it connected, but now a mute point if it's not suitable. Is it a ST80 you use? I could have sworn you used something similar, but on reflection, I think my memory is playing tricks and you do use a ST80.

[Carole]

OK Les, it seems now if you're buying the W066 that you will have two scopes, so you don't need to use a finder guider, you can just insert the Phillips webcam into whichever scope you want to use as a guide scope.  You will have to find a way of mounting the two scopes so they are looking in the same direction and there is no flexure between the two.

I have some reservations with the Phillips webcam as a guider.  It does work, but it's not particularly sensitive compared to other guide cameras and you could find yourself hunting for a suitable guide star.  In which case you may have to use guide rings to manipulate the direction of the guide scope to find one.

There are a number of options here.  
You can mount piggy back, or side by side.
If you use the Phillips cam, I'd suggest either guide rings you can adjust, or the skywatcher guidescope mount:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skywatcher+guidescope+mount&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=UepDUq25H8eJ7AawjoGQAw&sqi=2&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=605&dpr=1

You'll also need a GPUSB or Hitech guider to make the Phillips webcam work as a guider.  (I have the latter for sale if you were interested).  Not sure whether you could use this camera for pulse guiding as I have never done pulse guiding, those who have can advise.

HTH

Carole

[The Thing]

You'll also need a GPUSB or Hitech guider to make the Phillips webcam work as a guider.  (I have the latter for sale if you were interested).  Not sure whether you could use this camera for pulse guiding as I have never done pulse guiding, those who have can advise.

You can use any camera that provides a video stream for pulse guiding. It's far simpler than having extra cables and gadgets.