SUPER TUNE the Skywatcher 114mm SKYHAWK
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- You own a Skywatcher or any Parabolic Newtonian and you want to SUPER-TUNE it to it's best performance.
This is a cheap modification and will cost you under £30 (estimated) to do it.
Then check this new video, there will be many more videos to come, so watch this space.
WARNING: Extreme tuning is carried out viewers discretion advised.
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#Astronomy#Skyhawk#Supertune
Product item links:
Skywatcher RA Motor Drive For StarQuest & AZ-EQ Avant Mounts:
www.rothervall...
Rother Valley Optics:
www.rothervall...
Skywatcher 114PS Skyhawk AZ-EQ Avant starter telescope
www.rothervall....
Baader T-ring Sony E mount:
www.365astrono...
Low Profile Canon T-ring:
www.modernastr...
Low Profile Canon T-ring (Black coating):
www.modernastr...
T-Ring T2 Lens Adapter / Adjustment Ring for Nikon dSLRs
www.365astrono...
Celestron T-Ring for Nikon 35mm and Digital SLR Cameras
www.365astrono...
I followed the tutorial and it worked! My Sony A6400 needed to get 16,5mm closer to the primary mirror. I took off 25mm from the end of the tube, and now it can comfortably reach focus!
To anyone trying this, I recommend using a metal cutting scissor instead of a saw to cut the tube. It reduces the chances of it deforming.
As an owner of a Sony A6400, low profile Baader adaptor and a recently purchased 114mm Skyhawk, this video is a GODSEND!
Thank you Martin for making such a thorough video!
Glad it helped!
Thanks for sharing this Martin! I have done the modifications on my 114 following your instructions, and now I am able to use my DSLR with direct focus! I owe you a dram!!
Fantastic! Now you have an budget Astrograph which now imaging DSOs is possible to capture even as low 10 seconds is achievable. There is one viewer who calculated the reduction of my project and he estimated that my scope is around F3.6, hence the lighting speed of light photons collected. I can literally get the entire structure of Andromeda galaxy in the Canon 600D half cropped sensor within 2 minutes exposure!! No joke I have posted this in some of the FB groups, here's a little to one I use often. facebook.com/groups/AmateurAstrophotography/
I have the same scope as you and today i cut 18mm from the bottom. I have a sony A6000 and it now focuses!!!. thank you for the detailed information.
Enjoy! and have fun. Now you have a ultra-fast budget imaging scope!! Faster than the 130 PDS!! I had a viewer calculated the exact F-ratio for me, and he estimated that I have a F3.6, so that is very interesting to know!!
Thanks. Very inspiring.Highly instructive video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow this is impressive MP! A bit to technical for me though 🙈 Do you know if a standard CCD like the ASI224MC would focus on this scope without modification?
Thanks!
It should work with ZWO ASI224MC without any modification!!!
Great video! If I come across a similar newtonian I might give it a try. If anybody is interested in a good kit for center marking a primary mirror farpoint makes a good one. That's what I used on my first telescope a 127mm powerseeker Bird Jones. Which I absolutely don't recommend anybody buying the 127mm powerseeker eq especially if it's their first telescope like i did. It took me almost a whole summer to get working decent. And now sits in the closet because it's too frustrating to use and the fact that I own 4 other telescope's since then. Lol If I wasn't such a bullhead that powerseeker scope would've ended my attempt at astronomy. Anyhow great video!
Eric I totally agree on what you say about the 127 powerseeker. To be honest I am so surprized why they still make and sell these to beginners. The Bird-Jones style Newtonian are the worst optics around and you can't even collimate it without taking the corrector lens out of the focuser. Such a frustrating telescope for a beginner to own. Hence why a Newtonian should kept as a simple design like Spherical or Parabolic design. Plus the Parabolic Newtonian will outperform a Bird Jones Newtonian, only difference with Bird Jones is it's longer focal length and you can connect a DSLR camera to it as there is plenty of inward focus. However you can fit a 2x Barlow lens on a Parabolic and BINGO you have a Bird Jones with better optics. I've seen the farpoint dot centering kits they do look good but I have to save up for it, but I will plan on doing this on my new 114mm Skyhawk PDS. Thank you for watching and to share your experience with this expensive hobby!!!
Definitely going to do this "hack". The question is: Will I still be able to use it for observation through an eyepiece or will it be good only for astrophotography?
You use a 1.25" 25mm - 30mm extension tube on the focuser, so that you can still attach eyepieces onto telescope and achieve focus. So yeah you can use the telescope for both uses. My modification is still working fine on the telescope and I've had no dramas so far. Highly recommend you to go for the mod, but I can tell you now MUST HAVE GUTS to cut down that tube!! If your careful you'll find it quite easy to do, just take your time and only remove bits at a time when your cutting the main tube down. I have a strong feeling that you have GOT THIS!!!
@@MPAstro I have another question for you. Just bought a SW 130/650 Az-Gte for a friend. It is exactly the same style of OTA of your 114/500.
At the end of the video you talk about collimation but you didn't show how to do it. I know how to collimate my SW 150/750 but things are different with a fixed primary mirror OTA. We tried to collimate the new 130/650 using my laser collimator and we immediately found that the secondary mirror needed some minor adjustament. When the laser dot was exactly in the center of the primary mirror we found out that its reflection was not in the center of the target of the collimator. In a normal newtonian I would have fix that by adjusting the primary mirror but in this case I can't. How did you achieve a good collimation? Unfortunately I can't find anythign on the web about how to deal with it...not even on SW official website.
So, given that the focus point is 44mm forward, that will effectively make the total focal length 412mm, meaning the OTA will become a 412mm f/3.614
Interesting!!!, Thanks Terry, for the calculation, F3.6 is very fast indeed
In one of your videos I saw how you adjusted an iOptron Smart EQ Pro mount ...
Can this mount resist this small Newtonian telescope (114mm, f/4.5), with the necessary equipment for astrophotography? That is ... dedicated camera such as an Atik 383L+ and filter wheel, 30mm Ultra Mini Guide Scope, 6X30mm finder?
Won't it wobble in some wind or small vibrations from the floor?
Will the RA and Dec axes not be forced?
Please, I would be very grateful if you can answer me these concerns because I would like to purchase that mount (iOptron Smart EQ Pro), for a newtonian 114mm, f/4 telescope, due to its low weight and ease of carrying to some far and dark field.
I will look into this Hermando, I can't see why not, the Newtonian being light enough, Remember the Smart EQ Pro has a maximum payload of 5Kg. The only thing is to add another 1 Kg counterweight onto mount, you should be fine. But what I will do is, try it out myself and I will mention it in the next video coming soon. The 383L+ and filter wheel is a bulky set-up and your Newtonian's focuser might not handle the weight that's the only problem, Has you see in my video, I have modded the focuser slightly and the DSLR camera can be supported but it's heavy. You can purchase lighter CCD's or CMOS dedicated Astro cameras. And I would stick with a colour variant rather than a mono for the Newtonian, just to keep weight issues down, (even though the mono is more sensitive and have better resolving image quality when images are processed) it's something you have to take the rough to the smooth. A uprated focuser can be your solution to hold the weight of the CCD filter set-up, to a 2" format, but you'll run into problems of stray light interference, as the secondary mirror is smaller, you'll need to buy a bigger secondary mirror in the process, when the better option is to purchase a Newtonian which is designed for Astrophotography. I will look at my existing set-up and give you an answer.
Martin,
The weight the Newtonian gave me with the 383L , the filter wheel, the 30mm guide camera, the 30mm finder and others, was 3,330gr. That OTA has a length of 46cms (18 inch).
From what you tell me ... that "astrophotographic" setting would stand up to the iOptron Smart EQ Pro mount for precise, "rested" movement. and that encourages me to buy that equatorial mount. There's also the Explore Scientific iexos-100 mount, which is lightweight and easy to carry but is more expensive; its operating system is out of the ordinary and maybe if I am in a place where there is no internet signal ..., I do not think that this mount works because its management is through a tablet and not by a hand control like all goto mounts.
As for a CCD or CMOS equipment, yes I agree with you and the best thing, yes, is to buy a lighter and color camera to avoid both overweight and perhaps the handling of filters is to manually place them in the photography sessions (not by electronic filter wheel) or perhaps also by a manual filter wheel, which should be lighter and less bulky.
Yes, I also saw how you modified (cut out) the focuser to give a correct focus of the objects through a camera and I also thought that perhaps by putting a low-profile "crayford" focuser, I could also get a CCD or CMOS dedicated for astrophotography, I managed to operate that telescope as a "Mini-Astrograph"
What happened with your video, where you transformed a small Newtonian telescope with features to be able to turn it into an astrograph equipment, I was left "ringing in my head" and that's why I'm launching to do my project with a Newtonian 114mm, f/4 because it is a very fast, small telescope that could give very good imaging results; instead of paying a lot of money for a small aperture apo refractor telescope. Besides all my life, I have been a great enthusiast of Newtonians.
I look forward to your results with your Newtonian 114mm, and iOptron Smart EQ mount.
Thank you very much Martin
Is this the same telescope with a different mount SKY-Watcher Heritage-114P? Thanks
I'm looking into smaller newtonians for imaging but I'm running into a roadblock here. The Skyhawk 114mm isn't available in the US!! I see the Orion starblast which seems to be the same scope but I can't find too much to confirm this. I am using a 533MC Pro OSC, do you think I'd be able to reach focus with a standard starblast 4.5?
The Starblast 4.5 does get awesome reviews and proven reliable telescope in Astronomy, I've seen so many people highly regard this telescope. You may get away with inward focus with the 533MC camera, as the sensor backfocus is much shorter.
@@MPAstro I ended up purchasing an Orion starblast imaging OTA and modified the tube to accept a big 2" crayford. That pushed my minimum focus distance out a bit so I 3d printed stilts that the mirror sits on. I've only tested it twice but now I've got what amounts to a 144mm f/4 Quattro astrograph if you look at it that way!
Thank you! How did you come up with the F/4.4 where the scope is F/7? I was very impressed and great job, now I am looking for that Skywatcher 114 but looks like not sold in USA. I can find a Celestron - AstroMaster 114EQ Newtonian Telescope maybe this is the same scope??
There is a USA Skwatcher website, if you ask them they will point you in the right direction and they may get you this telescope. www.skywatcherusa.com/
This Skywatcher is a true F4.4 scope, I would suggest to avoid the Celestron 114mm, it's not the same scope has the Skywatcher, has the Celestron is a Bird-Jones (glass lens element corrector in focuser to extend the focal length of 1000mm) This is much slower telescope and you are restricted to imaging the moon and planets due to it's slower optics, you could achieve focus with the Celestron, but I've heard a lot of people who own this scope have had real issues with it. So I would recommend to stick to Newtonian telescope which has a Parabolic mirror, and this Skywatcher 114mm F4.4 is no doubt not to be sniffed at.
I've done a similar bit of hacking to get my binoviewer into focus without a barlow needed.
That's something I've not thought about bino viewers,. Never owned one, how good are these mate?
@@MPAstro tough to ever go back to cyclops viewing after trying them out. Some people don't have their eyes lined up(called a lazy eye in the states but the medical term is amblyopia) and they don't work out for them. I use an inexpensive used celestron binoviewer with a pair of 25mm HD Orthos and everything looks like they were etched into the sky. This also gives me plenty of room to wear my glasses at the scope.
@@MPAstro btw, I did this on my 6" f/5 reflector so I have the equivalent to a pair of 102mm binoculars. still plenty bright enough for deep sky viewing in my experience.
@@Astronomater I'll be impressed with the 114mm. Thanks for the positive feedback, I'm guessing celestron bino viewers are the best ones to go for?
@@MPAstro actually they are the least expensive. I paid 120 USD for a used one. As long as they aren't dropped they stay collimated and are also from the same factory as the williams optics one(another one I can recommend as I have used it at star parties). If money is no object, there are more expensive ones out there, but as long as you buy used you can sell it for what you paid if they don't work out for you.
Does the Canon 70d has the Same length for the focus?
I'm not sure on this camera, there is a back focus symbol (usually situated on top of the camera body) the printed/indention symbol looks like a Circle with a line which runs across it (imagine Saturn with it's rings edge on). That is the position of where the camera sensor is in the camera, here if can??? Able to measure the air gap from the camera lens mount adapter to the sensor symbol position, where you can get that back focus of your camera.
Usually most Canon DSLR models, like your model are very similar to my Canon 600d, the only difference with your camera it is a bigger sensor with a 3" view finder screen. I believe that any Canon T-ring adapter will fit your 70D, the low profile one I've used from Modern Astronomy will fit your camera.
Why do they not just make them like this in the first place.
Quite simply to cut costs of manufacture and maximise profits. The company wants customers to buy the next models for Astro-imaging. These are quite simply Newtonians where the primary mirror is moved closer, making the optical tube shorter and the focusers are made low profile to allow a camera to be brought to focus. Astro companies know how to sell products, I totally agree with you they should make all telescopes user friendly and photo ready to allow any camera to adapt onto the telescopes.
@@MPAstro thanks, great explanation. Really enjoying your videos.