Pst mod or quark

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Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Hi all, I'd like to ask a few questions if I may but let me start to say what equipment I have so far.. I have a pst ready for modding... I have a 100mm f10 Tal refractor, I have a 2 inch 35nm ha filter and a m48 extension to mount the filter..
What is like to know please are... what benefit would I have if I went from a stage 1 to stage 2?
Is there any benefit to double stacking and what would I get a more contrast/sharp image
I assume I'd need either a internal or external ERF with 100mm aperture and 1000mm fl?
I've wondered if I'd be better off selling the pst and going the quark route, is one better than the other in any way?
This is from a imaging point of view please... thanks in advance


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by minhlead »

For double stacking pst and quark. See here viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34996


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

Mod it! The PST and Tal make a great combination, I have one as do quite a few others.


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by FRAZ »

I'd recommend following the route of what you have and make it happen then look for best bang for buck. PST and Tal is the best I can see.

When I first went dark sky I took the advice to get the best mount I could. I give you the advice to get the best erf you can.


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

Hi Derek.

I presume you are still going the stage 2 route still? Are you using the stock focuser on the Tal?

Mark


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

I'm not sure on the focuser, I was going to.. any suggestions?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

FRAZ wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:32 pm I'd recommend following the route of what you have and make it happen then look for best bang for buck. PST and Tal is the best I can see.

When I first went dark sky I took the advice to get the best mount I could. I give you the advice to get the best erf you can.
Thanks FRAZ, yeah it's going to be a baader D-ERF
I see you use a bf15.. as it happens the bf 15 from TS is cheaper than the bf10.. the bf10 is closer to my focal length.. any pros and cons or suggestions?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by FRAZ »

Sol seeker uk wrote: Sun Apr 24, 2022 6:28 pm
FRAZ wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:32 pm I'd recommend following the route of what you have and make it happen then look for best bang for buck. PST and Tal is the best I can see.

When I first went dark sky I took the advice to get the best mount I could. I give you the advice to get the best erf you can.
Thanks FRAZ, yeah it's going to be a baader D-ERF
I see you use a bf15.. as it happens the bf 15 from TS is cheaper than the bf10.. the bf10 is closer to my focal length.. any pros and cons or suggestions?
I have a bf10 15 and 30 but use the 15 always.

Just be aware that the erf does not make you a genius. Always take the most care with any solar equipment.
Sorry: just got bad vibes there for a minute. Get the best you can afford but do not get the 30.


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

No bad vibes felt here... I take any advise willingly... especially from the experienced... So with the Tal would you go bf10 or bf15?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by FRAZ »

I would definitely go for the bf 15.

There are a ton of resources in the library and threads that you would benefit from reading. I found a couple on blocking filters. the longer your focal length the bigger you probably want the bf. The 15 will future proof you.


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

FRAZ wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 11:17 am I would definitely go for the bf 15.

There are a ton of resources in the library and threads that you would benefit from reading. I found a couple on blocking filters. the longer your focal length the bigger you probably want the bf. The 15 will future proof you.
Thanks FRAZ, I've been looking for some information, can you post a link or send a pm... I don't mind buying the 15 as it's cheaper than the 10... Regarding future proof, the only thing that might happen is that I get a 150mm X 1200 FL and the bf10 is 1080 FL, BUT... Not sure if I have decent enough skies to support it.. in terms of a bf15 is that overkill and would it be detrimental on a 1000mm FL scope?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

It will be fine Derek! :)


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

marktownley wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:25 pm It will be fine Derek! :)
Thanks mark, did you mean the 15?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by MalVeauX »

I would first make sure the PST etalon is even worth modding. Does it have good uniformity, high contrast, high finesse?

Very best,


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

MalVeauX wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:42 am I would first make sure the PST etalon is even worth modding. Does it have good uniformity, high contrast, high finesse?

Very best,
Good advice!


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Hi Marty, I'm very new to solar, dabbled with baader film but the PST is the first Ha scope that I've owned.. i do find the tuning abit frustrating but that maybe what I'm doing wrong, the best part of surface detail and proms adjustment are most of the way over to the left... I had in my head that it be one way for the surface detail and the other for proms or at least a different setting.. If I go through the tuning until get some decent surface detail and not different levels of brightness across the disc, I tune until there's a uniform brightness and a decent level of contrast.. I do suffer with Newton rings but I can rectify that once I've modded it.. when I'm setting the exposure and gain I set the exposure first and then adjust the gain to get a 70-80% percentage on the histogram.. with the skyris I do get pixel bleed and so far I've not got a image so far that I'm pleased with, but again once I've modded it I'm going to use my 290 instead of the skyris.. high finesse as in clarity? no not really but unsure of its what I'm doing is right or wrong..


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

Have you any pictures taken through the PST alone?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by MalVeauX »

Sol seeker uk wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 6:28 pm Hi Marty, I'm very new to solar, dabbled with baader film but the PST is the first Ha scope that I've owned.. i do find the tuning abit frustrating but that maybe what I'm doing wrong, the best part of surface detail and proms adjustment are most of the way over to the left... I had in my head that it be one way for the surface detail and the other for proms or at least a different setting.. If I go through the tuning until get some decent surface detail and not different levels of brightness across the disc, I tune until there's a uniform brightness and a decent level of contrast.. I do suffer with Newton rings but I can rectify that once I've modded it.. when I'm setting the exposure and gain I set the exposure first and then adjust the gain to get a 70-80% percentage on the histogram.. with the skyris I do get pixel bleed and so far I've not got a image so far that I'm pleased with, but again once I've modded it I'm going to use my 290 instead of the skyris.. high finesse as in clarity? no not really but unsure of its what I'm doing is right or wrong..
Can you show examples of images made with that PST?

PST mods are easy, relatively, and are good if you want to make a moderate to high res system as it will no longer show the disc in the sweet spot with anything larger than a 40mm aperture due to field/acceptance angles. So the moment you go bigger on aperture, the sweet spot will shrink, which means no more full discs. But that's ok if you're only looking at small FOV portions of the disc, in higher resolution, higher magnification for example. The PST mod with any larger 4" F10 refractor and the IMX290 sensor is a very good match in general.

The problem is, most PST etalons are actually pretty awful. I wouldn't bother modding one if it's not pretty excellent with high contrast and good uniformity. Otherwise, by the time you spend on the adapters, DERF, new blocking filters (Stage II), etc, you end up with an expensive but low quality etalon HA scope and then you have to wonder if there's a better way to spend on that--and the answer is yes, with a Lunt 50 mod instead. Forget Quarks... the Lunt 50 mod is inexpensive and a much better etalon than a PST and even easier to mod with off the shelf pieces rather than custom.

Very best,


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Thanks again Marty, first of all how do you attach a image on here?
No more full discs,. No that's fine as I'm not looking for full discs and happy with mosaics.. I've done 32 panes on the moon with my SCT
Lunt 50 mod, can you explain please?


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by MalVeauX »

Sol seeker uk wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:18 am Thanks again Marty, first of all how do you attach a image on here?
No more full discs,. No that's fine as I'm not looking for full discs and happy with mosaics.. I've done 32 panes on the moon with my SCT
Lunt 50 mod, can you explain please?
Hi,

When you're in your posting window (the full editor), look below the draft/preview/submit buttons, there's a big pane with two tabs, options & attachments. Click attachments. It should be intuitive from there. Ideally you should host your image somewhere else, like Flickr, SmugMug, Imgr, etc.

It's way, way harder to do a mosaic with solar, than nighttime stuff, seeing is highly variable and worse, so doing 32 panes isn't going to be useful with solar, as most of them will have different seeing conditions and so it will look soft and blurry here and there with some sharp patches. 2~6 panel mosaics are doable, but still, it's pushing the luck with variable seeing.

Here's two examples of Lunt mods:

Lunt 60:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34331

Lunt 50:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=35530

The Lunt 50 is cheaper of course, but both can be done with off the shelf components. No custom adapters. You do have to shorten your OTA so use a suitable donor OTA. But you get the idea. These have much better etalons than PST's do typically. Also these are non destructive, you can reverse it and use the original scope for full discs still.

Very best,


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Cheers Marty, some interesting info for me to absorb... Thanks again


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Hi Marty, I've just found some of your videos, and I've been doing it all wrong, so no wonder I've struggled to get a decent image
Bet it's cloudy from now on ☁️☁️☁️😱😭


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

[[/media]Hi all, just a update, I managed to have a dabble on Saturday and got far better results than I have previously,still not quite right but heading in the right direction at least.. So I have a 20 min window of clear ish views tonight after work and decided to use the 290 instead of the skyris, the Newton rings seem far worst with the Qhy, I'm sure it's a better camera but can't see where I can tilt the optical train in the native PST state.. I'm going to either have to get a tilt plate or buy a player one camera
... D-ERF and bf15 are on order


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

PXL_20220517_163348429.MP.jpg
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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

Sorry about the reflection off the laptop screen


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by marktownley »

Hi Derek, it is only the camera that is tilted. CAn you keep attached image down to a couple of Mb or less please.


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Re: Pst mod or quark

Post by Sol seeker uk »

I was impressed myself just attaching the images..


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