I wanted to return to my roots with a BANGER backyard video for you guys... but the weather got to me. I'll be bringing the fire in the next one guys. Clear skies.

Love how the clouds softened the image to give it a dreamy feel. I also am really impressed by the reducer flattener pushing the F-Stop so low.

Do you guys even need cooled cameras? Signed, Australia 🇦🇺

You have the best outros in the field. Great work!

Stunning as usual!

As always Trevor a fantastic result in extreme conditions. Nice work

Love your videos Trevor! Always a highlight of my week.

I really like that you had the time of day and the temperature outside. Like most Canadians, we like talking/knowing about the weather. Great video!

Really cool. Great job Trevor

As always nice video. Thanks for explaining this! It's so useful :D

Fantastic information Trevor, great work 👍

Hey Trevor! I wanted to let you know that your videos have inspired me to go to the Cherry springs star party this year! I have already made my reservations and I look forward to not only meeting you, but using my new 8 inch dobsonian!!!!!!

Very cool (pun unintended) video. Here's a suggestion for a possible video theme: *"Everything you wanted to know about guide scopes/guide cameras for astro-photography",* the need for those (and how to actually do it) as opposed to using the mount's tracking alone, etc.

Very professional video. I like it when you are serious.

Well done as always and good information Trevor. I have been using a reducer or flattener/reducer for more than four years now and like you, love it! However, I just purchased a flattener alone so I can zero in on the smaller targets during galaxy season. It will be interesting to see the difference as I lose the f-ratio speed (F/5.6 to F/7) but gain on resolution.

Great video - can’t wait for my ASI 533 MC Pro to arrive.

Your image turned out pretty well! It's amazing what lowering the focal ratio can do. I use the hyperstar on my 1100HD. At F/2 it does wonders.

Hi Trevor, thanks for another great video. I have exactly the same setup (Esprit 100 on an EQ6 R Pro mount). I am really thinking about to buy the Apex reducer and your video is very helpfull for my decission. Thank you so much. Best wishes from Germany and clear sky 🙂🔭✨ Marco

Mighty neat!

A good reducer on a refractor makes a world of difference. I love Starizona products, they are a bit on the expensive side including Hyperstar, but gives you the versatility!

Starizona APEX ED Reducer; The Viagra of backyard astrophotography! Truly a banger of an episode! :-)

Removing the reducer reminds me of how they defuse nuclear warheads in the movies! seriously though great video, you rescued the audio issue with editing nicely, the final image was great and I loved the sound track you used for it. Audio is important on so many levels :)

This is so cool. Your picture looks soo much better than the one I took last night of Orion. Although I was using a manual Dobsonian and a Samsung S8...so I get what I get.

Finally astromodified my t3i and got a .85x reducer in yesterday. Can’t wait for clear weather this Thursday night. Perfect video to get me excited about it. 👍🏻 I’m hoping to get a good shot of the Horsehead Nebula at 510mm or 600mm(haven’t decided yet)with the newly modded t3i.

From this day forward, i call this object "The Heart & Lung Nebulae". I like this name i've given it! What does everyone else think ? Great vid Trevor! I just noticed, your SUBS gone up by 12'000+ in a matter of weeks!?? Amazing my friend! Well Done! Wes, Liverpool, England. ( Bortle 8 )

Been working on just getting a telescope for starting out. Trying to save for one that’s at least has the eight inch aperture. Got a long way to go before I’ll get the quality in your work but I enjoy viewing for now.

I'm more impressed about the amount of time you deicate to setup the telescope. It must take a bit of time as making sure that it 100 % balanced. So that the tracker will follow the star that you had it set to track with no problem. The entire setup is really something else. Cheers

Great video 👍 Waiting on delivery of my 533, but could be a while due to the virus. Great effort in those conditions, or are you used to it. 😃

Big fan

Hey @astrobackyard the temporary satellite of Earth is calculated to pass by the Moon August this year. It's name is 2020 CD3 and it would be really cool if you could make a photoshoot of it's last journey around Earth. Please do this it would be so awesome. Also sorry for bad English.

Great picture Trevor! Have you heard of the 2020 Astronomy Photographer of the year? And if you have, did you enter it?(the competition closes March 6 12pm GMT)

Great video again bro - funny, I was just talking to Steve at Starizona yesterday about this FF/FR in the "S" version. I think i'm replacing my Stellarvue 0.8x FF/FRs on my double stack with two of these Apex 0.65x's to bring my SV70Ts down to F/3.9. I've heard good things from friends who are already using this nifty little product!

Thanks for another great video with some really good information How could you not use ASIAIR?

Who imaged that object will know how hard it is. The dense star field makes it pretty hard to edit. Nice image Trevor

I see... ...an observatory in your future :) Nice image btw.

Great content Trevor! Is the filter drawer you are using from a Hyperstar setup?

Very cool

Great video.. 👏👏 One stupid question.. do we need to use a field flattener and/or coma corrector to use focal reducers with f4 or faster newt telescopes ?

You should do a video on Dragonfly Arrays, this is something I can't find much material on. Is something like it possible for amateurs?

Focal reducers are sweet. I still need to get me a better one, but even my 0.85x focal reduction is already very useful. Still have a few other items on my wishlist before I get to that one though...

Hey Trevor. How about a video on Mirrorless camera astrophotography? Is it good? Are there enough support gears, adaptars and accessories out there to make this possible?

First off great video! Love the Starizona crew. But technically, a reducer doesn’t increase the number of photons collected. Radiometrically speaking the number of photons collected is proportional to the area of the entrance pupil. Changing the focal length with a fixed aperture increases the energy density of the focused spot. But don’t take my comment wrong, I am a noob in this hobby still, and have learned a ton from watching your content! I just happen to be a nit picky optical engineer.

I love the hint of Zelda music in some of the songs in these videos lol

i came for the music - Nice :)

Wondered why you don't use (or perhaps you do?) team viewer and Stellarium with the RS232 / USB cable set up to remotely control your scope once the focus and polar alignment are done, from the comfort of your garage?

Any experience with Apertura telescopes? I'm thinking of the 60mm Apo for my lightweight Star Adventurer setup.

Awesome setup. What kind of filter holder is that?

I'm amazed you got your hands on the APEX-L, they don't look to be available until 2nd quarter of this year. I am taking delivery of the APEX-S tomorrow and plan to use it on an Esprit 80ED for a ripping fast f/3.2! Also getting the ASI533MC-P, I really like the square format, low dark noise, and no amp glow.

I have a Celestron - NexStar 8SE. celestron f6.3 focal reducer and ZWO ASI183MC Pro 20.18 MP CMOS Color Astronomy Camera but i have problems with '' backfocus'' i can not get nothing i don't have a right pictures with my camara...i'll tried every thing ....but nothing i only have just a littler point on my tablet...could you help me about it? /////thanks

Great image. Curious to know the expanse of the nebula (light years). Anyone?

Hi Trevor. Great video. Do you know if this reducer is good for Skywatcher Ed80/600 telescope? I am using the Skywatcher reducer/corrector 0.85x, but i would like to have another one that could reduce the focal length even more. I would like to use Stellarium on my KZfaq videos also, do you know if it safe to use for youtube? Let's say if you want to monetize the video. I did some reading about the license, but i did not manage to find enough information.

I love your content brother x

Could this work on a Newt?

Trevor, I would be freaking out if I had those tall tree's in my backyard. Chain saw massacre is my first thought.

Would that reducer work on the Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80ED?

Do you notice any degradation in image quality as opposed to without the reducer? I would imagine a slight softening. That Canon 1.4 you held up is by far the best reducer I’ve used for any device. It’s big brother, the x2, is horrible.

Ever thought about using the c6 hyperstar v4? 300mm focal length, F 1.9! supports 28mm sensor. It's insane.

You need a small roll off roof Observatory big time. Best wishes for your automated observatory of the future.

Why is there before photo? Wider and Faster than what? I understand how they work. but without something to compare to. it is not much help

Wow, you are a trooper sacrificing your comfort zone for the love of astronomy in snow. Like your videos, and someday I hope you'll make a permanent observatory showing us how you would do it!

Hey Trevor! I have a question. At first I was looking at getting the Z61, but I stumbled upon the AT60ED from Astro-Tech. It seems like basically the same scope, but a whole lot cheaper. Any thoughts?

MC294 or 533? Which one do you prefer better?

This stuff is like science porn.... I'm hooked!

Wow -15, won't have to cool the camera!

Damn good job.... F up or not.

think you need some coffee Trevor....Sirius in Orion??

I just recently bought the CCDT67 telecompressor. I haven’t gotten to use it yet though because of all the friggen wind! I’ll take Canada’s temperature over Wyoming wind any day of the week and twice on Sundays

Good approach but not the best.. a F2.8 high quality 200mm lens on an aps-c sensor would take that hole nebula at only 30 sec exposures... of course do a lot of them and apply median on stacking.

Good video! Keep it up! Would you like to be KZfaq friends? :)

.

First

No, reducers do not increase the speed of a telescope. Only increasing the aperture can increase the amount of light collected. An 8" scope collects the same amount of light whether at f/10 or f/1.9. The difference between a telescope and a camera lens is what confuses people- lenses have an iris that changes the aperture of the lens while the focal length remains constant. Telescopes have a constant aperture and reducers (or Barlows) change the focal length. (That's why lenses are given in focal length and telescopes are given in aperture: a 60mm lens at f/6 is a lot different from a 60mm f/6 refractor.) When you get into crop factor and speed boosters you're only talking concepts relative to daylight photography such as depth of field. (Speed boosters are popular with Four Thirds cameras because the 2x crop factor has twice the depth of field of full frame- but this is irrelevant to astrophotography.) The ONLY way a telescope can be "faster" is with a larger aperture and constant focal length- changing the focal length at the same aperture only changes the field of view.

All this "F" talk makes me think Trevor needs to find Ashley. LOL Hell, it's Canada you have to keep her warm.

Maybe someday I'll stop being amazed. Probably not.