How to collimate a Newtonian Reflector - OCAL Collimator Review
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- čas přidán 16. 11. 2021
- Just bought an OCAL electronic collimator from Hercules because I was not getting perfectly round stars on one of the edges of my Orion 8" f3.9 telescope even with a Skywatcher Aplanatic F4 coma corrector. Can be purchased here (affiliate link): s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDq...
Recommended Equipment and Affiliate links:
Agena Astro: agenaastro.com/?rfsn=7861342....
High Point Scientific: www.highpointscientific.com/?...
Smart Telescopes:
Seestar S50 All-In-One Smart Telescope (my current recommendation): bit.ly/4d4XZw7
Cameras:
ASI2600mc DUO Color Camera: bit.ly/4csEPjE
ASI2600MM PRO Monochrome Camera: bit.ly/3WcVvG3
ZWO ASI6200MC Pro Color Full Frame Camera: bit.ly/3QdM9G6
Mounts and Tripods:
ZWO AM5: bit.ly/3vZ3Dzp
ZWO TC40 Carbon Fiber Tripod: bit.ly/3Qc9b0g
iOptron CEM70: bit.ly/3Q7KdyT
iOptron Tri-Pier: bit.ly/3WbgfhC
Sky-Watcher EQ6R Pro: bit.ly/3PwUdli
Telescopes and optics:
Celestron 11" EdgeHD: bit.ly/4apIE7b
Starizona Hyperstar 11: bit.ly/494gopO
Celestron RASA 8" Astrograph: bit.ly/3UtlVlQ
Askar FRA400 72mm f/5.6 Quintuplet refractor: bit.ly/44bI1MD
Sharpstar 150mm f/2.8 HNT Hyperbolic Newtonian Astrograph: bit.ly/3Urd4AP
Filters:
IDAS NBZ 2 Duo Band Filter (Recommended for RASA or Hyperstar but also works on slower telescopes): bit.ly/3TyWq0B
Optolong L-Ultimate DuoBand filter: (Recommended for telescopes other than RASA or Hyperstar) bit.ly/3vSa737
Visual Observing and Accessories:
Sky-Watcher 150mm GTi GoTo Telescope (best value portable telescope): bit.ly/3Us9g2o
Sky-Watcher 16" Flextube SynScan (serious aperture with Go-To): bit.ly/3JrtGT1
Premium HoTech 1.25" SCA Laser Collimator (for reflector telescopes): bit.ly/3JvGpDW
Basic Laser Collimator (for reflector telescopes): amzn.to/3OwaohV
OCAL Telescope Collimator: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDq...
Flocking Paper (Self adhesive): amzn.to/3UyecDk
Affiliate programs disclosure: I am a member of the Agena, HighPoint Scientific, Amazon and AliExpress affiliate programs. If you use the links in my video description, I will make a small commission at absolutely no cost to you. This helps me support this channel and continue to make these videos and tutorials for you. Thank you for your support.
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Clear skies my friends.
One of the best presentations yet on the Ocal system. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much :)
Excellent demo of the OCAL, I had just ordered one and was reviewing tutorials, best one yet!
Thank you so much for watching. Glad it was helpful :)
A great demo many thanks. My Ocal was delivered yesterday used it to check collimation on the Edge HD8 with 0.7 reducer (which turned out to be pretty close) and have used the device to fine tune the scope. An innovative device, and at a fraction of the cost of the Hotech advanced SCT collimator in the UK!
Well said, Paul. It's a well thought out device. I've been using it on all of my scopes.
Hi, Paul. Occasionally I saw this video, I am an amateur astronomical enthusiast from China. I used Ocal for more than one year to calibrate the Newtonian Reflector of F5, F4, F3.3, and HD8. For verification, Ocal is not suitable for the Newtonian Reflector for calibrating the fast focus ratio, such as F3.3, and it is not suitable for telescopes such as HD8. For HD8, the best calibration method is to face the stars, using your screwdriver knife Adjustment
Thanks for the demonstration and review. I am considering getting the OCAL for my 8" Dobsonian.
It works really well for reflectors/dobsonians.
I bought the coal for my SCT's. I did wonder about my newts , thank you for the video, very informative
Glad it was helpful! :)
Great demo, I think I will get one of these cameras as the initial centering has always been a challenge for me. I have the GSO 12" f4 truss newt and using the Aplanatic F4 coma corrector.
Initial centering has always been a challenge for me as well. This camera does make it much easier.
Cool presentation. What could be added is that if you place a white sheet of paper in the Newtonian, opposite to the ocular tubing, the contrast and the brightniss get's better and you can see everything much better during the process.
And don't forget to remove the paper sheet at the end. It happend to me before. During shooting in the night, I was despered why my stars looked funny. 😅
CS Christian
That's a great suggestion. I did end up adding a white sheet of paper right after I made this video to fine tune my collimation. And also a good reminder to remove the paper afterwards haha. Reminds me of the time I forgot to remove the bahtniov mask before I start imaging for an hour.
@@AbdurAstro
😅👍
Question: In the Center Offset section you are adjusting something to bring the camera sensor to where the purple lines cross, are you adjusting the secondary or the primary?
Also at the end of the video the black circle from etc camera is not concentric with the blue circle, should it be ideally? What do you adjust to more the black circle image within the blue circle?
Great video, thanks for sharing. Does the doughnut in the final part not need to be aligned? So just align the center of the OCAL?
My apologies for missing this comment. That is correct. The OCAL doesn't rely on the donut on the primary mirror as those are sometimes not properly centered from the factory.
How did the double-check with laser collimator and chessire go? Did it confirm that the scope was correctly collimated? Nice tutorial, I received my Ocal yesterday and will try it next weekend based on this tutorial, thanks!
g.
The Cheshire and the collimated laser collimator confirmed that the OCAL was correct. The ocal does a better job of allowing you to center the secondary than the cheshire or the laser on a reflector telescope. This should help with getting even field illumination when imaging. Good luck and let me know how it goes :)
This is extremely useful video. I just cannot perfectly collimate Epsilon 130ED. Looks collimated by Takahashi device, but doesn’t show perfect collimation in star test.
I will try this device
Thank you for watching. I have spent more time with this device since I made this video and gotten better at using it. I will make an updated video as well for anyone who might be trying to collimate their reflector telescopes. I still think this device is great as it doesn't rely on the donut on the primary mirror as those are sometimes not properly centered from the factory.
@@AbdurAstro My Epsilon 130 was centered in Takahashi USA, which in Houston. Then, I picked it in person and drove to San Antonio.
Now, stars are pin point, but when I do star test, just like on SCT, then I see no perfect concentric circles.
I just cannot understand what is going on. Why are stars perfect, when scope is off collimation? I will not get away with such collimation with SCT.
Anyway, I will get to the bottom of this. I will update you when I get results.
Good demo, but the image is blurred when you held the components close to the video cam
Have you checked this method with out-of-focus star? Is it precise enough for deep sky photografy?
It has been good enough for deep sky astrophotography. For high resolution planetary imaging, I would double check the collimation using the the airy disk of an in focus star if the seeing is good.
You can clearly see in this video that the focuser body itself still needs to be adjusted, then everything would be perfect.
Hi there. Thank you for pointing that out. I made this video a long time ago and there is room for improvement. I will made a new video when I get a chance that will address some of those things.
@@AbdurAstro Hello, yes, of course, I see and understand this, this comment is more for beginners of this “craft” than for you directly.
@@JVRost Understood. Clear skies my friend :)
Thank you!
You're welcome!
I want one but it's like £200!!! But I think for my f4 scope it will be worth it
Thats more expensive than my telescope 😂
The true center of curvature might be off from the absolute center of the mirror
Thuis is NOT a correct collimation. You make the same misstake as you are collimating it with a laser.
Hi friend. A laser can be an excellent collimation tool but it is important to first collimate your laser collimator to ensure accurate collimation. I made an easy to follow video about that here:
czcams.com/video/pRspc1SJS7M/video.htmlsi=v2K1XBJScK-i3b2i
And those mistakes are....?