@Dobsonian Power I am glad you are here and a part of the community. You have many “beginner” videos that are valuable and accessible due to your channel. Thank you!
Really appreciate this video. I have an 8 inch Dobsonian XT 8 Plus and have been using the 28 mm lens it came with but last night, switched to the 10 mm and could not get it to focus. Been trying to find out what I was doing wrong and after watching your video, believe I need to use the extender. Will try again the next clear night. Thanks
i try to keep it simple :) welcome. Make sure you attend when possible to our live streams. There, any doubt can be addressed in real time while we enjoy watching the sky
I bought a Sky Watcher Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTI 150P Collapsible Tabletop GoTo Dobsonian Telescope, as per your suggestion. It had a lousy focuser. So, I bought a Astromania Adaptor T2 Thread to 2" Female for Telescope, a Adjustable Focusing Helicoid Adapter, VBESTLIFE M42 to M42 Focusing Helicoid Lens Mount Adapter Macro Tube Accessory (17mm-31mm) and a M48 Male to M42 Male Telescope Adapter Lens Adapter Ring Aluminum Filter Adapter Ring for Connecting The Telescope with M48 Thread and Camera. I assembled them, as you suggested and now I have a pretty good focuser, which I turn like a screw to focus. I also bought heavy plastic tubing to mark the location I should use when uncollapsing the optical tube to allow focusing with the GSO 0.5X Focal Reducer, 2" (50.8mm) Diameter you suggested. Nice.
Under some focusers a locking nut. The knobs of the focuser will turn but the focuser will not move. Loosen this nut and the focuser should move. it caught me out when i upgraded my telescope as my previous focuser did not have the locking nut.
Sharpcap Focus Assistant is a Fantastic tool! I use It for Focussing, when Im imaging DSOs or Planets. For The Moon I can Just Use Its Craters And Shadows To Focus, Easy! This is was a Fantastic Tutorial, well done Tiago :)! Clear Skies..
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this video, it really has cleared up some understanding of lenses for me and making decisions on future upgrades!
Through a DSLR or other camera, you need the T-Ring adapter to be fairly short with a small 2x Barlow piece. That gives you a short distance from full in to focus. If you are using an extension tube with T-Ring longer than 50mm you will need stronger Barlow lenses with eyepiece inside the extension tube. I found the eyepiece to be essential when using the extension tube, but no eyepiece at all if just a short T-Ring I don't know if that made sense to you? I own a 200P Skywatcher OTA with Meade LXD55/75 goto mount & a smaller 130EQ Astromaster for moon photography with Canon 250D 24mp DSLR. Short Barlow 2x magnification is how I set both of them up. No Eyepiece, just Barlow. What are you using to view through?
@@DobsonianPower i have the exact same problem the donut just won't get smaller even when i add my 2'inch extension and wind it all the way out its still a white donut im using an eyepiece on a photon reflector 250mm aperture and 1200mm focal length
It helps but it's also a cumbersome for larger apertures. The newtonians have the stars spikes which when zoomed do the job. For smaller apertures like my 6 inch i feel it can be more helpful the bahtinov mask though.
I got a Meade DS-114 and can’t seem to get it into focus. I have a diagonal and a 25mm eyepiece in it. I end up running out of room to rack the focuser all the way in. When I take off the diagonal and just insert the eyepiece, I do have enough room to focus it. I can’t do this with higher magnification eyepieces through because I run out of room. Is there anything I could do to resolve this?
don't use the diagonal and find a way to fit all the eyepieces. different ways possible.to help you, post a picture on my discord so we can see exactly how you have things mounted
Hi Sir, I have a Sky Watcher Explorer 150/750mm telescope and an ASI664mc astrocamera, but I cant find the focal point. I tried to use the focuser with and without the adapter and I also tried with a T adapter on my camera. Do you maybe have a solution for that? Many thanks!
that camera should work without adapter easily. Post a picture of what you get on camera and of the telescope on my discord server so we can help you: discord.gg/dobsonianpower
Hope all is well, Tiago! With this focusing mask, and focal reducers; do these work for visual astronomy very well, or are they only suited for astrophotography? I am using my 8" Dob telescope for visual astronomy. I do not have a camera, and at this time I don't have much interest in astrophotography. Will focal reducers improve deep sky views like nebulae, open and closed clusters through the eyepiece? Can I use this Bahtinov Mask for focusing, and then remove it for observations? I do not want to buy these components if I can not apply them for my purposes. Sorry if these are ridiculous questions, but I simply do not know. Any advice would be appreciated! Be good!
I don't use bahtinov masks, I'm not sure why you referred them. The use of focal reducers visualy will depend on the eyepieces you use. I don't have many eyepieces but i use a cheap focal reducer with my ES 9mm 100° and it gives smazing views. It turns it in a 13mm eyepiece more or less. But it didn't work well in my 32mm omegon and 3.5mm APM.
What if you own a SkyWatcher 130PHeritage and you run out of the ability to focus at the top like at the end of your video, are there extenders for that scope?
I have a vivitar telescope and yeah it doesbt focus but im looking out of my window so maybe I have to go outside I havent even watched the video so yeah ill watch it now
@@DobsonianPower yes, flat earthers uses a badly focused camera like nikon p900 and zoom into a star, and they claim that the sky is made out of water, that not only proves how idiotic they are, but it proves that they also a failure at cameras and imaging, stars looks better with telescopes, i wrote a whole wikipedia page, lol.
I have a 12" dobsonian. Whenever I point at a planet, eg Jupiter, I cannot get a focus at all. I turn the focuser wheel as shown, but the more I turn it so the lens moves "out" more, the bigger the disc becomes and the less focused. When I turn the focuser so the lens is all the way "in" to the max, I'm still not focused and it feels like the lens needs to be even further "in" for me to get a focus. What am I doing wrong? I've checked there is not an extender attached to my scope.
You should be able to focus. If you want join our discord and post a picture there so we can help you better solving that. Meanwhile you can do a simple trick which is to recollimate it but with the collimation knobs much more released so the primary mirror can move more to the top. It might give you the distance you need, if it's not huge.
Hey, i have the same telescope as you (8” Dobsonian) but i can’t get any focus on the moon. I tried using the full range with every eyepiece combination and still looks like a blurry white ball. Does it need collimation?
@@DobsonianPower It gets worse as I move it in and gets better as I extend the focuser out, but the main features on the moon can barely be seen. For the moon to look clear, I had to extend the focuser all the way out, use the extension, and move back around 30 cm. If I were to get closer to the eyepiece and look through it normally, the moon gets blurry again.
If you're thinking about buying an 8" Dobsonian: th-cam.com/video/oj9TnVu_vAA/w-d-xo.html
@Dobsonian Power I am glad you are here and a part of the community. You have many “beginner” videos that are valuable and accessible due to your channel. Thank you!
Thanks Kristofer!
Really appreciate this video. I have an 8 inch Dobsonian XT 8 Plus and have been using the 28 mm lens it came with but last night, switched to the 10 mm and could not get it to focus. Been trying to find out what I was doing wrong and after watching your video, believe I need to use the extender. Will try again the next clear night. Thanks
Thanks. Be aware that in your situation can also simply be the bad seeing affecting your views at an higher magnification as it is the 10mm
DP, you are awesome. Thanks for the informative and entertaining videos. You break it down like nobody else.
Thanks Drew👍
I watched tons of videos to get the info you presented in this short and informative video. I subscribed your channel right away😊. Thank you so much
i try to keep it simple :) welcome. Make sure you attend when possible to our live streams. There, any doubt can be addressed in real time while we enjoy watching the sky
great tips, going to be very helpful, thankyou
Thanks for the feedback Chris!
I bought a Sky Watcher Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTI 150P Collapsible Tabletop GoTo Dobsonian Telescope, as per your suggestion.
It had a lousy focuser. So, I bought a Astromania Adaptor T2 Thread to 2" Female for Telescope, a Adjustable Focusing Helicoid Adapter, VBESTLIFE M42 to M42 Focusing Helicoid Lens Mount Adapter Macro Tube Accessory (17mm-31mm) and a M48 Male to M42 Male Telescope Adapter Lens Adapter Ring Aluminum Filter Adapter Ring for Connecting The Telescope with M48 Thread and Camera.
I assembled them, as you suggested and now I have a pretty good focuser, which I turn like a screw to focus.
I also bought heavy plastic tubing to mark the location I should use when uncollapsing the optical tube to allow focusing with the GSO 0.5X Focal Reducer, 2" (50.8mm) Diameter you suggested.
Nice.
Great! You will notice a great difference. I'm very happy with the focuser upgrade.
Practical, simple and useful explained.
Under some focusers a locking nut. The knobs of the focuser will turn but the focuser will not move. Loosen this nut and the focuser should move. it caught me out when i upgraded my telescope as my previous focuser did not have the locking nut.
very good point. Often times we forget that locking knob
Sharpcap Focus Assistant is a Fantastic tool! I use It for Focussing, when Im imaging DSOs or Planets. For The Moon I can Just Use Its Craters And Shadows To Focus, Easy! This is was a Fantastic Tutorial, well done Tiago :)! Clear Skies..
Hey Avanteesh! Thanks. Have a nice weekend
I like how you explain it
Thanks Alexandru. I'm glsd you like 👍
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this video, it really has cleared up some understanding of lenses for me and making decisions on future upgrades!
Great! 👍
Thank you!
Very helpful information,thank you!
Thanks 👍👍
Great tips! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
What do you use to clean the mirrors ?
Distilled water. Here: th-cam.com/video/c18C22wSwY0/w-d-xo.html
👍🏽
Can you do a focus videos for a celestron 144AZ-SR caus I looked at Saturn an it looked like a cross with black lines yes and I focused it
that's because it's not focused. Post a picture on discord so we can help you.
🤖Join us on DISCORD: discord.gg/Kq9rrH2fzX
Hello, could you help me decide if I should get a 6.7 mm explore scientific 82 degree eyepiece or the 8.8 mm version?
What is the finger screw on the side used for?
I'm not sure what you mean but if it's the double wheel gold knob it's for fine tunning focus.
I love doughnuts
I’ve wound mine all the way in and all the way out. Still the same. It’s a brand new reflector telescope. Saxon 1141eq
Define better what still the same means. What do you see? Maybe i can help you.
Are you having this issue with a camera or eyepiece? If a camera, it might be a backspacing issue?
Through a DSLR or other camera, you need the T-Ring adapter to be fairly short with a small 2x Barlow piece. That gives you a short distance from full in to focus.
If you are using an extension tube with T-Ring longer than 50mm you will need stronger Barlow lenses with eyepiece inside the extension tube.
I found the eyepiece to be essential when using the extension tube, but no eyepiece at all if just a short T-Ring
I don't know if that made sense to you? I own a 200P Skywatcher OTA with Meade LXD55/75 goto mount & a smaller 130EQ Astromaster for moon photography with Canon 250D 24mp DSLR. Short Barlow 2x magnification is how I set both of them up. No Eyepiece, just Barlow.
What are you using to view through?
@@DobsonianPower i have the exact same problem the donut just won't get smaller even when i add my 2'inch extension and wind it all the way out its still a white donut im using an eyepiece on a photon reflector 250mm aperture and 1200mm focal length
@@teunpep8184 when all the way out, the donut gets larger or smaller than before?
a batinhov mask is also very helpful for a good clear image
It helps but it's also a cumbersome for larger apertures. The newtonians have the stars spikes which when zoomed do the job. For smaller apertures like my 6 inch i feel it can be more helpful the bahtinov mask though.
excelent, thank you!
👍👍
I got a Meade DS-114 and can’t seem to get it into focus. I have a diagonal and a 25mm eyepiece in it. I end up running out of room to rack the focuser all the way in. When I take off the diagonal and just insert the eyepiece, I do have enough room to focus it. I can’t do this with higher magnification eyepieces through because I run out of room. Is there anything I could do to resolve this?
don't use the diagonal and find a way to fit all the eyepieces. different ways possible.to help you, post a picture on my discord so we can see exactly how you have things mounted
Hi Sir, I have a Sky Watcher Explorer 150/750mm telescope and an ASI664mc astrocamera, but I cant find the focal point. I tried to use the focuser with and without the adapter and I also tried with a T adapter on my camera. Do you maybe have a solution for that? Many thanks!
that camera should work without adapter easily. Post a picture of what you get on camera and of the telescope on my discord server so we can help you: discord.gg/dobsonianpower
Hello, so if i focus it on jupiter, i see a donut. When i make it smaller, i just see a dot. How can i see jupiter?
what telescope and eyepiece are you using?
same with me with celestron 130dx
@@dudebro-zd3le what eyepiece?
Hope all is well, Tiago! With this focusing mask, and focal reducers; do these work for visual astronomy very well, or are they only suited for astrophotography? I am using my 8" Dob telescope for visual astronomy. I do not have a camera, and at this time I don't have much interest in astrophotography. Will focal reducers improve deep sky views like nebulae, open and closed clusters through the eyepiece? Can I use this Bahtinov Mask for focusing, and then remove it for observations? I do not want to buy these components if I can not apply them for my purposes. Sorry if these are ridiculous questions, but I simply do not know. Any advice would be appreciated! Be good!
I don't use bahtinov masks, I'm not sure why you referred them. The use of focal reducers visualy will depend on the eyepieces you use. I don't have many eyepieces but i use a cheap focal reducer with my ES 9mm 100° and it gives smazing views. It turns it in a 13mm eyepiece more or less. But it didn't work well in my 32mm omegon and 3.5mm APM.
Ayo Portuguese accent
Yeaaaaah 👍👍
What if you own a SkyWatcher 130PHeritage and you run out of the ability to focus at the top like at the end of your video, are there extenders for that scope?
Yes. That has solution. Is it for use with camera or eyepieces?
@@DobsonianPower Both buy mainly eyepieces
@citylimitsphoto and are you shure you can't foxus? You should. Check if the sliders are all up first.
I have a vivitar telescope and yeah it doesbt focus but im looking out of my window so maybe I have to go outside I havent even watched the video so yeah ill watch it now
Go for it! 👍
Hey when I use my starsense 114 mm telescope it's just showing a white circle how do i fix this
I explain that in the video. Did youwatch it?
flat earthers should learn!
👍
@@DobsonianPower yes, flat earthers uses a badly focused camera like nikon p900 and zoom into a star, and they claim that the sky is made out of water, that not only proves how idiotic they are, but it proves that they also a failure at cameras and imaging, stars looks better with telescopes, i wrote a whole wikipedia page, lol.
Pq o título tá em português e tu fala em inglês ?
O canal é em inglês mas eu faço títulos e subtítulos para poderem ler em português.
I have a 12" dobsonian. Whenever I point at a planet, eg Jupiter, I cannot get a focus at all. I turn the focuser wheel as shown, but the more I turn it so the lens moves "out" more, the bigger the disc becomes and the less focused. When I turn the focuser so the lens is all the way "in" to the max, I'm still not focused and it feels like the lens needs to be even further "in" for me to get a focus. What am I doing wrong? I've checked there is not an extender attached to my scope.
You should be able to focus. If you want join our discord and post a picture there so we can help you better solving that. Meanwhile you can do a simple trick which is to recollimate it but with the collimation knobs much more released so the primary mirror can move more to the top. It might give you the distance you need, if it's not huge.
@@DobsonianPower Thanks DP :) I'll try that and contact your discord server.
Galaxy Cameras.
Amazing content. The more I learn, the stupid I feel :D
eheheh we're always learning 👍
Hey, i have the same telescope as you (8” Dobsonian) but i can’t get any focus on the moon. I tried using the full range with every eyepiece combination and still looks like a blurry white ball. Does it need collimation?
Did you try an extension as i show in the video?
@@DobsonianPower Yes
Does it get worse when you move the focuser in, or it seems to get better?
@@DobsonianPower It gets worse as I move it in and gets better as I extend the focuser out, but the main features on the moon can barely be seen. For the moon to look clear, I had to extend the focuser all the way out, use the extension, and move back around 30 cm. If I were to get closer to the eyepiece and look through it normally, the moon gets blurry again.
@@HarpSeal was the sky clear? Do you have the telescope collimated?