QHY Polemaster review and
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ต.ค. 2021
- For years I've used the polar alignment routine built into EQMOD. But bending over and trying to look through the mount's polar scope and fiddle with adjustments is challenging these days. I tried NINA's polar alignment but didn't have good success and ultimately felt like I couldn't trust it. Enter the QHY Polemaster! Wow! What a great tool for easy polar alignment of your equatorial mount. In this video I go over the process of using it and performing a polar alignment.
#astrophotography #polemaster #polaralignment
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Thanks for this video Shawn! I have been considering this very product over the last few days and you have just answered all my questions
The Polemaster is amazing little tool and extremely helpful for beginners.
I've had the PoleMaster for about 6 months now. And I also use NINA. I've not used NINA to PA, but I'm very happy with the PoleMaster.
I used the polemaster for a while then switched to Sharpcap. Very please with the accuracy of Sharpcap and it was easy to use.
As an aside - and taking nothing away from the Polemaster - a tip for old-style polar alignment is to get a right angle viewer! I'm very new to all this but have had one on my polar scope since my early Star Adventurer days and just lean forward: no grovelling required.
Another nice one Shawn been using this on an ADM Polemaster DV mount for whatever setup i use! Really improved my gotos and tracking!
One of the best accessories I've purchased for astrophotography!
Sharpcap does a magnificent job, and if you already have a guidecam and a guidescope, no need to buy anything additional. At only ten quid per year, it's well worth it and gives fantastic results in a very short time compared to either Polemaster or NINA.
I had some not insignificant issues with Polemaster in the Southern Hemisphere (and oddly, it was the first QHY product I have owned where the drivers actually work) especially in the early days of very poorly written instructions.
G’day Shawn
Great to see this tutorial on the polemaster
I was about to pull the trigger & buy one a few years ago but I came across the tool in sharpcap polar align
This has worked really well for me & then once I got the AsiAir pro I now use that for polar alignment
I guess wether it’s the polemaster, sharpcap, Nina or Pro these tools make polar alignment a breeze
Cheers mate as always
Now I’m off to watch your show on Explore Scientefic
😉
When you like the polmaster, you might like to test the iPolar, which is a bit faster and more comfortable; Just point rough to polaris, let the platesoler solve (way less than one second). The computer screen shows a cross (which is your current position) and a point (which shows the pole). Now just use the screws on your mount (or polarwedge) to set the cross on the point. No need to rotate axes, click on stars or anything else. 2 Minutes and you are done.
BTW: Good and straight forward video. Fun to watch and very clear.
I too use iPolar. Very quick and easy for PA. The orange disk turns green when PA is achieved and the iPolar program will say you are good to go. I removed the optical polarscope from my iOptron ieq30 pro mount and permanently installed the iPolar.
I love my polemaster. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Super easy to use and no bending over to look through the alignment scope. Only way to go.
Great video. I switched to using polemaster about 4 years ago when normally it would take me a while to polar align & I was pressed for time & wanted every minute of a clear night to capture images. Plus getting all on the ground got old fast lol Nowadays I normally can polar align in about 3 - 4 min tops with the polemaster.
I've been using the PoleMaster for about three years and have had no problems with it. I love it. I setup quite often and the old method kills my back. I also use NINA for imaging but have never tried their alignment tool.
Bought my Polemaster and EQ6-R in Dec 2019. Was using the Polemaster software for awhile and it worked well but had sky issues when in monitor. Moved to Sharpcap to polar align and the Polemaster camera works great. I do a one-star alignment on the mount and my targets are damn near spot on.
Hi Shawn, Yes, because I have a bad back I have been using PoleMaster for the past three years on one of my scopes and I has operated flawless. Sure saves my back from bending over and as I am a senior now I don't have to get down to my knees and twist around looking through the mount for pole alignment. I bought a second PoleMaster for my other scope for the same reasons as I mentioned. QHY did a good job on this product.
Been using Polemaster for about Two years now and it works great. I tried the NINA version recently and got horrible results. Polemaster is just so easy
Great video Shawn, well explained. I've been using a Polemaster for a while now and very happy with it.
Have you compared the results of the Polemaster with EQ mod ?
I have the same experience with NINA. Different PAE's in different directions. I reported it to Cuiv.
PoleMaster is great! After a calibration and assistant sequence in PHD2, the guiding rms on my EQ6 R Pro has a customary value of 0.4 arcsec: within one pixel of my ASI183MM Pro (0.52 arcsec)!
Hi Shawn.
Nice video.
I’m using Pole Master and have really easy and quick polar alignment.
A friend of mine is using NINA and has a very good alignment too. When using PHD guiding assistant without corrections, his DEC remained at zero for about 16 mn. And when guiding he had very round stars during his session.
Clear skies.
JM
I've also had good success with it.
Being in southern hemisphere, with fairly light polluted south, south west sky, polemaster was my first and necessary investment to jump into AP. And it literally paid in the first week. Now with polemaster and some practice, it is possible to get arcsecond accurate polar alignment in less than 10 minutes. Something that was impossible before. Even with single axis tracker such as Star Adventurer, With accurate polar alignment, I can pull 90 sec subs even at 400mm. Money well spent. Only complaint is, if there should be a ST4 COM port on Polemaster. This could have been great dual purpose camera (pole alignment + guiding). But this likely QHYs commercial decision.
Great vid, still cant defend the price of polemaster here in Australia compared to $20 aud for sharpcap polar align. Takes one or two minutes. Never let me down.
Great Video! I have more than one Polemaster and use them on IOptron & Celestron CGX-L Mounts with varying adapters. I started using it 4 Years ago and won’t give them up. I have checked the alignments it provides using Drift Alignment, check against SharpCap Polar alignment and of course when using PHD2 Guiding assistant. It is Fast and Accurate. The only down side is it needs a view of Polaris. Have thought of Trying an iOptron iPolar how ever the cost when I don’t need it prevents me from comparing… maybe if I don’t have a view of Polaris I will the try iPolar… till then not needed.
Using Polemaster for almost 2 years now. Can't imagine quicker and easier way to polar align
I agree. I have two. One on each mount.
Love the polemaster! Used sharpcap for quite a while but like having the dedicated camera for polar alignment. One thing I wish they would do is change the green crosshairs to black so it's easier to see when it's centered on polaris.
How does your alignments compare with sharpcap? I have had great results with sharpcap but I am always willing to try anything that improves my observatory.
@@jerrybrown6169 I've been meaning to do a straight comparison...PA in polemaster and then check in sharpcap but haven't yet. I get the subs I need with both, I just like the dedicated cam/software of polemaster so that's all I use now. Plus its a little easier to use, and you can quickly see when seeing is good enough rather than the failed platesolve message in sharpcap
@@Mr77pro Thank you
I have to admit never used the polar scope in my EQ6R. I started using the polar alignment in SharpCap and have been satisfied with it across three mounts (EQ6R, GEM45, and MyT). I have used the Polemaster but I got it primarily for my StarTracker. On my EQ6R/Tripod I found that PHD2 would indicate less than 4a-m PA error as a general rule. I put that down orthogonal differences between the OTA and the mount/Polemaster. I had the ADM replacement saddle but as a cast assembly I felt there was always going to be some 'slop' in the PA scope port in the EQ6 and true alignment on the RA axis.
I have found that PA that uses the OTA seems to be inherently more accurate - as long as everything is snug/tracking correctly on the mount. With my MyT I think I have been getting the best PA's ever. I create a Tpoint model in TSX which gives a PA result at the end. I make the adjustments indicated then perform a small (PA specific) model to fine tune the PA AND update the primary /large pointing model to match. The last two times, both TSX, and the Guide Assistant in PHD2 have reported O adjustments possible (0a-m or less that 1 a-m PA).
YMMV.
Hi Shawn, I recommend something lige the iPolar (I use with iOptron Mount). Such a help is the easiest and fastest solution. I tried MGEN Polar alignment. Too long..
Thanks for your great videos!! LG
Thanks for the helpful video. I tried the NINA's three-point PA and like you, I found it not very accurate. One time I did a drift alignment (cannot see Polaris) after 3PPA and I had to make significant adjustments. One reason it did not work well could be that I didn't use the default setting in 3PPA and may not have had enough distance between the three points (I am using a harmonic drive mount, which works differently than regular GEM and the default setting could crash my scope against the mount). Anyway, I stop using it and now use ASI Air Pro for polar alignment. It is much easier to use (even compare to Polemaster) and much more accurate. The drawback is that I have to more or less see Polaris for PA (so it doesn't work when I am in my backyard) and have to use a ZWO camera.
Always works for me but I’ve never used anything else. My guiding is usually very good and stars from long exposures always round so no complaints.
I have been using the Polemaster since it’s release. Always gives good polar alignment. BTW. What is the banding on your pole master image?
I suspect the banding was from the security camera IR shining into it a bit. There's no cut filter on the polemaster.
If I had a dollar for every complaint about a Polemaster not working with Windows, I would have a Planewave CDK 17 sitting on my mount.
I use SharpCap 4 Pro for polar alignment (ASI224MC attached to 50mm Celestron finderscope) and I'm super happy with it. SharpCap polar align procedure seems to be much more simpler than QHY polemaster routine.
I'll have to try sharpcap as well. Maybe compare the two.
Hi Shawn,
I've bought the Polemaster together with my mount (EQ6R) and from day 1 I was very happy about it, as till then I had only been doing visual with some "crap" mount and telescope, and polar alignment was a nightmare and only good to get a lumbago ... only thing I was wondering when I saw this video, what are these "bands" across the top of the polemaster window?
g.
The bands could be light glare from a street light or neighbors porch light.
Its glare from the security camera IR. There's no cut filter on the polemaster.
@@VisibledarkAstro I use a 3" tube, blackened out, over the camera to isolate it from stray light. ( I have neighbors that have motion controlled porch lights ) :)
Very nice video. Compared to the SharpCap, NINA, and ASPA (Celestron handcontroller, works with visual and camera) methods I've used, the PoleMaster procedure seems a bit involved for a beginner. My thought is that the easiest beginner method would be to use the Celestron ASPA (visual) first. Then, progress to using a camera with ASPA. After that, I'd suggest a beginner to use the NINA method (It's FREE!). Lastly, only if needed, the SCap PA routine is pretty straight forward, but it isn't free. This is only my 2 cents perspective on how a beginner could start with PAlignment. All of this is so daunting for a beginner.
Hmm …you mentioned that there may be difficulties using Nina 3 Star Polar Alignment.…and that moving to another place in the sky the alignment would be out. The best solution for me as my balcony is obstructed to the south by trees and I cannot see the North Star because of the house would probably be the Nina 3 Star Polar Alignment…a work around but slightly arduous method to gain better alignment using Nina might be unfortunately to have to perform the 3 Star Polar Alignment in exactly the same region of your target….will have to try that… and your opinion?
Thanks for the fantastic video.
Two short questions:
- does Polmaster has some sort of plate solving or plans on doing so?
- I use SharpCap Pro polar alignment. It uses the Guidescope/Guidecam and basically dues the same thing as Polmaster with rotation and calculating and representing the error and demanding the correction in Alt/az.
But: whenever I aligning Alt/Az with my EQ6-R Pro and getting close to 0 and then slew for a few times and redo polar alignment after a while it seems the mint has "settled" or something but the alignment is slightly off for a small amount. Is there anything I can do to prevent that?
Clear skies!!!
Polemaster does not use plate solving hence all the manual messing about centering stars in the circles.
Ya I tried polar alignment in nina and it said I was spot on then when I did the guiding assistant in phd2 it told me my error was 75 arc seconds. When I use my polemaster im always sub 10 arc seconds.i did a polemaster alignment and it was 8 arc seconds off so I tried nina again and right off the bat it said I was way off. It's odd but I'll sticking with polemaster for now lol.
Hi Shawn, I have not used or have polemaster, but have used the 3 Star Plug-in in Nina. IT appeared to work okay, I did a guiding assistant run in PHD2 and it said 0 Error after 120. I've been forcing myself to try and get into NINA, but currently having a hate relationship withit due to the sequencer misbehaving (it runs though the sequence exposure counter instantly and doesn't actually run the sequence of planned exposure duration).
Ya some seem to find the NINA 3PA works. I just questioned the different readings I was getting. With the polemaster I feel far more confident of the PA. Your NINA problem sounds as if you need to reset the sequence. If it thinks exposure tasks are completed it will just run through them and do nothing. There's a reset button at the top right of the sequence. Above global triggers and to the right. If you click on that it will reset everything in the sequence including exposures.
@@VisibledarkAstro Tried that reset....same
Hi, did you tried iOptron iPolar?
It would be interesting to see what PhD was telling you about your polar alignment. Let the guiding assistant run and see what it gives you for your alignment error. I have been using the Polar Scope and find it difficult to get below 10 arcminutes. Maybe I’m just not centering the stars well enough in the software
I'll do a test next time with phd. Not sure when that will be. Nothing but clouds here for a while.
Polemaster is great (southern hemisphere) but have found sharp cap to be more accurate.
Best
I think the polar alignment in NINA is meant to do this with your primary telescope not everyone has a pole master; I’ve actually rarely used the routine in NINA.
I use the polemaster and the polar alignment routine in Sharpcap which has very good results better than the software from QHY which I also use to do a rough adjustment when my setup has been inactive for a while.
Hi Shawn it seems my other channels comment don't work for some reason been having the same elsewhere to I don't think youTube likes it lol anyway my thoughts are that I love my Polemaster I found it pretty easy to use the first time I used it & thereafter although the guiding on my mount itself hasn't been great, I use an AZ EQ6 GT in the observatory & I think the mount needs looking at possibly servicing. However at a star party we went to recently the first clear night we had I thought I'd try the 3 point polar alignment in NINA with my small rig & I had a hell of a time trying to sort it out, by the time I had it done 2 hours had passed I managed 5 subs & we got clouded out. There is the stand alone polar alignment feature that comes with NINA that I haven't tried yet maybe I'll check it out in the observatory sometime. The next clear night we had I fitted the Polemaster done a polar alignment & I were ready to image in about 10 minutes so I'll be sticking with what I know for now, the 3 point polar alignment feature is a great thing to have if the celestial pole is out of view but I did find it to be a very fiddly & frustrating experience.
I did mention the AZ EQ6 GT not guiding well earlier weirdly on Thursday night I fitted a RASA 11 just to give it a first light the balance wasn't great being slightly scope heavy & I had the best guide graph ever being sub 1 arc second any other scope I fit & the graph looks terrible.
Thanks for the comment!
I would be curious as to doing a PA with NINA and then checking it with the Polemaster.
I could try that. Will see what I can do.
I question Polemaster. I've never had a bad alignment. But after you ruff align you always have to move some more. Even after I completed alignment I would start over again with out moving and it would want me to move again. Try it your self and see if you have to move the second time. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? I saw where some people were using Sharpcap softwear with the Polemaster camera and getting closer but I never tried it . I don't have Sharpcap.
Well thought I would Try the Android app on a tablet. It works but takes longer and sliders are twitchy so not sure if as accurate takes longer. So if I am doing it out side I will carry a note book out faster more accurate and easier program interface. Currently the only outside is the Alt/Az screws and my assistant just tells me witch way so takes only minutes.
If you can see the North (or South sky down under), nothing Ive seen does better than PM. Ive compared to 3PPA in NINA and Ive seen good agreement. But after looking at the theory behind the 3PPA, doing it near the NCP is not wise in my opinion. I think its more accurate using the basic rules in drift alignment, near the equator and about 45-deg altitude. Plate solving near the pole is error prone when the entire RA sweep is in your camera FOV. Spread it out and get away from the pole.
Polemaster was nice two years ago. Today there is no need for it. NINA doesn't need Polaris in the view and no additional camera - AND its free!
I have not had good results with. NINA PA. I tried it many times without good PA. So I tried the polrmaster. May try Sharpcap next just to compare.
I have the Polemaster but use Sharpcap these days. I find the Polemaster software to have too may baby steps and difficult to use with a trackpad. QHY IMHO need to update the software to allow for an expert mode and keyboard arrow control rather than being solely mouse driven.
I have the same conclusion with Polemaster.
À question not in relation with this video. How did you stick the usb hub on the mount ? I am looking to get my cables tidy...
Ya my cabling could be better. Mote clean. The powerbox is attached using velcro strips. One stuck on the mount. The other on the powerbox.
@@VisibledarkAstro Thanks. I'll use the same tips.
I don’t like the polemaster software. Sharpcap’s polar alignment is much easier but I don’t always have a normal guide scope (either unguided using a sky model, planetary setup etc) so I tell sharpcap to use the polemaster camera.
polemaster was my saviour, try polar alignment in the southern hemisphere. Another great polar routine is using Sharpcap, have you tried that?
Haven't tried Sharpcap. Heard lots about it. The polemaster worked beautifully. Very happy with it.
@@VisibledarkAstro Sharpcap will recognise the camera so it's win win.
Not a fan of Polemaster compared to sharpcap. When I use PHD2 to validate the accuracy it was worse than sharpcap, and its a LOT more work. iOptron's ipolar is vastly simpler to use
I dont have an ioptron mount but I'm sure the PA routine works well.
Did you ever get the android app to work?
Had it working once but dont know how/why. Haven't been able to get it to work other than that. I dont know why. Doesnt see the polemaster.
How are you liking your Polemaster?
For me iPolar is great.
I love my Polemaster. Just wish they would have taken the time to get the Android app to work better.
Is it sad that we’ve been manually rotating the 30 degrees x2 instead of controlling the mount to do it 😂
Using the polemaster WITH sharpcap instead of the polemaster software is even easier…
this is so primitive, manually clicking for a white dot on a back surface. why not use static alignment on kstar or phd2