Eric,

 

You can do a lot with 5 minutes at 300mm - that's great!

 

Thanks!   No, it's faster than that.  Mine's a 102/621mm.

 

I started out with a 50/200mm guide scope, and on Jerry's advice went to a 60/280mm.  That helped considerably.

 

My guide camera, well...  

When I picked it, I had no idea and just wanted 'something to guide with', so I went for versatility and ended up with an Altair GPCAM2 IMX224 Color, with 3.75um pixels.  Just the thing for shooting Jupiter with, but not what I'd pick for a guide camera, if I had to do it all over again. One of these I'll probably switch it out for something IMX290-based and mono, w/2.9um pixels - and that should give me another bump. 

 

 

- Bob

 

Mounts: ES PMC-8 EXOS2

Scopes: SV 102EDT, ZWO 60/280 Guide

Cameras:  Nikon D5300, Altair GPCAM2-IMX224C

Software: ASCOM, CdC, AstroTortilla, BYN Pro, Sharpcap, PHD2
Computer:  Thinkpad x230, Win7Pro/64