Good morning, I have an STF-8300M with an ST-i mounted on the side for autoguiding. We took the system down a few months ago to replace the RVB filters, and when we put it back up again last week, the ST-i does not seem to be working. At first try, the images came back just as black/white alternating vertical strips, and when I tried again last night, I just got zeros for images. Even the darks came back as all zeros. TheSkyX connects to it just fine, and the 8300 works perfectly, but the images coming back from the ST-i are just empty. Does anyone have suggestions for what I could do about this? Since this camera is discontinued, is there another currently available camera that would fit in the same port that the ST-i slots into on the 8300? Thank you for your time, Don Smith Guilford College
Good afternoon, Is there any other camera that can fit into the holder where the ST-i goes on the 8300? I couldn't see that there were any ST-i units on eBay. Do you have any suggestions for what I can do? I have found that without autoguiding, I can't reliably expose for much longer than 60 s without tracking/wiggle problems, and that's very limiting. I would be grateful for any suggestions you might have. Yours, Don
I can't recommend a specific product, as I have not tried them. You'll want an eyepiece-style 1-1/4" diameter camera with the sensor very near the front of the unit.
You might try a want ad on Astromart or Cloudy Nights in their classifieds section, that is where most people sell astro equipment. Make sure you try another good USB cable as well with heavy power conductors, the STi maxes out the current available on a USB port.