Backpack imaging?

[ianpwilliams]

Does anyone think it would be possible to have a portable imaging setup where no car was required, where someone could take a setup to a dark sight in a large back back on public transport? I'm thinking something like:

ED80 scope

EQ5 Pro mount

Small DSLR

Light power pack of some kind

Or would that be impossible? I'm sure the answer is no, but there's no harm in asking.

[oldpink]

doubt it
an EQ5 is pretty heavy on its own never mind a powerpack
doubt you could carry everything at once

[RikM]

I don't think I would like to carry that lot any great distance.

Something like a Vixen Polarie or Astrotrac on a standard camera tripod, with a modded DSLR and a nice fast prime lens would be about the most compact set up.

[carastro]

You'd need a shopping trolley to carry that lot, and even then it would be pushing it.  You need something to sit on as well.  A cover in case of rain.  I am presuming you are not planning on taking a laptop.  

Carole 

[Leveye]

Ioptron SkyTracker and a tripod.

[Naemeth]

I've got a powertank amongst other things, and there is no way I would carry that for a significant distance.

The lightest set-up you can use I think would be a camera tripod with a barn door tracker and a DSLR with camera lens.

[Albaba]

Tracer Li-ion batteries are very portable and lightweight......

[tingting44]

to carry that setup to a dark site you really do need a car

[Scott]

Tracer Li-ion batteries are very portable and lightweight......

and expensive

[ianpwilliams]

Yeah I thought as much! Glad I asked though. Maybe I can buy a runaround one day.

[Tiny Small]

EQ1 with motors and a camera with a normal lens. You could fit that along with a laptop running eqmod into a decent sized rucksack.

[Tiny Small]

By that, I meant the tabletop eq1.

[ollypenrice]

Certainly the Polarie, a little tripod and a camera lens rig. The Astrotrac is great but bulkier. Use a modded DSLR and keep the focal length short. You can take great camera lens astrophotos. This is a perfectly possible rig which could give great results.

Olly

[JohnC64]

I'm putting together a very similar portable rig at the moment. Which consists of a tripod, an Astrotrac, a modded Canon 1100D with lenses and a Nexus 7 using DLSR controller with an "On the go" cable. Everything will run off its own batteries. Although I will look at a common Lightweight power unit if it is needed. Oh and not forgetting the torch, camping stool, and flask :-).   My plan is to head out to the depths of the fens to get some real dark sky shots.

Link to DLSR Controller   http://dslrcontroller.com 

Cheers John

[Ags]

My camping setup is:

- barn door tracker

- EF 50/1.8

- 1100D

- AZ3

- 8x42 bins (coming shortly 12x60s!)

I only recently built the barn door so I haven't tried out the setup on a real camping trip, but I backpacked a similar heavier visual setup around Nepal, where I had an ST80 instead of the barn door.

The barn door is manual but I can shoot up to five minute exposures with it at 50mm.

Edit: I've still got to get the camping stool... Essential for driving a manual barn door. And the setup also includes my tablet, which does all the maths to correct the incremental error of the barn door.

[frugal]

I have successfully taken the following in a camera bag: 

• Canon 60D
• 18-135mm lens
• 100-300mm lens
• Manfrotto Tripod with geared head
• AstroTrac with Ball mount head.
• Laptop
• Cables.

The tripod went on one side of the backpack, and the astrotrac went on the other (in a waterproof cover my wife made for it). The camera body and lenses went into the bag, the cables into the top of the bag and the laptop slid into a pocket in the back of the bag. Spare batteries went into various pockets.

As I have a battery grip for the camera it can last all night on a full charge. The laptop lasts about 5 hours on a charge. If I take a few spare sets of batteries for the AstroTrac I do not need to lug around large power tanks. I also have an intervalometer that I keep in the camera bag incase the laptop gives up the ghost.

[ronin]

It will depend a lot on how organised you are. An EQ5 is a fair size but not unmanageable.

I would have dropped the ED80 for a 70m or 72mm scope, would also mean that taking a single weight is more likely.

If you visit a bird reserve you will meet many a photographer happily carrying a big camera and lens attached to a tripod over their shoulder without a second thought. That leaves a weight, camera, power supply with leads and the spreader etc for the mount.

They are not cheap but iOptron do a "combined" weight and battery for their mounts, if it would fit the EQ5 that is an option making one less bit.

[carastro]

Thinking about it - you know you might just get all this lot into a large suitcase on wheels, but would need careful packing so as not to damage anything. 

But as for carrying it - no!

Carole

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Possible ? 

Hell Yeah. 

ok shopping list is needed.

1x old fishing tackle seat box, ( google team daiwa seat box for an idea what your looking for)

some old kiddies push bike stabilizers

1x battery with fuse etc etc, to power your system.

an old handle of some sort to pull your wheeled trolly unit. 

down the the building, you will section of the inside of box.

one side to carry the battery safely and secured away for any shorting.

the rest of the space is for your mount head. a small lid inside and you have an upper compartment.

I am unsure if legs would fold down enough, but this space could also be used to carry

a dslr, eyepieces and the likes. 

electrical wise you could slap a dv-dc converter so you have a regulated 12v supply to a cigar socket.

a cheapy 2amp cigar to center positive adapter will be your link from box to mount.

the box itself becomes your seating area. 

The training wheels are bolted to the rear side of the box, so when tilted back it rest and rolls free on these.

scope i would bag up and carry as hand luggage, better in hand than bounced around inside the box.

you could even kit a whole tackle box out with 12v batterys and have a monster power bank system.

and the best part just shove the center pin adapter into a charger adapter and your charging the battery without having to open the lid.

[Jon Sales]

Ioptron zeq25 + ED80.

Very light mount with good payload, built in gps and 59k database.

[laser_jock99]

Certainly the Polarie, a little tripod and a camera lens rig. The Astrotrac is great but bulkier. Use a modded DSLR and keep the focal length short. You can take great camera lens astrophotos. This is a perfectly possible rig which could give great results.

Olly

I'd agree with Olly- dark sky sites are uniquely suited for a bit of wide angle work, stuff that you just can't do from anywhere with Light Pollution. Leave the scope at home (will be difficult to track accurately anyway) take a few camera lenses and one of the aforementioned tracking devices. No laptop needed just a cheap intervalometer and some spare camera batteries. 

Some DSOs are quite big anyway and easily within the range of a medium telephoto lens. Or you could fit multiple DSO's in one frame like this Cygnus 50mm widefield 

[edjrgibbs]

My portable rig is an Eqinox 66, Ioptron SmartEQ pro head, carbon fibre tripod, ultrabook (Acer S3), finderguider with QHY5 and modded 1100d or Nikon D3100. I can get it all in a 50L Molle rucksack with padded inserts and the Equinox in a large lowepro lens case. All in all a pretty decent travel setup.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mil-Tec-Military-Tactical-Rucksack-Backpack/dp/B009MNBUEG/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1396478537&sr=8-9&keywords=50L+molle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lowepro-13-32cm-Lens-Case/dp/B004KJE8H8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1396478602&sr=8-6&keywords=Lowepro+lens+case

Basically this gives me an airline portable guided setup with goto so should be fine on a bus. Also the SmartEQ runs of AA batteries so no powerpack needed.