JudeHS

Hi there, I'm going to get the Star Adventurer pro pack and was wondering what the best way would be to mount my DSLR (1300D) on the SA. I understand there is a screw on the Dovetail L-Bracket which I could thread into the bottom of my camera. Or would it be better to use the ball head adaptor and purchase a ball head. Or use an arca quick release plate (I honestly have no idea how that works I just saw people mention it - I'm new to all this ). I should mention I plan to use 50,135 and 200mm lenses which leads me onto another question - can my camera safely hold a takumar 200mm f4 which is 550g. When taking pictures, I could use a hand to support the lens but on the SA all its weight will go through where the lens and camera connect. Could my camera be mounted with the lens hanging freely or would this put too much stress on the camera. I see people mount long lenses using the lens collar so the camera hangs freely however there is no collar for the 200mm Tak (I think).

Yep, it is certainly proving to be complicated - the more I know, the more questions I have!

Regarding the adaptor... would I need a flanged one or normal one. I believe the flange pulls the aperture pin down and allows aperture to be changed but only needed if the lens does not have a manual to auto switch. Do the Takumars have manual to auto or does it depend on the model?

What would need to be tweaked?

I have been reading "Making Every Photon Count" to familiarise myself with what I'll need to get started with astrophotography and come up with this: Equipment so far: Star Adventurer Pro, Sky-Watcher 3/8" Stainless Steel Tripod, Canon 600D, Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 STM. I'm now looking at vintage telephoto lenses and the book talks about the Pentax m42 SMC Takumar so I did some research on it. Some people have said that it cannot focus to infinity - anyone know if this lens would work with the Canon 600D. Wouldn't want to buy it only to find out it can't focus 😕. I know the lenses like the Samyang 135mm f/2.0 exist but they cost more than 3 times more (out of my budget). Perhaps if those aren't suitable then the Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 would be good? Any advice appreciated!

Wow- thank you for taking your time to write such a detailed response! Lots for me to ponder... I wasn't aware of being able to power everything at once thanks for the tip The goto feature is of EQ3 PRO is appealing I agree however I don't see many reviews on it whereas the SA has been reviewed a lot. Obviously, I want to have a good understanding of what I'm buying! Its specs look nice - can you vouch for its performance (or anyone else...) If it is indeed a good mount I suppose I would choose it over the SA as in the future I see myself progressing to adding a refractor to my equipment.

Hi there, Thinking of buying the star adventurer pro to get into astrophotography and I would like to get a DSLR to go with it so I can get used to using a camera. (It's new to me). I've been looking at the canon 700d or 800d. There are plenty of deals on eBay second hand and most come with the 18-55 zoom lens which I could use for some basic wide-angle imaging. Would either of those be a decent DSLR to pair with the star tracker or is there a better one you could recommend me. FYI, once I'm comfortable with using my mount, camera and processing I plan on getting the WO ZS61 and attaching the camera to that - not sure if that influences my camera choice but I'll say just in case. Cheers, Jude

I understand now thanks for the replies!

So I was wondering why a telescope eyepiece and camera lens behave differently when it comes to focal length and magnification. I don't have any experience with camera lenses but from what I understand a longer focal length will result in a smaller field of view. However, with a telescope eyepiece, a shorter focal length will result in a bigger f.o.v. Any ideas as to why this is - I'm guessing it's to do with the telescope and camera being different?