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convince me not to get a astrotrac :P

garethmob

By garethmob
in The Astro Lounge

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garethmob

garethmob

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i know i have had a few astrotrac posts but this will be the last i promise:P

im looking for somthing thats litterly in the car out in 30 seconds and 5 mins later the camera chugging away

i know im going very dangerous into spending HEQ5 money, but the EQ3-2 put me off a little.

so before i buy a astrotrac, id like to see the arguments on NOT getting one.

its use's for me : canon 300d, camera lens 24mm,58mm,135mm,200mm.

i will be guiding with it, with the megrez 72, and i will be "adapting" the top of the ksons mount for it to fit so it will be sturdy

please be honest, 4-500+ is alot of money for me to decide 6 months down the road to wish i had gone for another option

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Realistically the astrotrac is good upto 300mm focal length but best suited for shorter focal lengths specialising in widefield imaging.

You will need a decent ball head to mount the camera and preferably the astrotrac wedge to nail the polar alignment but it is possible without but trickier.

You are limited to 2 hours max. after that you will need to rewind the tracking arm and recentre your target.

Other than that its faultless. With shortish focal lengths 5 minute subs are possible.

The whole astrotrac weighs less than the counterweights on a HEQ5

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garethmob

garethmob

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the higest i will most likely go is the megrez 72 for experimenting, everything else with be 24 - 200 max. so that should be ok

i do currently have a wedge, the ksons, wich i guess i could use / adapt so thats not really a problem, and 2 hrs are fine, im lucky if i get 30 - 40 mins on one battery and only have 2 of them :)

so roughly the set up on a astrotrac is

tripod

wedge

tripodhead

astrotrac

head

camera

will the camera mount directly on the astrotrac its self?

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Stephen

Stephen

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Have fun...

Don't forget the polar scope... it all adds up...

I didn't need the ultimate portability offered by the astrotrac.. so went for an EQ3 Pro instead... Plus I need "goto"...

Isn't needing goto like needing a really big TV? :)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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the higest i will most likely go is the megrez 72 for experimenting, everything else with be 24 - 200 max. so that should be ok

i do currently have a wedge, the ksons, wich i guess i could use / adapt so thats not really a problem, and 2 hrs are fine, im lucky if i get 30 - 40 mins on one battery and only have 2 of them :)

so roughly the set up on a astrotrac is

tripod

wedge

tripodhead

astrotrac

head

camera

will the camera mount directly on the astrotrac its self?

OK I have used it with my ED80 (500mm FL) and shortish subs but you need to nail the polar alignment and even drift align to get good accuracy.

you could screw your camera directly into the 1/4" bolt but then you would not be able to frame any targets as it would be a fixed position

My setup is like this:

5211754162_1d736ecca4_m.jpg

Astro Imaging Kit by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

A few images I captured last year, not used it in anger this year due to lack of time and poor weather.

5069583568_7224bd4e38_m.jpg

Andromeda Galaxy {Explored} by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

5084812801_2e95b52980_m.jpg

Pleiades - M45 by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

5200639439_e60941d92f_m.jpg

Heart & Soul Nebulae by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

5353840251_d3ed79a579_m.jpg

Orion Nebula M42 by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

5360107740_cfa038a875_m.jpg

Butterfly Nebula (IC 1318) by Mark Payne - Catching up, on Flickr

Please excuse the quality of post processing... still got a lot to learn!

Details of what settings were used follow the links.

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garethmob

garethmob

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i never maneged to get my eq3-2 working properly i might give it another go tonight, but i dunno

the astrotrac will give me more encentive to go to darker skys where if trouble comes 5 mins later the cars packed up again.

but i dunno atm iv got 2 mounts, one which im limited to 5 mins because of no guiding and the other is even less :)

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bamus

bamus

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don’t take it, it hasn’t got GOTO :) (for me it was deciding factor). Apart from that, you cannot set it up and go to bed, as every 2 hrs you will need to rewind and set up system again. Also EQMOD can not be used with it.

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garethmob

garethmob

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iv already got a "goto" though for the visual, my kson mount which obviously if i adapt its wedge n tripod for the astrotrac i wouldnt be able to use it :)

but for my widefield im fairly proficient at finding stuff expess if i use the megrez for "guiding"

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Yes this is correct.

The guiding function is really to reduce what little periodic error the worm screw in the Astrotrac has.

This does mean that Polar Alignment needs to be spot on.

This fairly easy due to the excellent 3 star polar alignment polar scope.

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garethmob

garethmob

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ahh so the little error is like once every 5 mins or so or somthing to that effect.

i was considering using a different polar scope to be honest as £100 for that brings me to HEQ5 terratory

is there any other mounts in the same price that is similar to it?

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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ahh so the little error is like once every 5 mins or so or somthing to that effect.

i was considering using a different polar scope to be honest as £100 for that brings me to HEQ5 terratory

is there any other mounts in the same price that is similar to it?

You have to use the Astrotrac polar scope.

And no the astrotrac is unique in its field.

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m.tweedy

m.tweedy

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ahh i see. i saw ur pics a while ago on my search for astrotrac reviews on flicker, cracking pics mark!

hmmmm i hate complicated decisions:P

Don't understand-it ticks all of the boxes you specified re portability and set up.

Why the hesitation

(From an Astrotrac owner:D)

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m.tweedy

m.tweedy

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I forgot to mention have you checked with FLO because I think they were considering a "loan" scheme a while back. You could then convince yourself it is the right way to go.

BE afraid because you will then want the wedge, head and pier to go with it when you have used it.

If you are going to Kielder a few of us will have them so you can check them out.

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garethmob

garethmob

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for me to get it i have to sell :

skywatcher eq 3-2 scanscan pro upgrade

samsung 2000

and the screen i just bought :)

and possibly my coulter

which is near enough all of my equiptment which ok im not using at present, but id only have the kson megrez, camera an then astrotrac

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