scope on a photography tripod?

[punchy]

Hi all I hope someone could give me some advice I have been looking at the Skywatcher Skymax 127 OTA tube only and was wondering if putting this scope on a standard photography tripod would be worth it?(can not afford it on a EQ mount) Has anyone done this and do you need a adaptor?

I have not got a scope yet and I am trying to do this on a tight budget I was originally looking at the Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2 but space and collimation are bothering me.

thanks for reading

[Tinker1947]

I think it will be a bit wobberly..Collimation is not a black art, your space to store i can't comment on...

[punchy]

I have a sturdy manfrotto tripod capable of supporting medium format cameras if this helps put it into perspective:icon_scratch:

[jgs001]

It'll work, but be frustrating. I used my st80 on a camera tripod for some time. It's fine for widefield, but viewing the moon and planets, you get maybe 30s on the FOV. Yiu're gonna need to spend a reasonable amount in the tripod also, or it's gonna be wobbly.

[John]

I think even a sturdy photo tripod would struggle with a Skymax 127 to be honest. It's not as if it's a widefield / low power type of scope either. It would probably be better on an AZ-3 alt-azimuth mount and fine on the AZ-4. Remember a Skymax will need a dewshield which adds to the scopes length.

[Photosbykev]

A good photo tripod with a bag of rocks hung off of it might be stable enough but you would need an expensive fluid head to give the smooth fine control of the scope when viewing

[UnderTheRain]

Hi Punchy I am waiting to get my first scope and I've borrowed a few bits of kit over the last few months whilst I've been saving up. All the camera tripods I've tried seem pretty wobbly even with a small refractor on them. I'm still saving so that I can get a better tripod (I want to do some imaging and for that you need stability). That being said a wobbly tripod makes viewing frustrating. My advice is get the best scope/tripod for your budget and not blow your budget on a better scope on an inferior tripod.

Brian