Considering Astrotrac. What else do I need?

[Specman]

Hi,

Over the last twelve months I've kept going back for a look at the AstroTrac. I have got a Canon 1000D and a few lenses and have been trying to slowly put together their holiday special package, so far I have the following:

1 x Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod

1 x Manfrotto 496 RC2 Ball Head

1 x Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head

Next step is

1 x NEW AstroTrac TT320X-AG

1 x AstroTrac Polar Scope

1 x AstroTrac 8xAA Battery Holder & Lead

But my question is, will this be it to get me up and running? Like most things to do with this hobby its never that simple is it?

Do I need to spend even more dosh to get some decent pictures?

What is the hidden costs?

Also, don't I need some sort of finder for my camera? Any advice or input on what's needed would be appreciated. If its going to cost much more than planned i might wait a while, but I really like the idea of a 10 min setup. We have only had one or two decent nights since April last year up here and its getting me down. Setting up fast might be a way to go until I get an Obsy sorted.

Thanks! Clear skies!

Mark

[Beyond_Vision]

You will probably need a light pollution filter such as the Astronomik Clip Filter or Hutech equivalent. Thats unless you have pristine darks skies , which you may well have living in the Orkney Ilses

You can use an adapter for a red dot finder or a laser finder to mount on the flash shoe. This will help in centring targets.

Regards

Kevin

[osbourne one-nil]

I've just ordered myself the Astrotrac, head and polar scope today and am now busy getting the battery together.

Initially, I'm putting it on my Vixen Porta II mount and will get a metal fabricator in the village to make me something up in the way of a mounting bracket. Seems to make more sense than buying the wedge for now.

I'm very hopeful that what I'm buying, combined with my TV85 and Olympus E400 dSLR will be enough for my son and I to get some very pleasing results relatively quickly. I'm also hoping that aligning the camera, particularly at short focal lengths, will be quite easy but if not, I might get my son to shine our green laser where I want to point and try it that way. If you haven't already got a son to do that, they are quite expensive.