Focusers

[cowasaki]

Just been browsing the FLO sight and came across Baader's SteelTrack and SteelDrive replacement focuser and electrical control for the focuser. £500 seems like a lot of money to focus stuff! I see that the Baader autoguider can control it but is this just one of those "what else can I buy?" things. Seems like a lot of money to me for something trivial or am I missing the point?

[Stephen]

The Steeltrack alone is a very worthwhile upgrade. Fine focus, little to no slop in the drawtube and capable of holding a lot of equipment without any issues whatsoever. Also it's low profile so easier to focus cameras but you will need extension tubes to focus EPs.

Not sure I'd refer to it as "what else can I buy" but if you have a need for any of its features, I'd say go for it.

The Steeldrive, I'm not sold on just yet. I'm sure it has a lot of redeeming features, but it is an awful lot of money

Just my 2p

[cowasaki]

Thanks Kheldar, I'm not looking at getting one at the moment! I was just interested in knowing why people would spend that kind of money on one. I have other, more important, things on my shopping list to begin with

[pilkinn]

I have recently acquired a Celestron SCT and am fed up with the standard focuser. So much so that I've ordered a moonlite focuser for it with motordrive. I considered the Steeltrack and would have got it for visual use, but for imaging I wanted a motordrive and found that for the package the moonlite wasn't too much more. The Moonlite is somewhere mid-atlantic at the moment - can't wait for it to arrive!

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[Viv]

I've just bought the Baader focused.

I wasn't happy with hanging my camera, of the back of the standard focused.

Even for initial quality it's so well worth it.

I'm having to use it was a standard tripod at the mo, but it's made a huge difference already. Was looking at the moon yesterday, it was really good, safe (for my camera), & smooth feel.

A million times better than the original - just can't recommend enough.

[steppenwolf]

I too have just replaced a stock focuser with a Baader Steetrack and it has fulfilled all my requirements, low profile, very smooth (actually, silly smooth!) BUT it easily supports my CCD camera, 9 position filter wheel, off axis guider and a Baader MPCC with no slippage.

The electronic focuser - not for me, I like to feel my focuser hitting the sweet spot!

[cowasaki]

Is there an issue hanging a camera off the normal focuser then? I was going to use my D700 which is a not insubstantial body!

[steppenwolf]

There is a potential issue with many Crayford focusers not being able to handle much weight when pointing towards the zenith.

[ollypenrice]

The motor focus feature is really for imagers who don't like touching their scopes during a run. They may also want to control the scope remotely and even have a robotic auto-focus which checks and re-sets the focus between sub exposures. It doesn't have any real value in visual use, though maybe some planetary types might like them.

You might be alarmed to hear that the Steeltrack is a budget focuser, albeit a good one (though one I'm using has misbehaved on occasion.) Feathertouch are more expensive and Finger Lakes make one for about six grand.

As Steve says, the issues are smoothness, the ability to hold heavy gear without slipping and remaining properly aligned without sagging. Meeting these requirements is beyond the wit of most budget telescope makers at the moment and for imagers it's a real issue.

Olly

[cowasaki]

I'm not really surprised by all this to be honest. My sidelines are electronic design (photographic camera control systems and professional photography. I suppose people just getting into photography would be gob smacked at my £300 tripod or £2000 camera body. I was just a little surprised. I do like my mechanical equipment to run smoothly and precisely though and I do get the remote control thing. If I had the space for an observatory I suppose feeding the camera's output back into the house would be nice. I am actually getting a Baader Smartguider 2 at the end of the month but will be designing and building my own system after that. I latest camera control computer would already do whats needed for mulitiple exposures etc over time. Once I find out whats really useful I'll redesign it specially for astro and might even do a build one yourself thread but I'd probably have to speak to the site staff first

[jgs001]

They are quite expensive, and that's partly why I've not upgraded the focusers on my scopes, I don't have the cash to splash and they'd either double or triple the value of my scopes. I opted for some cheap mods to make the rack and pinion focusers I have significantly better. If I could afford to do so, I'd upgrade all mine.

[Moonshane]

I only do visual but have got used to the fine focusing that a dual speed crayford offers. I really miss this on scopes that don't have it but most budget dual speed crayfords are good enough for visual if well adjusted. I woukld not be without fine focus on my dobs.