considering selling my babys.astrotrac.WO.. but what to replace it with?

[garethmob]

well iv been thinking long and hard about this, and i think the day is getting closer im going to sell my astrotrac, i know i will regret it as soon as it gets sent off but i think its for the best

every time i use it its trial and error to get everything right. and by time the next clear dark sky somes around im back at square one and im really not enjoying the experience at all

im considering getting a vixen polarie as all i like doing is taking widefield photos with up to 135mm lens

is this the best cause of action? or is there an alternative product which i can litterly plonk onto my AZ3 tripod and within 5 minuits be imaging instead of faffing with full on PA, trying to allign the polar scope (the astrotrac keeps taking me 30 - 45 mins set up time)

im also considering ditching my scopes, and buying a 10" dob because id get alot more use out of the dob than again faffing setting everything up (and if im trying the AT i cant use the AZ3 mount for the WO scope)

gaz

[nmoushon]

I've not use the astrotrac or the vixen so cant say for sure but I would think they are both pretty much the same types on 'mount'. If your having trouble with one you will probably be having trouble with the other. You still have to take time to polar align and its going to take time and practice as to know where to position it each night. Do you have a polar scope with it?

[Dodge]

Having owned the AstroTrac travel system, I'm surprised it's taking you so long to get everything set up. I could polar align and be shooting within around 10 minutes of taking it outside. You'll still need to polar align the Polarie, so I'm not sure how much 'easier' it'll be for you.

What takes so long when setting up?

[Dave Smith]

Having owned the AstroTrac travel system, I'm surprised it's taking you so long to get everything set up. I could polar align and be shooting within around 10 minutes of taking it outside. You'll still need to polar align the Polarie, so I'm not sure how much 'easier' it'll be for you.

What takes so long when setting up?

Same here. The actual polar aligning only takes a minute or two. More time is spent on finding the target depending on what the target is. I have an RDF on top of my camera to help with that.

Perhaps you could run through your set-up procedure. One thought, are you using a geared head for the polar aligning? Not cheap but makes it a doddle. To me rather essential.

Dave

Edit: I've just noticed you are using an AZ tripod. Is that just the tripod or with the head? With the head looks ideal for the astrotrac. What do you use between the astrotrac and the camera?

[JB80]

Well the Polarie is easy to use and if you want it for DSLR only then it is a great little mount for it.

One advantage it does have is the sight hole and you can get reasonably good tracking just by aligning that way, there are probably better examples around but these were a couple of minute exposures taken just with a rough alignment and no polar scope. The only reason I didn't go longer was because of lights that were shining at me.

When using the Polar scope the difference is pretty good, I had no trouble getting 1 minute out of a 300mm lens. I find the Polar Scope easy enough to use but it's slightly tricky because you have to be careful to not knock your alignment when removing the PS and putting the camera back on, still as long as your slow and careful it's fine.

[melsky]

Same here, the Astrotrac only takes 5-10 mins to set up accurately, I'll try and take some photo's of my set up routine as I use both a laser pointer and polarscope for accuracy.

Mel

[garethmob]

well my set up is as follows

place wixey on AZ3, and set to the correct angle

attach AZ3 and AT together

polar allign and tweek with AZ3 controls (the PA is a pain as i cant always work out which one it is)

attach head to top of the AT

camera to head

position the head to where i want it to be

plug in camera (power, timer ect)

take practice shots

done.

i'll be honest it may sound easy but its a potch. my head for AT to camera isnt a ball head its a stupid 2 way and the base plate dosent always attach to the camera so it flops around

so after messing around usally its either too cold and lens have misted up or cloudy or the AT just dosent want to track and i get startrails (mainly what happens)

id just want somthing simple that i can click point and shoot.

honestly another problem is the camera, the 300d isnt the worlds best, and my manual lens althrough fantastic pieces of glass could do with a program to help focus, im only interested in up to 135mm focal lenght and mainly will be between 24 and 58mms

[nmoushon]

well my set up is as follows

place wixey on AZ3, and set to the correct angle

attach AZ3 and AT together

polar allign and tweek with AZ3 controls (the PA is a pain as i cant always work out which one it is)

attach head to top of the AT

camera to head

position the head to where i want it to be

plug in camera (power, timer ect)

take practice shots

done.

i'll be honest it may sound easy but its a potch. my head for AT to camera isnt a ball head its a stupid 2 way and the base plate dosent always attach to the camera so it flops around

so after messing around usally its either too cold and lens have misted up or cloudy or the AT just dosent want to track and i get startrails (mainly what happens)

id just want somthing simple that i can click point and shoot.

honestly another problem is the camera, the 300d isnt the worlds best, and my manual lens althrough fantastic pieces of glass could do with a program to help focus, im only interested in up to 135mm focal lenght and mainly will be between 24 and 58mms

Can agree that PA is a bit of a pain. Try going out before it gets really dark. Go out just after twilight when only the brightest of stars are out. Basically so that you can only see the major constellation stars. This way it will be easier to pick out polaris. I've started doing this when I can and it has improved my PA very much. Use to only get about 90sec max for a shot on my ED80 and now can get 150sec subs.

300d isnt the best but it really isnt that bad either. If you are shooting at 24 and 58mm then you can get away with a bit of PA missalignment. Its at 135mm where it starts to show a lot faster. So make sure to really concentrate when you plan to use the 135mm. Spend your time on that one and cut some corners on the 24/58mm. Will cut down on your overall set up time.

To combat dew and fog on your lenses get a dew heater. I use one and it works like a charm. The only other way to get really good focus would be to use a computer program. Not sure if you have a laptop but you just plug your camera in and it then helps to get it in focus for you. Bahtinov masks dont work so well at low FL. I have one for my ED80 and even in 10x live view on my canon its really hard to tell if you have sharp focus or if youre slightly off.

[garethmob]

the 300d dosent have live view sadly and my lens are all manual m42 which i know dosent help, but at the time they were the best i could get and with out a computer program seemed pointless in spending lots for digital lens if i cant use them. but im getting trailing in a 24mm lens, now either im miss alligning the pa by alot but after 30 seconds i should get near perfect stars. iv tried setting up in the day, dusk, twilight, pitchblack and all the same problem. obviously im doing somthing seriously wrong. and the only things i can see is the AT its self, the head, or the camera. i can upgrade 2 of them. or ditch the AT altogether and get somthing more simple. obviously with my set up, putting a scope on the AT is a doddle (if i get a decent head of course) but the head which i think is the first major weak spot, i cant afford a geared one, (and please dont any one tell me AP is expensive i know it is) but really what alternatives are there?

if i sell the AT and the megrez, id have roughly enough for a polarie + a geared head or a 2nd hand HEQ5

[Ags]

I'm sorry to hear it is such a struggle. It sounds like your polar alignment is out by a long way, or your AT is malfunctioning!

I have heard a rumor that Ioptron are bringing out something similar to the Polarie at the end of this month.

[garethmob]

im really hoping its either me or somthing im doing, the whole thing has become less enjoyable any more to the point its putting me off astronomy as im reminded of it every time

hence maybe im thinking of starting from scratch, but obviously nothing has the expandability of what the AT does. and with my pairing of the AZ3, its pretty stirdy as well

[Ags]

I can't help thinking you must be way off mark if you get trailing at 24mm after 30 seconds. As a simple sanity test - polar align and don't mount anything for an hour - then check if the pole star is still in place in the polarscope!

You will get trailing quicker the further north you point the camera, so keep that in mind too.

I have the AZ3 too and plan on putting a polarie on it too. It is a great sturdy mount - I plan on getting a handle made for it so I can adjust the direction smoothly with a bit more leverage.

[nmoushon]

Agnes makes a good suggestion - PA then wait an hour and see if its still in alignment. If you are getting trails at 30sec with 24mm then PA is way off or your AT is malfunctioning somehow. I bet is that you might be aligning it to the wrong star. I've done that several time by mistake.

Or something i just thought of - your mount head might be slipping. But if its consistent trails then that wouldnt be it.

If you are wanting to stick to only your lenses and camera and not use a scope then you could use a CG-5 or just and EQ-5. With the small FL of the lenses either of those mounts would be fine. If your wanting to use your scope then I would suggest the EQ-5 or the HEQ-5. Again because of the short FL of even your WO72 either mount will do. But if you plan to upgrade your scope any then you would need to get the HEQ5.

Also I would suggest trying to find a star party or a local club that you could take your equipment to and I'm sure there would be someone there that could help you. Getting personal 1-on-1 help is much better than over the forums or videos.

[Dave Smith]

A quick way to test the polar scope is to set it up in the astrotrac in the normal way, but point it at any object, even in day time, and rotate the scope in its supporting bracket. The object should remain in the centre of the field. A friend of mine did this test recently and found it to be out. I think that by adjusting the three little allen screws it can be realigned. He could then get much longer exposures without trailing.

I would guess that you can test whether the PA scope bracket is bent by looking though the scope and changing the position of that bracket, it should continue to point at the same distant object.

My astrotrac is fairly new, but I can easily get 5 minute exposures with a 200 mm lens as seen with my recent pic of the heart nebula. http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/165414-heart-nebula-with-200mm-lens-and-astrotrac/page__hl__%20astrotrac

Your problem may well be with a faulty astrotrac or it could be your technique (although it doesn't look like that) or another part of the system. Before dumping it and splashing out on a Polarie, I would want to know for sure what it is - otherwise you could be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire - and still have the same problem but then with a lighter purse.

Dave