mounting camera (only) on eq

[Scott]

I've bought myself some motors for christmas and would like to start my dso imaging using the camera only on my eq5. what i'm not sure about is balancing the mount with such a light load. i'm guessing that i don't use the weights but should i remove the weight bar as well. i realise i could use trial and error but i don't want to put undue strain on the motors. thanks for any advice you may be able to give

Scott

forgot to say. the heaviest lens is a 250mm lens (probably about 1kg) and the camera is an 1100d

[tingting44]

there is a pic of a guy doing the same as you want to, his setup looks nice, have a look at his setup on the bottom of the posts

[Scott]

there is a pic of a guy doing the same as you want to, his setup looks nice, have a look at his setup on the bottom of the posts

http://stargazerslou...d/#entry1749605

that certainly is a nice setup. wonder if he'd like to swap. i notice he's got a weight on his but then again, he's guided and that lens looks a lot beefier than mine.

Scott

[JamesF]

It's probably best to experiment with it. Put everything on the mount, release the clutch and if it doesn't balance then add weight if it's required on the counterbalance side or remove the weights entirely. If you need something in between then I'm sure a local machine shop would make you up a weight out of a spare chunk of steel for not very much.

Ideally you may want to be a little bit heavy on the east side of the mount so that the motors are always driving against a small amount of resistance.

James

[petercoxphoto]

The key is to do as James suggested - release the clutch - if it swings, move the weights or adjust what you have on the weight bar to bring it into balance. It doesn't take long, I did it in about 20 minutes on all axes for my 5D II and 70-200 lens on the EQ6.

Cheers,

Peter

[springbok]

Hi Scott,

As above from James and Peter, release he clutch and adjust until the setup stops swinging.

With my dual mount setup, the total weight is around 4.5kgs. The weight is fairly high up towards the mount for balance. This is a very light setup for the NEQ6.

It may be useful to place some electrical tape as a marker on the bar once you have your weight setup.

Cheers,

Grahame.