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Astrotrac Pier and Wedge

Earl

By Earl
in Discussions - Mounts

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Earl

Earl

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It depends what you are putting on it.  a camera and lens works quite well on the manfrotto geared head and tripod. If you are putting a scope on it the wedge and pier is better by all accounts

Just a camera and lens, I have a tripod 190xprol, will that be ok? i also have a geared head coming with the astrotrac, i do also have a 496rc2 ball head on my monopod i can use.

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nmoushon

nmoushon

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Well then just put it on a well built camera tripod. Don't go skimpy on this though as a cheap tripod is build to handle the shifting weight that the astrotrac puts on it. Not that is that much but you might get vibrations from the legs moving a bit to hold the weight at a defferent spot every second or so. As I don't do that widefield of fov imaging I stick with my HEQ5 and so can't really suggest a specific tripod. Sorry.

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Xlracer

Xlracer

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Have a pier and the wedge, but generally use a second hand manfrotto studio tripod and the 410 geared head. Its much easier to polar align with the geared head as the wedge is less precise in adjustment in my experience. The head is well stiff enough for photography even with longer focal length lenses, and the tripod allows a far greater degree of levelling on uneven ground than the pier. It also doesn't look like a missile on airport  x rays lol!

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StuartJPP

StuartJPP

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To me the wedge is by far an easier option for accurate polar alignment. The only problem with it is that it must be facing north fairly well to begin with as it doesn't adjust much in azi. This isn't much of a problem as I always adjust the wedge to its mid point aligned with one tripod leg and then align that leg with Polaris.

The Manfrotto 410 is okay for lighter loads, but for anything substantial (which is what the pier is intended for) I'd much rather use the wedge. There is also backlash on the geared head that makes accurate alignment a nightmare, no such problem with the wedge.

I don't use a pier but I do have a substantial photo tripod.

Just my thoughts, others vary.

If you have already got a geared head on the way give it a try, it may be adequate for your needs.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I'd say it's' good value compared to the Gitzo 5542LS CF tripod and larger Manfrotto 405 Geared head that I have been using...

Then again both those items are "multi" use in my setup ... but for pure astro then the pier and wedge is a better bet and will have plenty of spare "capacity"...

Does that manfrotto have a centre column? I found that with my 055XPROB tripod that the centre coulumn was the single largest cause of "flex" in the setup....

Peter...

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