Mount any good for wide field DSLR imaging?

[bendiddley]

Hi all. Thinking of starting out in AP with minimal funds at the mo unfortunately but I can afford a DSLR and a couple of hundred for a mount. I've seen an eq3-2 for sale with motors and wondered if it would be ok for just wide field work using just a dslr, I would also like to use a 75mm-300mm lens with it if possible. When I get some more money I would like to sell up and get an heq5 and 130pds so this would be just a short term venture to get me into it. What do peeps think, could this work ok?

[Pete Presland]

a well polar aligned EQ3-2 would be fine for widefield astrophotography. you could probably get a EQ1 with an RA motor to do it as well and it would be cheaper.

[Pete Presland]

there is one with a scope on astro buy and sell at the moment http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=85909

[Knight of Clear Skies]

It should work fine, I've had mine for a few weeks and use it for widefield AP, mostly with a 50mm lens. Here's a couple of my recent images. I noticed one member here was producing decent images with it using a scope, so it should be fine for camera lenses. I've only had a quick try with my 250mm lens and I did get a little trailing, but I didn't have a polar scope at the time so my polar alignment was probably quite a way off.

The EQ3-2 has been a good buy for me. As a flat dweller I need something fairly luggable, and I could add a short focal length scope at a later date. In the meantime I'm practising capture and processing skills which I'll need if I do decide to upgrade in the future.

I did look into the EQ1 but decided against it. Without a polar scope it would be limited to imaging at short focal lengths. 

[Pete Presland]

I did look into the EQ1 but decided against it. Without a polar scope it would be limited to imaging at short focal lengths. 

agreed the biggest drawback, you can fashion something together but i doubt it would be as good as a proper polar scope. i got my EQ1 for the PST which does not rely on an accurate align.

[Leveye]

Widefieild photography with a DSLR and a camera lens can be done on pretty much any mount/tripod. Try it with the aperture wide open and the ISO at 800 or so for about 25 seconds.

[ollypenrice]

Certainly yes. I helped some guests process an image of the Milky Way taken with exactly this setup last year. They had clean stars in a good deep stack of 5 minute subs and the result was great.

Olly

[bendiddley]

Thanks for your comments guys! 

[bendiddley]

there is one with a scope on astro buy and sell at the moment http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=85909

What would I do for polar alignment with this mount, or do you not need to polar align for wide field work?

[Pete Presland]

I have seen a DIY solution that involves using a finder scope for the polar scope. I will try to find it tonight

[Knight of Clear Skies]

What would I do for polar alignment with this mount, or do you not need to polar align for wide field work?

The better the polar alignment the higher the magnification and exposure length you can use before trailing becomes apparent. With a wide angle lens you could probably get 3 or 4 minute subs just lining the mount up by eye. 300mm is getting close to telescope territory and requires good polar alignment.

I have seen a DIY solution that involves using a finder scope for the polar scope. I will try to find it tonight

Is this the one you are thinking of? Someone rigged up a DIY polar scope to an EQ1 to give themselves a lightweight mount they could take on holiday.

[bendiddley]

The better the polar alignment the higher the magnification and exposure length you can use before trailing becomes apparent. With a wide angle lens you could probably get 3 or 4 minute subs just lining the mount up by eye. 300mm is getting close to telescope territory and requires good polar alignment.

Is this the one you are thinking of? Someone rigged up a DIY polar scope to an EQ1 to give themselves a lightweight mount they could take on holiday.

Your link, doesn't show any equipment.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Your link, doesn't show any equipment.

Thought I'd copied the wrong page, but no, there is something odd about that website - clicking on a link doesn't change the URL. I guess it's implemented as a frame or something. If you click on EQ1 Polarscope on the left under equipment it will show you the build. 

[Pete Presland]

Just checked the link, yes that's the one

[Alien 13]

My own view of the EQ3-2 is that it is a good mount in its own right not just as a stop gap if you stick to widefield it is accurate enough and has the advantage over "better" mounts in being much lighter.

Alan