Astrotrac - alternative to a ball head?

[osbourne one-nil]

My wife very cleverly bought me a Lightwave 60mm triplet for Christmas - just what I wanted. I've mounted it on my Astrotrac and considering I've only spent a few minutes, was quite happy with the first photo ever taken through it.

One thing that has concerned me, and has been borne out pretty quickly this evening...once I've got the Astrotrac aligned, subsequently aligning the telescope on the ball head is quite crude and spoils the fine alignment I'd carefully achieved. Instead of the ball mount, is there any reason why I couldn't simply use another geared head on top?? This would seem to rely less on brute force and more on fine tuning. Also, it wouldn't require me to lock anything off which in itself can upset the alignment. 

Hope I'm making sense!

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Not sure if this is helpful but I think I've read on here that some people have attached their Astrotrac to a Star Adventurer wedge:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-equatorial-wedge.html

I have neither so this is second hand!

Louise

[osbourne one-nil]

Thanks (again!) Louise - that would be good for attaching the Astrotrac to the tripod and aligning it - it's the bit the other side of the astrotrac I'm struggling with; the bit that allows the telescope to move about. The ball head works great with a small camera/lens combination, but doesn't seem ideal once a scope's on there. 

[StuartJPP]

Are you using a geared head (Manfrotto 410?) on top of your tripod followed by the AstroTrac then a ball head then finally the camera?

I used to struggle to frame and even point my camera and lens to certain parts of the sky (zenith, north etc.) because the tube was too long and it would foul with the AstroTrac itself or I couldn't see through the viewfinder because my head was jammed between the camera viewfinder and the AstroTrac arm. The real solution is the AstroTrac head, it allows me to frame at zenith (with a bit of contortion of my body) and allows good balance as well. It isn't cheap though.

I used to use a gimbal head on top of the AstroTrac, but even that struggles to frame the same targets much like the ball head did. The issue also comes in because of our latitude which needs to be subtracted from any head "movement" which is ~53 degrees. The AstroTrac head moves the scope/lens away from the centre of the AstroTrac and so allows a lot more freedom of movement.

Post some images of your configuration, there may be other alternatives...

[Scott]

I think its a crazy price but I'm thinking of this. I've got the very same scope

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/astrotrac/astrotrac-th3010-head.html

[osbourne one-nil]

Annoyingly, when I first bought the set up, I took the Astrotrac head but sold it after a while as I'd never used it! It was beautifully made though so the price doesn't concern me as much as it would normally. Think I might look at it again as I couldn't image the Pleiades last night as the scope fouled the Astrotrac arm and with it, I'd basically have an equatorial set up for visual work too..if I wanted. If it makes the equipment more useable then it might be money well spent.

Are you using a geared head (Manfrotto 410?) on top of your tripod followed by the AstroTrac then a ball head then finally the camera?

Yep, that's exactly it!