Portable Tracker: Lacerta Photo Robot??

[Rihard]

Hi, 

has anyone heard of the "Lacerta Photo Robot" ? It's a very small / inexpensive portable tracker like the sightron nano.tracker, but I haven't found any reviews yet. The specs are good on paper but I'd love to know more and see some photos taken with it, if anyone on SGL ever tried it. 

Thanks! 

[jarbi]

Hi Rihard,

I just ordered one today, so hopefully I can tell you more about it within some days !

Cheers,

Janos

[Rihard]

Hi Rihard,

I just ordered one today, so hopefully I can tell you more about it within some days !

Cheers,

Janos

Hi jarbi,

I almost jumped into buying one in the past few days but I'm still undecided :-) if the weather allows it, share some tests :-)

Cheers

[jarbi]

Hi Rihard,

My Photorobot arrived yesterday, I attach some first pictures here. I assembled everything and it looks well built and sturdy. Real life test under the sky was not yet possible, one of the reasons is that I don't have a ball head yet to mount my Canon camera in an adjustable direction.

Rare that there was no manual or description at all in the package, I could download a manual in german from a webstroe who sells it ( not from TS ). It is in german but that is the only version I found. 

I have ordered a red dot finder to be my polar finder, for now I use a carbon tube ( see picture ).

I will report back as soon I could do an extended test under the sky !

Cheers,

Janos

Bedienungsanleitung PHOTOROBOT.pdf

[Rihard]

Hi Janos,

Thank you for the report

It looks cool! The whole kit seems bigger and bulkier than I thought, especially with that big battery pack that looks exactly the same as the one of my EQ5 drives.

What do you think about portability, weight etc? I guess it won't go unnoticed at the airport checks...

Good luck with testing the new gear!

Clear skies

[Gonzo]

That motor looks exactly like the one I had on the EQ1.

[jarbi]

Hi Janos,

Thank you for the report

It looks cool! The whole kit seems bigger and bulkier than I thought, especially with that big battery pack that looks exactly the same as the one of my EQ5 drives.

What do you think about portability, weight etc? I guess it won't go unnoticed at the airport checks...

Good luck with testing the new gear!

Clear skies

Hi Rihard,

Yes it's bulkier than the others but you cannot beat the price I think .The weight is just under 2kg with the battery pack, so I find it doable as travel setup. I must see how much the power consumption is, maybe I can get on with a pack of 4 AA batteries as well. Today I am expecting the red dot finder and the ballhead to arrive from the local astroshop, and it has a chance for clear skies this evening. Hopefully I can post some test images this week !

Clear skies,

Janos

[Alien 13]

This is a very interesting mount and it does look as though the controller and motors are based on the skywatcher EQ3/EQ5 versions I would imagine the performance with a 100mm lens to be very good.

Assuming the motor is similar to the skywatcher design the current drawn will be something like 280mA tracking and 400mA when slewing (as measured on my EQ3-2).

Alan

[jarbi]

Hi,

I would like to report back after my first test session with the Photorobot. My tests were done with a Canon 1200D + 18-55mm objective @55mm. I have done only 2min exposures because I live in a very light polluted area. Even with ISO 100 I couldn't get longer exposures without blanking out the image. The Photorobot is now completely equipped with a  PH-3 ballhead and a red dot finder attached ( as "polar scope" ). I just roughly set the finder parallel with his base by sight before starting.

I started with polar alignment - it is so easy with a red dot finder ! After focusing I directly started to shoot some test images with 2min exposure and the shortest focal lenght ( 55mm). As I discovered it is advisable to check your polar alignment after framing your target, because a photo tripod can easily move.  That was however not a major drawback. I powered up the Photorobot and started tracking ( long press on the "1x" button on the handcontroller ). 

You can find the test images here. I am very happy with the initial results, you can easily find M42, M45, M36,37 and M38 on one of the images I believe. 

Clear skies,

Janos

[Rihard]

Hi Janos,

very good results! This must be one of the very few reviews about this mount all over the internet it looks promising, stars look pin point, my eyes do not notice any star trail.

Thanks for sharing!