Lightweight imaging setup.

[Jon Sales]

Just moved to the edge of Galloway forest dark sky park in Scotland and I'm looking for a portable imaging setup.

I have a Nikon D5100 DSLR with a few lenses and am looking for a light 60 - 80mm ED refractor and lightweight imaging mount.

I have looked at the iOptron Skyguider and the Skywatcher Star Adventurer.

Any ideas I haven't looked at?

Jon.

[ronin]

The other iOptron is the SmartEQ. Would not like to put an 80mm on it, but 60-70 should be OK.

I looked at putting a 90mm on it, and the tripod did not look solid enough. Max load is 5Kg and the scope I had was 3.5Kg, but the tripod was a little questionable.

In the US (not much use to you) they sold the iOptron SmartEQ with the WO Zenith Star 71 for imaging.

If you could pick the next tripod up at a not too big additional cost it would be a good lightweight option.

[Jon Sales]

I'll have a look at it online.

The Skyguider appeals over the Star Adventurer as you get the whole lot for the price minus camera and scope and seems very portable.