Looking for a mount for DSLR astrophotograhy

[enigma]

I am looking for a mount for unguided astrophotography using a DSLR and telephoto lenses. I have seen iOptron's SkyTracker and Sky-Watcher's Star Adventurer but they didn't seem strong enough to hold a lot of weight and I am not sure about their tracking accuracy. I need a mount that will be able to hold up to around 2kg and be able to track for at least a minute up to 300mm. Would Sky-Watcher's EQ3-2 or EQ5 with a single axis motor be better choices?

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I believe the SkyTracker and Star Adventurer track more accurately than an EQ3-2, I'm not sure about the EQ5. 2KG is well within the listed limits of all of them. I think the Star Adventurer was designed to drive two cameras at once with modest lenses, or a camera and a lightweight guide scope.

1 minute subs at 300mm should be OK with any of these, although you might find you end up discarding a few subs on an EQ3-2 due to uneven tracking. However, some people seem to have got theirs running better than I've managed. All of them should do the job you're asking so I'd weigh the choices up against your budget, availability (especially if you are considering buying second hand) and what upgrades you might want further down the line.

[Owmuchonomy]

I have just purchased the SW SA.  In the local shop we took ages checking balancing options with my Lunt solar scope which weighs 2.5kg.  It seemed to be fine with the counterbalance bar and 2 x 1kg weights.  I haven't tested it yet but I am quite confident it will work well with shorter focal lengths either via my camera and lenses or the Lunt.  Take your kit into a shop and try it out.

[enigma]

I have just purchased the SW SA.  In the local shop we took ages checking balancing options with my Lunt solar scope which weighs 2.5kg.  It seemed to be fine with the counterbalance bar and 2 x 1kg weights.  I haven't tested it yet but I am quite confident it will work well with shorter focal lengths either via my camera and lenses or the Lunt.  Take your kit into a shop and try it out.

I have seen the Star Adventurer in a local shop and tried it out with my DSLR and longest lens and it seemed marginally sufficient to carry the weight. I have not tested in under the stars but I read some reports claiming that 200mm would be the limit for unguided exposures.

[skysculptor]

Star adventurer will take 5kg max so it would take seriously heavy camera lense combo to over load it! I think for £300 for the full kit, ie with wedge , Dec bar and counterweight bar it's hard to beat , plus it does more than the completion in terms of functions too, esp with the advanced firmware loaded on to it! I think the Astro track will track better but with its extras your looking at a grand!, for anything over 200mm you can always auto guide it too if you want the extra complication!

[Stub Mandrel]

The Knight mentions my blog about the EQ3-2. Last week I has a long session and lost some early subs to gusty conditions. The wind dropped soon after I switched to a 400mm lens and I didn't lose a single frame to poor tracking, I took lots of frames at 93 seconds.

I accidentally took one frame at 3 minute 5 seconds (185 seconds) using the 400mm lens, this is it with no processing other than a quick stretch and a quick fiddle with the gamma. I'm pretty happy with it, but judge for yourself. Also I polar aligned using the new-style reticule without doing any drift alignment.

My theory is that the EQ3-2 itself isn't  a bad mount, but the relatively flimsy aluminium tripods have given it a poor reputation. I Use a stainless steel EQ5 mount.

[matt-c]

I loved my ioptron skytracker v2 jts a real work horse. I stuck my travel scope on for an experiment to see what I could get and it managed a few minutes easy.

It really shines with camera lenses though.

Alas it's sold but I replaced with an eq3 pro the goto is such a nice thing to have.

If your not wanting to guide I'd really recommend the ioptron skytracker it's tiny, runs off 4x AA's (last a while) and perfect for travel.

[enigma]

I tried the iOptron SkyTracker v2 and although tracking was not bad I did not really like it for a number of reasons.

[Davey-T]

My SWSA tracks easily for 90secs using 60Da and Canon 300mm.

Also copes well when rather overloaded.

A single image with Canon 24-105 @ 24 ISO1600 1020 secs

Dave

[enigma]

My SWSA tracks easily for 90secs using 60Da and Canon 300mm.

Also copes well when rather overloaded.

A single image with Canon 24-105 @ 24 ISO1600 1020 secs

Dave

SWSA-LS60-3.png

SW-SA-Canon-24-105--at-24- iso1600,1020secs 60Da.png

Can you post a photo taken with the 300mm?

[ollypenrice]

300mm is getting serious, especially at DSLR pixel sizes. Don't ask for the Earth...

Olly

[Mark62]

This is a single frame @ 180s on a SW SA canon 1200 300mm lens. It was taken in Norfolk only 2 weeks ago. The SA was only on a sturdy camera tripod hope it helps

It was the first time out and I was just playing and just a quick polar alinement

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[StuartJPP]

This is a single frame @ 180s on a SW SA canon 1200 300mm lens. It was taken in Norfolk only 2 weeks ago. The SA was only on a sturdy camera tripod hope it helps

It was the first time out and I was just playing and just a quick polar alinement

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry but there is no way that this image was taken with a focal length of 300mm on a Canon 1200D. A 300mm lens on a Canon crop sensor produces an FOV of (4°15'26'' x 2°50'43''). This image has a radius of more than 7°. Even a 200mm lens only gets to 6°.

[Davey-T]

Can you post a photo taken with the 300mm?

Haven't taken any specific targets, just a few random shots around the sky at different settings to test it out.

Canon 60Da Canon 300mm f/4 90secs ISO800. single image bit out of focus.

Dave

[Davey-T]

Sorry but there is no way that this image was taken with a focal length of 300mm on a Canon 1200D. A 300mm lens on a Canon crop sensor produces an FOV of (4°15'26'' x 2°50'43''). This image has a radius of more than 7°. Even a 200mm lens only gets to 6°.

This is definitely taken with 300mm on 60da says so in the EXIF data

Dave

[StuartJPP]

This is definitely taken with 300mm on 60da says so in the EXIF data

Dave

300MM-FOV-M42.png

That I can agree with

[Stub Mandrel]

Sorry but there is no way that this image was taken with a focal length of 300mm on a Canon 1200D. A 300mm lens on a Canon crop sensor produces an FOV of (4°15'26'' x 2°50'43''). This image has a radius of more than 7°. Even a 200mm lens only gets to 6°.

Indeed, comparing with my shot with a 400mm lens it must have been taken with a ~50mm lens.

[Mark62]

Sorry but there is no way that this image was taken with a focal length of 300mm on a Canon 1200D. A 300mm lens on a Canon crop sensor produces an FOV of (4°15'26'' x 2°50'43''). This image has a radius of more than 7°. Even a 200mm lens only gets to 6°.

Ops what I ment to say was it was a 75/300 mm taken at 75mm sorry for the confusion. I was just trying to show that the SA will cope with a 300mm lens and track perfectly well. Once a gain sorry for the confusion [emoji4]

Mark

[Stub Mandrel]

Ops what I ment to say was it was a 75/300 mm taken at 75mm sorry for the confusion. I was just trying to show that the SA will cope with a 300mm lens and track perfectly well. Once a gain sorry for the confusion [emoji4]

Mark

You nearly started a riot 

[Mark62]

You nearly started a riot

I know lol [emoji56]

Mark

[StuartJPP]

You nearly started a riot 

I know lol [emoji56]

Mark

Naah, I may have appeared to have been abrupt but didn't intend it to be so, should have used an emoticon such as   (there's no shrug emoticon).

But a good point that it can handle the weight as well as the focal length because you could be using a very heavy short focal length lens (aka fast).

[Alien 13]

Looking at the SA has anyone been brave enough to put a WO Star 71 on it with a DSLR that would make a killer portable combo if it worked.

Alan

[Davey-T]

Looking at the SA has anyone been brave enough to put a WO Star 71 on it with a DSLR that would make a killer portable combo if it worked.

Alan

I did give  it a quick try at Sixpenny Handley Star Party just to see if it worked OK which it did, actually gets about the same FOV as the Canon 300mm, haven't tried since as the DSLR is stuck in the bedroom window trying to catch Catalina and the WO Star71 is fitted to the QSI683 waiting for clear skies

Dave

[Mark62]

Looking at the SA has anyone been brave enough to put a WO Star 71 on it with a DSLR that would make a killer portable combo if it worked.

Alan

I have had an Altair starwave 70ed on it with out the DSLR and it works ok

Mark

[ronin]

As the costs are not too far apart I would consider the iOptron SmartEQ.

It then has the option of attaching DSLR to a small refractor later.

Tripod on the iOptron does appear a bit lightweight I will say but should be OK for a lightweight setup. I was considering a 90mm ED on one, decided against it, may get the CEM-25 when it appears over here.