Diagonal on polar scope

[D Wright]

I am thimking of attaching a 45' diagonal to the viewing end of the polar scope in my mount to avoid having to lie on the wet ground when polar aligning (a problem we all have). Has anyone done this and does it work? I am fairly sure it will as I will not be changing any focal length of any lenses simply looking round the corner.

[Stu]

Never tried one myself, but options like this exist

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p5950_90--comfortable-View-for-your-Polar-Finder.html

[D Wright]

Looks nice but I don't want to spend nearly £100 on something I will use for a few minutes.

[Zakalwe]

13 minutes ago, D Wright said:

Looks nice but I don't want to spend nearly £100 on something I will use for a few minutes.

Plus you can buy those Seagull right angle viewfinder scopes for about £29 off Amazon.

[ngwillym]

DIY:-

 

[Alien 13]

+1 for the Seagull right angle viewfinder you can use it just by holding it against the polar scope, some even offer a x2 option too which can help get alignment spot on.

As a bonus its also handy used with a DSLR.

Alan

[mikeyj1]

Hi there

Here is one I made earlier.  Its a 2nd hand right angle Minolta camera finder from eBay, £8 and a 32mm 'Access Plug' (£0.85 from homebase).  drilled out the back of the plug and enlarged the main hole with a multi tool to fit the polarscope as a snug fit, and it works a treat

The numbers in the scope are reversed, but easy enough to work out which is 3 and which is 9.

I made a video on it, https://youtu.be/PAP6F4Sx4YY

hope it helps 

Mike

[Ken82]

Remember just like AP it's best used without a diagonal . If for example your diagonal is a fraction out of 90degree then your polar alignment will be wrong . Same is true if using the all star polar alignment. 

[mikeyj1]

Well there was one point i should make clear, you need to set the polarscope with the 0 hour at the top BEFORE using the angled device, as Ken is correct that if you rotate the anglescope, the display also rotates..  But i mark the position on the setting circle and move it there before doing the polar alignment (See photos)