Omegon MiniTrack LX2 Tracking DSLR Mount

[AdeKing]

I've just seen advert for this tracking mount in the March edition of The Sky at Night magazine.

https://www.astroshop.eu/camera-mount/omegon-mount-mini-track-lx2/p,55040

Looks like it's a clockwork mount claiming 24h of operation so the absence of batteries is appealing to me, as is the price at £109 without a head and £139 with a ball & socket head.

The website claims a payload of 2kg but images on the website are stating that they were shot with a Canon 5d mk ii and 70-200 f/2.8 L which I would imagine weighs more than that.

They claim that a strong spring takes the place of a counterweight.

Looks like it's a brand new product shipping on 1st April, so let's hope it's not an April Fool as the price seems to be too good to be true.

I'll be watching with interest.

Ade

 

[knobby]

Very interesting !

[petevasey]

I reckon it's for real!

Another link: https://www.astroshop.eu/?q=minitrack

It would appear that it only runs for an hour before needing resetting - a poor man's astrotrack.  But if you've already got a decent tripod, tripod head (for polar alignment) and ball head for the camera, at only 430 grams weight and £89, worth a look!

Cheers,

Peter

Edited March 16, 2018 by petevasey
Lower price quoted on Astroshop uk

[Rick_It]

I'm really interested

[knobby]

I do like the look of it ... It just seems so much like an April Fool though !

1st April launch date and it's Wind up 

Edited March 16, 2018 by knobby

[petevasey]

Gone to an awful lot of trouble for an April Fool joke - hardware, trek up the mountain for the video etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4u4KAD3Aqo

But yes, definitely wind up...

Cheers,

Peter.

 

 

[knobby]

2 hours ago, petevasey said:

Gone to an awful lot of trouble for an April Fool joke - hardware, trek up the mountain for the video etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4u4KAD3Aqo

But yes, definitely wind up...

Cheers,

Peter.

 

 

Yep, pretty conclusive ! Hadn't seen that .

[Swoop1]

It's reviewed in this months Sky At Night mag. Gets 4.5/5 stars overall.

Just seen it and it has got me interested!

[happy-kat]

It looks very portable and no batteries that fabulous. Be interesting to see it taken up and some users using it. 

Found a hands on user to read.

Edited September 21, 2018 by happy-kat

[petevasey]

Looks as though the price has gone up since I posted in March. Even so at £109 good value.  Although it's possible to use a ball head or normal tripod fluid head for polar aligning, probably more stable and accurate with a wedge type mount on the tripod.  The Star Adventurer wedge is available to buy separately for under £50 - less than a high end ball head, and certainly far cheaper than a Manfrotto geared head.  I have a very similar ball head to the one supplied as an extra with the mount, and it works very well - a saving of £11 over the supplied unit.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andoer-Camera-Ballhead-Release-17-64Lbs/dp/B00JSJXH3Q  Actually if on a budget , don't already have a fluid head, and are  prepared to fiddle a bit more with polar alignment, probably good enough top and bottom of the mount!

A little later.  I have this pan head which I can recommend.  A bit cheaper than the Star Adventurer wedge, and of course good for other photographic uses.  As the 'blurb' states the long handle allows for precise movement.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Velbon-PH358-Fluid-Panhead/dp/B001S9OGMA

But to be fair there are numerous alternatives!

Peter.

Edited September 21, 2018 by petevasey

[Mr niall]

I think I’m going to have to get one of these, been mulling it over for weeks just looks too cool to pass up.

and there’s a painful dearth of steampunk related astronomy equipment out there anyway...

Plus it looks almost identical to that weapon George Clooney uses in “the men who stare at goats” so it doubtless has numerous non Astro applications too!

 

[Mognet]

I like the idea of a clockwork tracking mount, but I'm curious as to how they have damped the vibrations so that it doesn't affect imaging

[petevasey]

On 02/10/2018 at 00:09, Mognet said:

I like the idea of a clockwork tracking mount, but I'm curious as to how they have damped the vibrations so that it doesn't affect imaging

Good point.  But when you consider that stepper motor driven mounts could have the same problem, I suspect the inertia of the system including a camera and lens is probably enough to absorb any small 'kicks'.  And of course we don't know how many impulses per second - with clockwork one tends to think of an impulse every second with pendulums.  But watch escapements can run a lot faster with several impulses per second.

I wonder if anyone has bought one yet?

Cheers,

Peter.

[AdeKing]

I didn't go for one in the end, I managed to pick up a used iOptron Skytracker for a reasonable price.

However, I'm still interested to know how folks get on if anyone gets one.

[Stub Mandrel]

LOL! This new invention bears an uncanny resemblance to how things were done for a couple of centuries up to about fifty years ago...

Quote

wind-up by pulling the cord and the mount will start operating immediately

The only downside is thAt it keeps announcing "ACTION mAN IS IN CONTROL!"

[Mr niall]

19 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

LOL! This new invention bears an uncanny resemblance to how things were done for a couple of centuries up to about fifty years ago...

The only downside is thAt it keeps announcing "ACTION mAN IS IN CONTROL!"

I hear that when the hour timing is up a cuckoo on a spring pops out and squawks in your face too. Nice feature.... ??

[Mr niall]

Just pulled the trigger on one of these. Determined to get some shots of 46p, especially after the 21p debarcle... 

Details to follow. If my calculations are right should get at least 45mins unguided at 1200mm. Or something ??

[Mr niall]

Its arrived....

Came via UPS in a box easily big enough for a HEQ5 head... And it was nicely packaged in a slightly smaller box inside that. Comes with a drinking  straw (or polar finding sight tube, I cant decide) and a rather substantial piece of metal that serves only as an adaptor for swapping over the 1/4 or 3/8 head.

Its a little bit bigger than I expected and feels really substantial and heavy in the hand. All nice metal construction and certainly looks the business. But doesn't really come with any literature or instructions - had to download these from the omegon website (although in fairness there is an excellent suite of supporting literature that is generally very engaging and useful)

I still have absolutely no idea how the little tension spring thingies at the bottom work, despite the diagrams. Hopefully it'll be clearer in practise.

And yes, the little timer really does sound exactly like an egg timer and yes it really really does have a little egg timer buzzer thing when it runs out. Cracking! (pun intented).

Obviously with it being Britain, first light will no doubt be sometime around March.... But I am determined to catch 46p even if it means hiring a helicopter to get above the perma clouds.

More to follow 

 

[knobby]

On 04/12/2018 at 15:29, Mr niall said:

Just pulled the trigger on one of these. Determined to get some shots of 46p, especially after the 21p debarcle... 

Details to follow. If my calculations are right should get at least 45mins unguided at 1200mm. Or something ??

Is that 45 X 60 second subs or  1 X 45 minute sub ? hope your LP isn't too bad !

 

But seriously, mount looks good. 

[Mr niall]

8 minutes ago, knobby said:

Is that 45 X 60 second subs or  1 X 45 minute sub ? hope your LP isn't too bad !

 

But seriously, mount looks good. 

No I reckon at least 45 minute exposures. May have to step the ISO down from 800 to 400 ?

Edited December 11, 2018 by Mr niall

[petevasey]

I see that the recommended exposure time is (100/focal length in mm) minutes.  So what focal length lens are you proposing to use for Wirtanen?  Looking at Skymap if you are hoping to capture it near the Pleiades on Sunday night, I reckon a fl around 150 -200 will frame them nicely but maybe pushing it a bit for no trailing.  100 mm of course not a problem, but everything getting smaller on the chip.   1 minute might just be ok at 200 mm.  The comet is reasonably fast moving, and will travel approximately 11 arc-secs in 1 minute.  At 100 mm fl, that's about 1.25 pixels on a DSLR chip with 4.3 um pixels.  So good definition. 

I'm hoping to capture it as well (on my main mount) using my Canon 70-200 L lens, so I can play around with framing.  But alas as usual when something really interesting is happening the weather forecast for me is not promising ?

Best of luck,

Peter

PS to help with similar calculations there's a free program on my web site which you might find useful.  Here , about half way down the page. 'Astrophotography Settings'

[Mr niall]

2 hours ago, petevasey said:

I see that the recommended exposure time is (100/focal length in mm) minutes.  So what focal length lens are you proposing to use for Wirtanen?  Looking at Skymap if you are hoping to capture it near the Pleiades on Sunday night, I reckon a fl around 150 -200 will frame them nicely but maybe pushing it a bit for no trailing.  100 mm of course not a problem, but everything getting smaller on the chip.   1 minute might just be ok at 200 mm.  The comet is reasonably fast moving, and will travel approximately 11 arc-secs in 1 minute.  At 100 mm fl, that's about 1.25 pixels on a DSLR chip with 4.3 um pixels.  So good definition. 

I'm hoping to capture it as well (on my main mount) using my Canon 70-200 L lens, so I can play around with framing.  But alas as usual when something really interesting is happening the weather forecast for me is not promising ?

Best of luck,

Peter

PS to help with similar calculations there's a free program on my web site which you might find useful.  Here , about half way down the page. 'Astrophotography Settings'

Hi Peter thanks for the link. My goal at the moment is 60 secs at 50mm, if I can get that to work then will think about 60 secs at 100 which I’m led to believe is plausible but perhaps pushing the envelope. Maybe 30 secs would be a more realistic target! I’m plagued with terrible LP to the south and west so 30 secs may be the max either way!

 

[Ags]

Originally the LX2 was only suited to the northern hemisphere, but they have brought out an NS variant for 30 euros more that does both hemispheres:

https://www.omegon.eu/camera-mounts/omegon-mount-mini-track-lx2-ns/p,57993

[Space Oddities]

The Minitrack LX3 has been presented at NEAF. It's basically the same as the LX2, but now supports 3 kg of payload. 

Some images from the official Facebook group:

 

[Ags]

It is engraved with "Time 100/Focal (mm)" - does that mean max exposure 1 second at 100mm focal length?