Astrotrac TT320X

[Keagle]

A tale of love...first and second light.

Ordered my Astrotrac ‘Holiday’ deal from Steve @ FLO. It arrived Wednesday and I got home to see the box standing in the hallway – with Astrotrac tape all over it! I forced myself to take it slow and savour the moment of cutting it open. Inside, impressively packaged, were 4 boxes: one containing the Astrotrac and polar scope, one containing the geared head, one with the ball head and one with the tripod. Setting it all up inside for the first time was exciting, all of the kit including the Manfrotto stuff is very well made.

Surprisingly, I took a peak outside and it had cleared up! I charged up the battery and put the camera, polar scope, and batteries in the camera bag, and took the Astrotrac outside fully setup in one hand and the camera bag in the other. Much easier than an EQ6 Pro!

Plonked it down and put the polar scope in. I think there are some problems with my polar scope, the illumination is very temperamental. It has a little twist knob on the end, to adjust the brightness. Mine will flicker on and off and sometimes not come on at all – I assume a loose connection somewhere.

Aside from that, bearing in mind I never bothered properly with the EQ6 Pro, the Astrotrac was easy! The geared head makes it so easy to adjust. Think I polar aligned on the wrong star...much to my despair.

Anyway, set the camera up and set about focusing it. Had no remote or laptop so was limited to 30 second subs. Soon after the clouds rolled in, and it started drizzling, so picked up the Astrotrac with the camera on and carried it inside. It’s amazingly portable.

Spent yesterday trying to get the laptop to talk to it through the serial bulb shutter release. Psychobilly helped me out here, and I got it working. Then in the evening after looking at Met Office and bragging about my clear skies on #astroirc from 9PM – 6AM despite it being 9:30 and drizzling, it cleared up at around 10! Went downstairs, set up the Astrotrac, packed up the laptop and camera and carried it all outside.

Same problems with polar scope, but think I got the right star this time! Took no time at all to setup, including the laptop. Started up DSLRFocus and used it to focus. Eventually got the hang of it, and focused on Orion. Hadn’t realised the lens wasn’t at the widest settings(24-80mm zoom), but I was happy to have something reasonably focused and didn’t want to disturb anything! The laptop decided it didn’t have a serial port, despite there clearly being one on the back with the cable plugged into, and having one an hour earlier. Anyway, was limited back to 30 second subs. Told it to take 10 of them, and then nudged the camera around for another 10 and repeat and repeat some more. At the end, I put the lens cap on and took 5 darks.

Got back inside, and run upstairs to the PC with memory card in hand. Imported the photos into Lightroom and there was no trailing, and no movement of the stars inbetween the subs! Fired up DSS for the first time ever, and opened up the files for the first 10 shots and the darks. Clicked a couple of buttons and it did something, and the resultant image looked alright.

Overall, thoroughly impressed with it aside from the polar scope which I think is merely a loose connection. I’m sure it can be sorted easily –when the illumination is on it’s ridiculously easy to use. Polar alignment takes no time at all with the geared head, took me around 30seconds with no hassles. I always lost motivation with the EQ6, this you can setup inside and take it outside in one hand while carrying the laptop and camera in the other. As soon as I can convince the laptop, with its multiple-personalities, that it really does have a serial port and it doesn’t need to change its mind about whether it does or not every hour I will take longer subs and see how we go.

So to sum up, you can set it up inside in around a minute and a half, takes around 30 seconds to plonk down and roughly polar align, and from what I can see it's tracking well on that from the lack of movement of the stars from sub-to-sub. It was only 30second subs at around 45mm though, but there were 10 per area. I love mine already, and am happy to run out and take every clear window even if it only lasts less than an hour.

Phew!

Kurt

[Beyond_Vision]

It's very easy to knacker the polar scope light source if you rotate the wrong part of the LED light source. The very tip of it is a variable pot and on off switch. If you grip it too far down the barrel and turn you will rotate the battery compartment as well which strains the wires to the LED.

I would also suggest getting a remote timer lead instead of using a PC this will make things even simpler, although it may come in handy for checking focus.

Here's to some clear skies for you

Regards

Kevin

[anthony]

Good to hear Kurt. Hope that a lot of clear skies come along soon. Any results to post yet?

Anthony

[markcol]

Good report Kurt.

I had first light with my Astrotrac this week and can confirm it's a welcome change from the EQ6!

As Kevin says, with the remote timer taking a series of longer shots is a doddle. The illuminator for the polarscope can be a bit iffy -especially if by mistake you unscrew it halfway down and drop the little batteries in the grass!

Good luck and clear (moonless) skies.

Mark

[Keagle]

Thanks guys!

Hoping for some more clear skies tonight, just had a play with the laptop and got bulb exposures working again! And swapped over to the 18-55kit to get some widefield shots.

Yup been keeping an eye on that, thinking of putting some tape around the bottom bit so I can't unscrew it but it's still a 'lil tempremental with the tip on and off switch which is what I've been using (I hope!).

Thanks for the recommendations about the remote timer - will be far easier than the laptop! Any recommendations to a specific product? How are you guys powering your cameras? I've got the one battery atm and I think I'll get about 2hours out of it, max.

Thanks,

Kurt

[Beyond_Vision]

I use a battery grip which holds two battries and have a couple charged up spare. This will last a nights session for me. The charger I use will charge the battries quicker than they will be discharged so I am never left without something.

The battery charger I use is http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-hahnel-powerstation-twin-v-pro-charger-canon.htm

Battery grip http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/offer-listing/-/B000GO9MPE/new

Timer Remote http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aputure-Timer-Remote-C1-for-Canon-1000D-450D-350D-R8A_W0QQitemZ260334980778QQihZ016QQcategoryZ64345QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

This is a great solution for trips to dark sites where you have no mains power and a laptop would be akward to carry and use.

Regards

Kevin

[Lee]

Good first light report. Thanks for sharing.

I have had my TT320X for a while now, and I'm still very happy it.

The simplicity of setting up is the key point for me. Very different to setting up lots of heavy gear.

Welcome to the club.

Lee.

[Doc]

I want one :crybaby:

Great report Kurt, you make it seem like the ideal tool, which I'm sure it is.

Any pictures of the kit and the image you took.

[Astronut]

Good report Kurt

After reading that I just had a look on FLO's site and no sign of the Astrotrac - I guess the deal is over.

I've been toying with the idea of dipping my toes into imaging some time later and I think an Astrotrac would be just the thing if and when I ever decide to ditch my ageing Fuji camera for something more suitable.

[Psychobilly]

Nice report Kurt...

The timer reomtes are great for fiedl shooting I use them when I am takign shots from by *FIXED* tripod...

I must get some dosh together for an astrotrac perhaps its time to start selling the stuff which I haven't been using...

Tip about the timer remotes...

If the timers running but the shutter isnt firing...and the shutter fires usign the manual button on the remote... change the batteries...strangely the 350D fires when the batts in the remote are lower than the 1000D... as i found out last night...

Billy...

Oh and glad we could use the Chat room to go through the connectionp robs in real time - its great for stufff like that

[Tinkerbell]

Good report Kurt

After reading that I just had a look on FLO's site and no sign of the Astrotrac - I guess the deal is over.

I've been toying with the idea of dipping my toes into imaging some time later and I think an Astrotrac would be just the thing if and when I ever decide to ditch my ageing Fuji camera for something more suitable.

Lo Astronut

Try here < http://www.astrotrac.com/Products.aspx?d=Products&category=Categories&p=tt320x >

Straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.

[FLO]

After reading that I just had a look on FLO's site and no sign of the Astrotrac - I guess the deal is over.

The deal is still on and FLO is an official Astrotrac dealer, its just that the Xmas rush began around the time we were accepted so we haven't found the time to list their products on our website.

We can offer the full range of Astrotrac products and hope to have them listed and announced in the sponsor section soon. Along with some other new lines

[Astronut]

Thanks for the info Steve. If and when I decide to take the plunge with an Astrotrac I'll be in touch.