AZ-GTi Counterweight and Azimuth Clutch in EQ

[dd999]

Hi All,

Having spent the past 4 hours looking through videos and researching as much as I can about using the AZ GTi in EQ mode (after some disastrous attempts the last cloudless night) I 'think' I have every piece of info I need, apart from the answers to the following. Can anyone help me fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw?

- In EQ mode should the Azimuth Clutch Knob be loose, or tight as it should be in AZ mode?

- If it should be tight, I can't see what benefit the counterweight is giving to it (?)

- In terms of polar aligning, is having Polaris in the FOV of the telescope and approximately the right 'position' from the NCP for that date and time of night sufficient? (as well as of course having the tripod level, counterweight pointing to towards the ground, telescope pointing North etc....) 

 

It wasn't necessarily the tracking I had an issue with (although it wasn't perfect as I could only get 40sec subs) but even after a 3 star alignment and using the Polar Alignment feature on the Synscan app - I couldn't get any DSOs in view on a goto, which made finding anything not visible a real challenge!

In AZ mode it works really well, so it's something I'm doing wrong in EQ mode.

Thanks 

Edited September 25, 2020 by dd999

[johngm]

Hi dd999,

The Clutch should only be loosened when you need to manually move the mount, as when balancing the mount, or polar aligning. It should then be locked for use. The AZ-GTI, is however, quite stiff to move, even when the clutch is loose, but by getting a feel for it, gets you in the ball park of balance. 

Before we can answer you other questions on PA etc, what is your setup on this mount, camera, scope. And, do you have a Guidescope attached ?

John

[Tim C]

As above for the clutch - on polar alignment, if you're only doing visual or planetary photography, that will be fine, but if you're doing deep-sky photography you will need to be much more precise. The AZ-Gti doesn't have any off the rack polar alignment options (it was intended for AZ after all) but you could use a guidescope/cam combo and do it via a laptop-based programme such as SharpCap, or mount a simple visual polar scope to your rig (this will take a bit of fiddling to get it lined up sufficiently accurately if you intend to go much over a 60 second exposure at a longer focal length than around 400mm for astrophotography). There are other, simpler options such as the ASIair but the cost starts going up quite a bit and you need to start thinking about what you want from your gear and how committed you are - I speak from experience!

If you give more details about what your intentions are and what equipment you have, you'll get awesome, helpful, friendly answers here. I know I learned a lot a couple of years ago and now feel in the position to pay it forward o7

Edited October 2, 2020 by Tim C