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How do I piggyback my camera on a dovetail?


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Andromeda will be coming higher up soon, all my scopes are too big for it. So my alternative is to get a lens for my camera and piggy back without losing balance so it would have to be on the 2 dovetails that are attached to my RCT. I have my guide scope on the top bar so it would probably have to go underneath on the Losmandy dovetail in replace of the counterweight I have there.

Edited by Quetzalcoatl72
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  • Quetzalcoatl72 changed the title to How do I piggyback my camera on a dovetail?

I would use a 1/4" UNC / Whit screw through the centre hole, but then you'd be stuck with the DSLR pointing along the same axis as the RC. I was going to suggest a ball head, but they use a 3/8" tripod screw, though I think you can get adaptor sleeves.

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1 hour ago, DaveS said:

I would use a 1/4" UNC / Whit screw through the centre hole, but then you'd be stuck with the DSLR pointing along the same axis as the RC. I was going to suggest a ball head, but they use a 3/8" tripod screw, though I think you can get adaptor sleeves.

could i keep that plate fixed onto the camera and use it to attach to say a normal tripod or star adventurer?

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I just had another look on FLO and found This Page which has several camera mounting options. You could possibly put the camera on a Vixen adaptor with a ball head and mount it behind the guide 'scope.

Would still recommend an OAG though

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I had the same problem.  Here are pictures of how I solved it.

I got the 2 parts from Starpal on AliExpress.  The first is a standard Synta finder dovetail that's widely available in the UK.  However, the Starpal ones are more useful as they have a slot as well as a hole.  They come in various sizes but I used their smallest one for this project.  Go to https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4000127933644.html

The key is what StarPal call the Standard Equatorial Dovetail Plate shown in the second picture.  Unlike other dovetails this also has holes on the side rather than just top/bottom to attach to the telescope dovetail.  Here's a link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000110480110.html

 

IMG_20210603_105241_compress20.thumb.jpg.1fedbdcf1f65c1e97b053f8bf8fdcca3.jpg

 

 

IMG_20210603_105228_compress19.thumb.jpg.723a9277b5b3ffad299ca78bb9b7e4f7.jpg
 

 

IMG_20210603_105203_compress29.thumb.jpg.d5a1abea9d19c00dea16632fe4eb6c32.jpg

Edited by Second Time Around
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  • 3 weeks later...

I did a simple one for testing setups and guiding before really getting into bigger scopes etc - use DSLR + guidescope, attached to dovetail by quick-release mounts, similar to those found on tripod...

20210618_124402.thumb.jpg.165684087ec04d60678ad3c9cc42f884.jpg20210618_124457.thumb.jpg.ee7f99ab35086f40cd47da869a0cfae4.jpg

The 3D print is a holder for the RPi so that all my kit sits on the dovetail - front tripod mount holds the guidescope which I have a tripod PL200 plate on, and the steel post at the back is required for the DSLR to clear the guiding.
Amazon do the attachments for £13 and half that on Ebay. I did 4 from China for £20 last year when starting this out, but if you're in a rush, not really an option! Plus I don't have to change the attachment on my camera (peak-design tripod adapter) so clip the guidescope and camera on, locate RPi (held in with velcro), power up and I'm ready to go.
Plus the camera is then balanced if I use the 70-200 by using the tripod collar.

The only thing you need is the correct screws (the countersunk heads in my setup are 1/4UNC x 5/8" and a little 3D print that mounts the tripod adapter aligned to the dovetail.
Has worked well as a start to getting into imaging for me.

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3 hours ago, pete_81 said:

I did a simple one for testing setups and guiding before really getting into bigger scopes etc - use DSLR + guidescope, attached to dovetail by quick-release mounts, similar to those found on tripod...

20210618_124457.thumb.jpg.ee7f99ab35086f40cd47da869a0cfae4.jpg

 

I like that pier going over the finder, i've noticed your dovetail is placed upside down compared to mine, how so?

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I guess alternative is to get another losmandy and just attach the PL200 holder(s) to that... On the AZEQ6, I can use both LM & Vixen, so have the LM for the larger scope and vixen bits for attaching other stuff with.

Here's my setup in work - note how heavy the s/s bar is so the balance looks way off but it's not! haha!

 

 

20210126_000716.thumb.jpg.ad050de58c6bd116632bd58248bfaac9.jpg

 

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20 minutes ago, Quetzalcoatl72 said:

I've noticed the vixen style bar is on the mount side of the setup. I'm using a losmandy, the vixen is on the opposite side of me, maybe it doesn't make a difference?

I'm not sure what you mean - can you post a picture?

If you mean that the camera is to the left of the mount, that's because space is needed to open up the hinged screen on my camera. 

Luckily, with my mount you can change the angle of the altitude axis so that the scope can go on either the left or right hand side.  Apparently, some mounts allow this, some don't.

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On 18/06/2021 at 18:26, Second Time Around said:

I'm not sure what you mean - can you post a picture?

If you mean that the camera is to the left of the mount, that's because space is needed to open up the hinged screen on my camera. 

Luckily, with my mount you can change the angle of the altitude axis so that the scope can go on either the left or right hand side.  Apparently, some mounts allow this, some don't.

could this setup work? I would need something to fix the ball head to the dovetail somehow, not sure what screws. I will only be using this for milkyway shots now as i've bought myself a powerful smaller scope which is about the size of that finder in the picture. the dovetail u see is used on the top of my stellar lyra and the larger losmandy goes on the bottom to attach to mount.

DSC_0001.JPG

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