Dovetails and video heads

[Andrew_B]

I've got a little 60mm telescope which I use for both astro and birdwatching. It's currently set up for astro viewing with its tube cradle bolted to a Vixen dovetail which then slots in to my AZ GTi mount.

When I use it for birdwatching I'd prefer to mount it on the Manfrotto video fluid head (MVH501AH) I've got on another tripod since it's much better suited to spotting scope-style viewing. I can do this by taking off the Vixen dovetail and mounting the tube cradle on the Manfrotto quick-release plate but this kind of defeats the purpose and convenience of using a dovetail.

Is there any way that I could adapt the dovetail to fit the video head to give me that quick change capability or am I out of luck?

[johninderby]

Just buy a small dovetail saddle and fasten the quick release plate to it and then you can just use the vixen dovetail on both. Just make sure the saddle has a photo threaded hole in it as well as the regular ones.

Manfrotto 405 head with a dovetail saddle.

[Andrew_B]

That's perfect John! Thank you so much.

I thought there would surely be something that would do the job and that I couldn't have been the only person who's wanted to use their scope this way. Looks like I can get something that would fit the bill for relatively little money too.

[Andrew_B]

@johninderby - just wanted to let you know that I picked up a cheap but surprisingly solid Svbony dovetail saddle that does the job brilliantly, so thanks again for your help.

My ADM dovetail was ever so slightly too wide to fit it though so I took a file to the saddle and after removing probably less than a mm of metal it's now a perfect fit.