Star tracker for DSLR

[PatrickO]

I'd be grateful for advice on the best star tracker to use with a DSLR and telephoto lens for a relative beginner. 

Looking to photograph Milky Way, Andromeda galaxy and other relatively easy objects. 

I'm most interested in ease of use, quick set up and build quality. Budget is not so much of an issue. 

Many thanks, Patrick 

[Elp]

The Skywatcher Star Adventurer is probably one of the most popular (there's also an ioptron equivalent), I didn't really like mine as finding objects was an issue (you'll have this with all of them). There's the Fornax which is supposed to be excellent and there's another similar but the name eludes me.

What lens are you going to use? The longer it is the more critical the guiding and you start to go into needing autoguiding territory to maintain round stars and an unblurry target.

The mount I went to, personally I think is the better solution the Skywatcher AZGTI. You likely won't find a smaller mount which has goto functionality. I bought and put bits together and updated the firmware of the unit so I could use it in EQ mode and can image for 300s at nearly 400mm focal length autoguided (you'll need a computer controller for autoguiding plus a guidecam and guidescope). Even though I've got a beefier mount, the azgti is the one I use the most. With the computer control goto is simple as the mount slews, takes a photo and checks via plate solving where it's pointing and adjusts.

[Astro74]

17 hours ago, Elp said:

The Skywatcher Star Adventurer is probably one of the most popular (there's also an ioptron equivalent), I didn't really like mine as finding objects was an issue (you'll have this with all of them). There's the Fornax which is supposed to be excellent and there's another similar but the name eludes me.

What lens are you going to use? The longer it is the more critical the guiding and you start to go into needing autoguiding territory to maintain round stars and an unblurry target.

The mount I went to, personally I think is the better solution the Skywatcher AZGTI. You likely won't find a smaller mount which has goto functionality. I bought and put bits together and updated the firmware of the unit so I could use it in EQ mode and can image for 300s at nearly 400mm focal length autoguided (you'll need a computer controller for autoguiding plus a guidecam and guidescope). Even though I've got a beefier mount, the azgti is the one I use the most. With the computer control goto is simple as the mount slews, takes a photo and checks via plate solving where it's pointing and adjusts.

I second this it’s a superb set up 

[barbulo]

17 hours ago, PatrickO said:

I'm most interested in ease of use, quick set up and build quality. Budget is not so much of an issue. 

With these premises I'd go for a Star Adventurer GTI. Light weight, GOTO, up to 5Kg payload. The only drawback is that you would need a computer for guiding.

If you want to be computer-independant, then the iOptron Skyguider Pro. Cheapest with the same payload but requires manual aiming. 

[900SL]

Non go-to but great for travel, and way better tracking (and quality) than Skywatcher, Fornax Lightrack II. 

No guiding required with good polar alignment, which requires a collimated polarscope

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/392030-fornax-lightrack-2-review/#comment-4221346

Edited February 17, 2023 by 900SL

[PatrickO]

Many thanks for replies. 

Has anyone tried the Benro Polaris Astro? 

Expensive but gets good reviews. 

[Elp]

It's fairly new so might not have many adopters. The ones I've mentioned have been around for years.

[PatrickO]

9 minutes ago, Elp said:

It's fairly new so might not have many adopters. The ones I've mentioned have been around for years.

Thanks you. 

[carastro]

I use an Ioptron Skytracker, this came out before the Star Adventurer which looks a bit complicated to me in comparison.  But again you have to find targets manually.   It is fine for milky way, and a target that has a decent star pattern to find your target.  I took it to Spain and easily fit in my hand luggage and the Tripod fit in my suitcase.

It tracks in RA and has a polarscope.

 

 

 

[900SL]

I know a couple of guys with the iOptron Skyguider Pro who get good tracking results, after a tune up.

They appear to be better made than the SW Star Adventurer 2 in respect of machining etc , but both SW and iOptron have flaky QA QC. 

 

The Benro looks suitable for shorter focal length wide angle milky way DSLR stuff. The software was a bit flaky on launch but was being updated moving forward  

[900SL]

There's also the new Vixen Polarie tracker, Price starts adding up once you add on a polar scope and wedge mount, like the Fornax, but it's Japanese Vixen Quality

 

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/mounts/vixen-polarie-u-star-tracker/

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by 900SL

[900SL]

and if money is no object, I'd buy  the splendid Unitech SWAT tracker plus all the exquisite machined accessories

 

Work of engineering art:

Edited February 17, 2023 by 900SL

[jfrijhoff]

I’ve been using the star adventurer 2i, and am quite happy with it. Finding targets takes some getting used to (e.g. using phone apps to get general direction, take a picture and plate solve on nova), but certainly doable, especially for the ‘regular’, ‘bigger’ targets. I will say that I upgraded the base to the William optics one, which was a definite improvement. I consider it a good start before going to a bigger go-to equatorial mount. 

[Elbasso]

If you hook up your mount and dslr to e.g. NINA, you can simply select an object from the sky atlas in the framing assistant and it will slew your setup to exactly that location. No guide scope needed. 

I normally take 60-90s subs without any issues and can probably reach 120s with great polar alignment (which can also be done via NINA.).

[PatrickO]

11 minutes ago, Elbasso said:

If you hook up your mount and dslr to e.g. NINA, you can simply select an object from the sky atlas in the framing assistant and it will slew your setup to exactly that location. No guide scope needed. 

I normally take 60-90s subs without any issues and can probably reach 120s with great polar alignment (which can also be done via NINA.).

Will NINA work with any (or most) modern mounts and cameras? Is the mount doing the tracking or NINA. 

Thanks 

[Elbasso]

It will 

[Elbasso]

2 hours ago, PatrickO said:

Will NINA work with any (or most) modern mounts and cameras? Is the mount doing the tracking or NINA. 

Thanks 

I realize I didn't fully answer your question. 

First off, you'll need to have a goto EQ mount or star tracker. The Star Adventurer Gti for example. If you hook that up to e.g. a computer running NINA or raspberry pi running StellarMate, these programs can be used to tell the mount where to point. The mount can then slew to the target and start tracking. 

The software can also be used to set exposure length, ISO, etc. for your camera. So it's can function as an intrervalometer. 

When starting off with a DSLR, I wouldn't go with the newest models. They typically  produce very large files which can be slow to work with. More importantly, they might not yet be supported by the various software and hardware components. 

All in all, a setup with the mentioned Star Adventurer Gti, a 200-300mm (zoom) lens and a modest Canon DSLR with aps-c sensor will get you a long way. 

 

 

 

[Elbasso]

Ha! AstroBackyardust posted a video which basically shows the setup I mentioned:

 

[PatrickO]

11 minutes ago, Elbasso said:

I realize I didn't fully answer your question. 

First off, you'll need to have a goto EQ mount or star tracker. The Star Adventurer Gti for example. If you hook that up to e.g. a computer running NINA or raspberry pi running StellarMate, these programs can be used to tell the mount where to point. The mount can then slew to the target and start tracking. 

The software can also be used to set exposure length, ISO, etc. for your camera. So it's can function as an intrervalometer. 

When starting off with a DSLR, I wouldn't go with the newest models. They typically  produce very large files which can be slow to work with. More importantly, they might not yet be supported by the various software and hardware components. 

All in all, a setup with the mentioned Star Adventurer Gti, a 200-300mm (zoom) lens and a modest Canon DSLR with aps-c sensor will get you a long way. 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for that very helpful reply. I'll take a look at Astrobackyard's video as well. 

[Elp]

To clarify more, a computer controller will not automatically slew a non goto mount like a star tracker (standard Star Adventurer) as it doesn't have the tech inside to slew like a goto mount does.

Something like the Star Adventurer GTI or Azgti are goto mounts so therefore will be able to be controlled by computer, as well as having their own internal sidereal rate tracking (note azgti is an alt az by default and will still track in this mode but for deep space photography you need to convert it to EQ mode), their control software Synscan Pro app (not sure myself how the SAGTI is controlled, maybe it uses the same app) also has slew control built in as well as alignment and object databases to goto once the mounts are physically polar aligned.

Independent of the mount you can still connect a camera to a computer controller to plate solve an image, that way if the image is in focus and the settings in the software correct it will analyse an image and tell you where it is pointed. From experience though, if you've got anything more than say a 100mm lens you will get frustrated manually pointing and shooting this way for specific deep sky targets (especially those which require 60s plus exposures to even see a hint of them) and will quickly replace a star tracker unless you like shooting widefield.