Alternative Mount for 4" Scope

[MalcolmM]

My wrist is still weak after breaking it a couple of months ago. I find the Giro Ercole heavy enough to cart about when combined with a tripod and scope. I have a Manfrotto 500 video fluid head which I use with an FS60CB as grab and go. This fluid head is lovely to use but cannot cope with a FOA-60Q at x150 so I wondered would a beefier one work.

When I saw a beefier one (MVH502) on Amazon marketplace with more than 25% off I thought I'd give it a punt, hoping the combination of FOA-60Q plus fluid head plus Innorel tripod would make for a very light stable setup.

Last night I tried it with my FC100DC, not really expecting it to cope well with the size and weight. But it's brilliant! The fluid drag can be adjusted and there is also a progressive lock on both axis. With a bit of playing around you end up with very smooth precise movement combined with a stiffness that deals with both a light Abbe eyepiece and changes to a heavy Pentax XW. The scope stayed on target during the change and yet could still be panned precisely. 

Panning the scope with the long handle is very easy and very precise. I was not expecting this  but for me, this video fluid head makes for a very capable light weight mount for a 4" scope. I'm itching to see if I can attach the Mewlon to it now 🙂

Anyway, food for thought if you are looking for a light weight mount! 

Malcolm 

[DirkSteele]

How do you find it when pointing above 60-degrees?  I have tended to find that having the weight offset from the rotation axis tends to pull the scope backwards so it gets harder to point up at those altitudes without some drift.

[MalcolmM]

1 hour ago, DirkSteele said:

How do you find it when pointing above 60-degrees?  I have tended to find that having the weight offset from the rotation axis tends to pull the scope backwards so it gets harder to point up at those altitudes without some drift.

Yes, that's very true. I have to tighten the lock a bit more at the expense of ease of panning. Either that, or I slide the scope backwards to counter the downwards pull. This one apparently tilts to 80° but I have not used it much above 50° so far.

Malcolm 

[The60mmKid]

If you just turn the telescope 180 degrees, you get the full range of motion. I've been doing this for some time using fluid heads and agree that it's a good lightweight solution. I like the Manfrotto head that you have, and the "Nitrotech" heads and their successors are excellent since they have a fully adjustable spring counterbalance. You can dial it in and get smooth tracking even at high magnification.

Edited August 20, 2023 by The60mmKid

[The60mmKid]

(In case I was unclear, I mean to mount the OTA backward because the fluid head does allow 90 degrees of tilt in that direction.)