Photographic tripod to mount an 80 mm ED refractor.

[Grump Martian]

I would dearly love to buy a photographic tripod to use with my 80 mm ED weighing approx 3 to 3.5 kgs loaded. But is there such a thing which has an acceptable amount of vibration? To be honest most tripod/mounts in this class would. But it's a trade off between good for travelling and carrying weight. My current travel tripod/mount is a skywatcher EQ5 type with smaller 1.5 inch legs and an AZ4 mount. This is still quite heavy. I would look at buying a smaller alt/az mount to use with a tripod.

[M40]

Have a look at K&F Concept, they have some very good tripods at excellent prices. I've been looking for a lightweight tripod for a heavier load and they certainly have some that fit the bill. 

[Louis D]

Are you really asking for a lightweight tripod rather than a sturdy photographic tripod?  I use a Manfrotto 058B / Bogen 3251 and my daughter uses a Manfrotto 075 / Bogen 3036.  Either can handle 25 pounds loads easily.  Neither is particularly light or compact, but both can be had relatively cheaply used.  I like the fully adjustable leg spread angles of both models.

Below is my 058B with about a 22 pound load:

It is very stable.  I do use vibration dampening pads under each foot when used on concrete to reduce dampening time from 3 seconds to 0.5 second.

[Elp]

Innorel R90C or NT364C, I use both for imaging so dampening is critical. Usually use them with only one or two leg sections extended, but if you wish you can extend them so the refractor is at head height, makes standing up observation so much easier especially high up targets with a refractor.

[Littleguy80]

I used a Three Legged Thing Billy carbon fibre tripod with my Equinox 80. Worked well with a lightweight Altair Astro mount. It’s not so great with a heavier 4” scope but usable. It’s under 2kg so ideal for traveling. 

[Lucas M]

I've just got myself an Innorel RT90C and love it, it's super well made and very sturdy, it's a little over 2.5kg so not super light weight but really not bad for how beefy it is. It's about the same weight as my star adventurer gti steel tripod but more versatile in height and far more stable. I'm imaging with it so wanted it to be as stable/vibration free as possible so I did make myself a spreader for it, it probably didn't need it, but just gives piece of mind for heavier mounts/scopes.

 

[jjohnson3803]

49 minutes ago, Lucas M said:

I've just got myself an Innorel RT90C [...] I did make myself a spreader for it [...]

Did you 3-D print that or ???  I have an RT90C and have been wondering if I should try to add a spreader.

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

On 06/07/2024 at 14:07, Louis D said:

Are you really asking for a lightweight tripod rather than a sturdy photographic tripod?  I use a Manfrotto 058B / Bogen 3251 and my daughter uses a Manfrotto 075 / Bogen 3036.  Either can handle 25 pounds loads easily.  Neither is particularly light or compact, but both can be had relatively cheaply used.  I like the fully adjustable leg spread angles of both models.

Below is my 058B with about a 22 pound load:

It is very stable.  I do use vibration dampening pads under each foot when used on concrete to reduce dampening time from 3 seconds to 0.5 second.

I use a Manfrotto PROB when I am not using the Sky-Watcher aluminium tripods.

Although the PROB does not come supplied with the spreader as the one shown by @Louis D it is reasonably stable, especially when I use my AYO or Giro mounts and dual-mounted. Also, I do not fully extend the legs.

Edited August 5 by RT65CB-SWL

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, RT65CB-SWL said:

I use a Manfrotto PROB when I am not using the Sky-Watcher aluminium tripods.

Although the PROB does not come supplied with the spreader as the one shown by @Louis D it is reasonably stable, especially when I use my AYO or Giro mounts and dual-mounted. Also, I do not fully extend the legs.

If by Manfrotto PROB you mean the Manfrotto 055XPROB, then I have its 1990s predecessor, the 055B.  I've used it for years for videography.  It's quite stable for that use case.  I wasn't comfortable putting a 20+ pound load on it as shown in my posting above, so settled on the Manfrotto 058B / Bogen 3251 because I could pick up used versions for $150 or less and it has a significantly higher load capacity.  It's also a significantly heavier tripod as well.

I picked up a like new used Manfrotto 475 / Bogen 3036 for my daughter's car camping rig for $75 off of ebay a few years back.  It differs in having manual leg locks instead of the centralized leg releases and the legs are silver instead of black.

[Lucas M]

On 05/08/2024 at 19:09, jjohnson3803 said:

Did you 3-D print that or ???  I have an RT90C and have been wondering if I should try to add a spreader.

 

Yeah, I drew it up on CAD then 3D printed it with 30% carbon filled PLA (at 100% infil as there is a lot of compression force on it).

The threaded bar is actually the threaded stud out of the cup angle head thing that comes with the tripod, then just needed to add a 30mm female to female 3/8" coupler and use the original hook to tighten it (meaning you can still hang weights off it too)

If you have access to a printer I can send you the stl file to use.

[Elp]

I think you need to brace it much further down the tripod, at the top there's hardly any flex, it needs to be where you're most likely to get flexing (in the centre of a tube section for example). See other astro tripods, spreader is a third to almost half way down. I haven't felt the need to do such with my rt.

[Second Time Around]

The following site has scientific tests of the rigidity of many tripods plus lots of other useful information:

https://thecentercolumn.com/

[jjohnson3803]

15 hours ago, Lucas M said:

Yeah, I drew it up on CAD then 3D printed it with 30% carbon filled PLA (at 100% infil as there is a lot of compression force on it).

The threaded bar is actually the threaded stud out of the cup angle head thing that comes with the tripod, then just needed to add a 30mm female to female 3/8" coupler and use the original hook to tighten it (meaning you can still hang weights off it too)

If you have access to a printer I can send you the stl file to use.

Thanks.  Unfortunately, no printer available. 

[Lucas M]

22 hours ago, Elp said:

I think you need to brace it much further down the tripod, at the top there's hardly any flex, it needs to be where you're most likely to get flexing (in the centre of a tube section for example). See other astro tripods, spreader is a third to almost half way down. I haven't felt the need to do such with my rt.

I put the spreader there based on a couple of factors, 1 being the design is based on other similar tripods like the ZWO TC40, new skywatcher wave carbon tripod and a pegasus astro tripod, which all have the spreader right at the top (see image). it's essentially more of a "lock" than a spreader I guess

2nd and more importantly... the top spreaders are way easier to design/make 🤣. 

I am working on a design for a mid level spreader but it is much more complex with multiple components, the need to fold up when collapsing the tripod, how to mount it to the tubes etc.

I honestly don't think this tripod needs a spreader but I figured it can't hurt, and it was just a challenge for myself from a design point of view really

[Louis D]

On 07/08/2024 at 02:09, Second Time Around said:

The following site has scientific tests of the rigidity of many tripods plus lots of other useful information:

https://thecentercolumn.com/

Nice website, but why aren't there any tests of studio or video tripods?  I find them to be better for astronomy than field tripods due to their strength, rigidity, flexibility (of purpose), and affordability when purchased used.  Yes, they tend to be heavy, but so are good mounts and OTAs.

Edited August 9 by Louis D