piggyback advise needed :)

[spacetrace]

Hello, I would like to know what I would need to buy in order to piggy back my pentax k100d to my celestron 114slt and would that additional weight be a problem for my goto mount motors?

In fact Im not sure if piggybacking would be the best way for me, I am initially wanting to do some wide angle shots of constellations etc I think I could get away with using just a tripod but was thinking that by piggybacking to my scope I might be able to get longer exposures using the tracking feature. I am aware that it is not an eq mount so that will limit me to some extent. I would just like to start practising with my camera, getting some good shots and learning before deciding if I really would take astrophotograpgy seriously enough to warrant buying new equipment. Any suggestions and ideas are welcome thanks all

[jgs001]

I'm not sure that piggy backing like that is a good idea. I did piggy back my Z2 on my SLT, but it's a much smaller camera. Why not just buy a medium dovetail and mount the camera directly to that, then take the scope off, and fit the camera directly to the mount. I think you'll get better results, better balance making life easier and less frustrating. I think it'll put less strain on the mount also.

[spacetrace]

I'm not sure that piggy backing like that is a good idea. I did piggy back my Z2 on my SLT, but it's a much smaller camera. Why not just buy a medium dovetail and mount the camera directly to that, then take the scope off, and fit the camera directly to the mount. I think you'll get better results, better balance making life easier and less frustrating. I think it'll put less strain on the mount also.

Never thought about that option, I may have issues though as the mount fixture fits to the side of my scope and not sure what issues id then face trying to attach the camera, The pic below shows what mount it is, then again I think i could get the bf to make something with dovetail fixture on the side of a platform with thread for camera maybe?

[jgs001]

I've got a Celestion SLT mount. The fork uses a standard dovetail fitting, I've mounted all three of my scopes on it using standard dovetails and tube rings, it makes balance much easier ;D. Use the medium one of Dovetail bars - Skywatcher Dovetail Mounting Plates, you can mount the Camera to that with a 1/4" UNC/Whitworth bolt (the same as the tripod thread on the bottom). The dovetail fits directly to the mount.

[gataki]

Hi,

I use my 1000d straight onto my Nexstar slt mount ~ like the one spacetrace posted. The only problem was that I first had to remove the plastic housing over where the dovetail plate fits because otherwise the camera was too fat.

In this photo you can see the 'housing' which I have removed (very simple to do - and could easily be put back).

Liz