Any luck with piggyback mounting?

[JohnJ]

Hi guys, after some great advice from you all over the last few days regarding the highlights and limitations of the kit I have on order I have yet another query for you:)

At first I had looked at the Astrotrac - the results from which look great but wow what a price!

So, as a 'cheaper' option I am considering a piggyback mount (originally suggested on this very forum by you good-selves) for my Panasonic Lumix FZ28 camera; either onto the Skymax 127 scope or somehow directly to the auto mount (I understand that both options may involve some basic DIY).

My question is; supposing I get my setup 'just right' what kind of results can I expect compared to the £400 Astrotrac solution? Obviously I dont get the convenience and portability, but image quality wise?

Anyone else attempted anything similar?

Thanks in advance

[themos]

I haven't seen any long-exposure astrophotography results from a SupaTrak. I'm guessing there's a good reason for it. Many people use the Astrotrac and the results are superb. It's a very well engineered instrument. There are no shortcuts in this game, I'm afraid.

[dmahon]

Isn't that an alt-az mount (rather than equatorial)?

If so, you'll get field rotation on exposures longer than about 30 seconds.

[jgs001]

It is an Alt Az mount, but as long as you stay low in the east or west, 2 minute exposures are possible, reducing down to about 40 seconds at zenith and to the north and south. Piggy Back is about the only choice with the panasonic you have for deep sky. To piggy back you need someway to mount the camera on top of the scope. Tube Rings come with a bolt to achieve this. Probably better in your case, as it'll reduce weight, would be to buy a medium dovetail bar and mount the camera directly to that. You shouldn't need any DIY, just a longish 1/4" UNC bolt to mount the camera on. A ball head would work nicely.

There are limits to using AltAz but it will work and you'll get results. As you have that mount, I'd suggest using it with the camera you have.

I've done piggy back in this way with my Z2 on my NexStar SLT mount and capture M44, the Beehive, the focus was really rather bad, but the Z2 really doesn't do manual focus easily.

A couple of examples... They were shot with an ST80 clone on the NexStar SLT with my 450d, so not quite the same setup but ...

My camera has not been modified, yet I've got the bubble nebula..

Some rather horrible vignette on this, but this was before I knew how to counter it, and I've lost the original so can't reprocess to remove.. This was 2 minute subs.

[samir_ansari]

I also wanted to know if it were possible to just attach a dslr to an equatorial mount and what I would need for this?