Camera Labs

Hiya guys!
I know there is a thread somewhere dealing with this. Alas, I couldn't find it. So, the question I have is, what tripod am I looking for that I can attach my camera to and then set it to tracking for long term exposure, to avoid star trails?
Thanx again for this web site Gordon and all !!!!!!!! It is the best.
yaince

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Canon 50D W/Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS-USM; Canon EF 50mm prime f/1.4 USM
"God does not play dice with the universe" A. E.


Flickrr

Hi Yaince2261,

So far I know there is only bad news. To track the stars for a longer period you´ll need an astronomic mount. I don´t know about a "simple" tripod with such function. And regretly, such astromounts are (very) expensive.
In astronomy, the mount is THE (THE!) most important part of a telescope to ensure that one can take great pictures of celestial objects.
I´m doing astronomy since 1973 (also studied it), but I never saw an ad of such a tripod in astronomical magazines. Perhaps I overlooked it, then someone else should reply on this!
So, without such mount you can photograph the stars, with those arcs on the picture. With everything else you can´t expose too long, because everything will be blurred (by earth´s rotation). I find it always amazing when an object is in the middle of the field of view in the telescope how fast it "runs away" if you don´t have the possibillity to track it.

Sorry to must give such answer!

ngc94227

I have seen one astronomical tripod on amazon.com (I wanted to provide a link, but Amazon's site is down at the moment); however, I seem to remember it getting a poor review, due to the lack of adjustment range. Just do a search on amazon for tripod and a few astronomical terms; I'm sure you'll find it. Best of luck.

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Novice DMC-TZ5 owner

Hi Yaince,

Provided you aren't too ambitious and limit exposure times to a couple of minutes (less if you are using a telephoto) then you don't have to spend a fortune but, as has been mentioned, the more you spend the better the results are likely to be provided the mounting is properly aligned. Even so the only way to get top results is to have a good mounting accurately aligned and guided with, of course, dark skies (or filters).

For an example of what's available on a budget check out this Orion Telescopes & Binoculars page. A mount such as the EQ3 doesn't cost a fortune and includes the tripod. That said, to get the best out of it you need to add the EQ-3M drive (dual axis is nicest) to get the best out of it.

My thread Big Sky Astrophotography has a number of images produced with a very similar setup, with the camera mounted on top of the telescope but not using the telescope's optics. The early images were pretty basic but I got better as I went along.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

My mead el cheapo backpack telescope tracks the stars. you should check out there line. maby you could rig something up?

http://products.howstuffworks.com/meade ... review.htm

Do you have it mounted on a wedge? If not it won't do a great job as the star field will rotate even if it tracks the central star perfectly.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Sweet guys! Thank you!!

_________________
Canon 50D W/Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS-USM; Canon EF 50mm prime f/1.4 USM
"God does not play dice with the universe" A. E.


Flickrr

define a wedge? what the telescope does is you enter the constalation, star , moon etc that you want it to track and it will automatically slew over to the object and continue to track it for however long you allow it. It calculated where that particular object is and where it is going. Very powerfull software. Now i have the very cheapest of the models the 60mm. but i'm sure it would hold the object well enought and certainly better than getting star trail on a tripod

You can get these two items and they can do it.

http://www.telescope.com/control/produc ... t_id=09055


http://www.telescope.com/control/produc ... t_id=07826

If you are on a real tight budget you can build a very basic tracking mount for a few £.

Its called a Scotch Mount I think or more commonly a barn door.

Check out this page for a how to...

http://www.astunit.com/tonkinsastro/atm ... scotch.htm

P.S the hardest bit is getting your polar alignment spot on, but for exposures of a couple of minutes it shouldn't make that much difference.