MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

I am looking to upgrade my mount for dslr astro photography. I am looking for something with goto capabilities and able to decently track a deep sky object. I dont need a telescope...already got a 8 inch dob.

What are the rest of you guys using at the moment.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Hi Mark, I use a Celestron Advanced VX Mount and sometime just mount my Camera & Lens to it.
A German Equatorial will give you the best tracking for long exposures of Deep Sky Objects (DSO).
But I'm sure there is a much less expensive mount that will work for just a Camera.
Good luck.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I am having fun using an iOptron SkyTracker with my DSLR. With wide angle lenses, I have gone for 4 miutes with no star trails and with a 200mm lens, I have gone for 30 sec with no trails.

I also have a Celestron CG5, a GEM type (German Equitorial Mount). This is an older mount and others have the newer, improved model. I bought mine at a good clearance price as they were selling off the older stock. There is a tremendous range in capability and price/weight you can pick from. The mounts to hold the bigger scopes are very heavy, and very expensive.

There are also Alt/Az type goto mounts, but they have an issue with field rotation that hinders their use for photography.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Like several here, I have the Celestron Advanced VX mount. I really like it. Mine currently is what Celestron refers to as the Gen II AVX.

Unlike several here, I've had it returned for replacement the first time, and returned for repair the second time.
At this point, I am convinced the AC power supply sold by Celestron was the culprit for the mounts drive board failures. It is too small.
Since the last repair go-round, I run the mount exclusively on a battery for it's power. And not just any battery, an AGM Deep Cycle battery. On a small hand truck to move the 50 pound hunk around. :lol: For power I shall not want. I stole it from our RV.
Yes, it's overkill. No, I don't worry, the mounts 12 volt cigarette lighter adapter has a 5 amp fast blow glass fuse in it if anything goes wrong.

And so far, it is working excellently now. That is why the Celestron power adapter has been reassigned to fan duty and will never again be used for the mount. ;)

Since the last service needs, the AVX has been amazing. And I got a couple of Youtube video links to help me with the PHD guiding, and it nails the guiding for deep space photo's.
Which was what my entire interest was aimed at to begin with.

Comparable mounts would be the Orion Sirius mount. And what I wanted to go to when frustrated with Celestron's service the first go around.

Things go up from there. Ioptron also offers a Go-To mount.
And a simplified tracking mount.

Basically, it comes back to the old Racers adage, "How fast do you wanna go, how much do you got to spend."

For me, I knew it would be a buy once, cry once leap of faith.

One last warning... read the fine print of any companies policies.
Celestron won't refund. No matter how bad it gets. You will be stuck. And for a simple board replacement in the head, the entire mount must be returned in the original packaging.
(Which is flimsy at best, I doubt mine would withstand another go around.)

I had an issue with my Orion G3 camera. I called to ask how to get the fan to run, and was I missing something about how to turn it on? The tech said, "The fan doesn't run?"
"Uh, no, it has never run." I said.
"We are sending you a new camera. Please pack the one you have in the box and return it to us. And Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience" :shock:
Not a "send it in sit on your thumb" answer. A high speed correction to a problem. I liked that.

Have fun shopping! :)

MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

Has anyone had good luck converting an equatorial telescope mount to accomodate an DSLR? If so, how did you do it?

Thanks everyone for the help

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Celestron-Nexstar-102-GT-Computerized-Alt-Az-Mount-and-Hand-Control-/281834576702?hash=item419ea65b3e:g:p8IAAOSw5VFWJzY7
I used this Mount and Tripod with an Aluminum homemade bracket. 1/4"x1-1/2" stock.
It's good for 30-45 sec shots.
I now use my Celestron AVX Equatorial Mount for all my Camera work
Craig

(Download)


(Download)


(Download)

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

The equatorial mounts accept what's known as a dovetail mounting bar. I am including a link to one of them. You can google and find plenty, but I wanted to show you a picture of what one looks like.

http://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=7383&utm_source=google&utm_medium=comparisonshopping&utm_campaign=US-googlemerchant&gclid=CP-4rJvesckCFUSWgQodYC4OLA

To mount a DSLR, this plate needs to have a 1/4" screw protruding through the top that can be screwed into the base of the DSLR or the lens if it has a screw mount.

I have one made by Celestron that has a sliding screw that is real nice for this, but it has no part number on it and it came with a tripod I had purchased. I once saw someone selling one on eBay, but I didn't today.

But it shouldn't be too hard to adapt a plate like the one I am showing you and to make it hold a DSLR.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I found one of these solid aluminum Vixen style rails when I went shopping for a real rail to mount my Telescope on.
My telescope came with a foot that would not work well with the Vixen style clamp used for astronomy mounts.
And I didn't really care for the extruded aluminum offerings found on the web.
Sadly, it is apparently out of stock. But a solid bar has enough meat to counter sink a screw head into for mounting most anything to it.
Mine has several threaded holes and some counter sunk holes Allen head bolts fit in.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BTKVLTO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Here's what I used. I bought one of these tripods some years ago:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Astromaster-Az-Tripod-For-Small-Telescopes-Heavy-Duty-Tripod-93610-/231749805644?hash=item35f55d664c:g:L~IAAOSwEgVWQ8DE

On the top is a vixen type dovetail adapter that provides the 1/4" screw to mount a camera. It comes off and I use it for holding my camera/lens to the equatorial mount.

And then the bottom part. I removed the top section with the handle and permanently mounted my iOptron SkyTracker to it. The iOptron then needs a ball head. I had one of those from the modification of a tripod to use a gimbal mount.

So, I started with a tripod I wasn't using, and it now has supplied parts for a dual use that I am using.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Once you get the mount and the camera adapted to it, then comes the next job - finding out what lenses are OK to use for star images. What you will find is that some lenses you would think are good for this, aren't so good. And then you need to figure out what lenses are good for this.

I have perhaps 35 or more lenses and I have narrowed down to just 8 that are sharp enough for astrophotography. Some lenses are just fabulous for terrestrial imaging, but just don't cut it with stars. The stars are in effect, pin point sources of light, and this really shows off the distortion of the lens, if it is inclined to do so.

Primes are usually better than zooms. But not all zooms are bad for stars.

The types of distortion most seen are coma distortion, where the star is stretched radially away from the center. And Astigmatism, where that stretched star now grows wings or perhaps handlebar mustaches. This happens the most on brighter stars in the corners.

And then other lenses show no such problems at all.

Another issue is focusing the camera. Some cameras are much better at focusing on stars than others. I shoot Sony, and it is really good for this. Some of the other cameras, this can be a real struggle.

And the next thing is ISO range and just how high you can go before noise is just too much. Not all cameras are created equal here either.

Good luck. And it is a lot of fun. Especially when you can get good results. But there is a learning curve.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I called ADM and gave them my Camera and Lens measurements and they designed a system for me. Their quality is "top line" I wanted to be able to guide as well! One image has the bracket that holds both the guide scope and camera and lens...currently the camera and lense are mounted ready to image tonight without this bracket...as I ain't planning on guiding.

http://www.admaccessories.com/V_Series_Camera_Mount_Kit.htm

(Download)


(Download)

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I called ADM and gave them my Camera and Lens measurements and they designed a system for me. Their quality is "top line" I wanted to be able to guide as well! One image has the bracket that holds both the guide scope and camera and lens...currently the camera and lense are mounted ready to image tonight without this bracket...as I ain't planning on guiding.

http://www.admaccessories.com/V_Series_Camera_Mount_Kit.htm

(Download)


(Download)