Quote:
Originally Posted by Zuts
Hi,
There is really no such thing as auto polar alignment. Whatever mount you buy and given you are setting up each night with it, after setting it down pointing south you will still have to fiddle with bolts and levers to get a good polar alignment, if you want to take nebula photos with the Redcat. Mind you the FL of 250 mm maybe means you dont have to be perfectly aligned, but since you are unguided the closer the better.
This is not to say it is difficult, there are apps like sharpcap which help you polar align, but it is not automatic. Sharpcap requires a laptop, but there are a few mobile phone apps that can help as well.
You also left out 4, focusing. This can be a bit fiddly as well even with live view as of course you cannot use the autofocus on the DSLR with a Redcat, perhaps you can read about the benefits of using a Bhatinov mask for focusing.
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Well, not auto alignment like StarSense but rather easy alignment, such as the iOptron SkyGuider Pro Mount with IPolar that has an electronic polar finder scope even when the pole star is obscured and there is no need to position towards the south.
You are absolutely spot on with focusing, but I have decided that I may instead go for the Zenithstar 61 because of the larger aperture and it is still small enough to fit on the skywatcher. But, definately, a member here showed me how to use the Bhatinov mask and it was amazingly simple. Definately want that!