Quote:
Originally Posted by mithrandir
Peter, how does it attach to the tripod?
I'm using a Manfrotto geared head with my StarLapse on a heavy duty camera tripod, but if this one works with camera tripods and supports setting latitudes at least as far south as Sydney, preferably further I'd be interested too.
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It has 3 threaded holes in the base with the standard camera thread. I also have a heavy tripod for traveling and have experimented with different heads (Manfrotto etc) but find this is the most solid and offers the best fine adjustments. In the photo, the device is sitting on top of an old pier and is fastened with a bolt from underneath using one of those holes.
I drilled and tapped some holes in an old Vixen bar - you could also do the same for a short Losmandy bar because the StarLapse accepts both - so I could screw that onto the top plate of this device. You can see the heads of the short bolts in the photo.
As you'll also see from the photo, I have it set up so I can adjust both alt and az BUT if you look closely at the altitude adjuster, you may see that I have had it apart and used a grinder to reshape the metal tongue that controls altitude - the reason being that I could not get it to point much above 30 degrees so it was of limited use on my travels down south. But with a bit of judicious grinding and shaping, I was able to get enough to be able to use it anywhere on mainland Australia.
Peter