I have a ZEQ25 mount which I want to use more portably to access better skies for astrophotography. I find it very difficult to polar align using a polarscope and am aware of the QHY Polemaster and the Ioptron Ipolar devices which can assist with this. I would appreciate if anyone who has had experience with either or preferably both of these devices would be able to offer any comments as to their effectiveness and ease of use to assist me in making a decision.
for visual, manual polar alignement with a compass is adequate. For astrophotography with a DSLR you could use the DARV method https://www.cloudynights.com/article...ert-vice-r2760
With an astro camera (including a guide camera) there are numerous methods for polar alignment including: PHD2 drift alignment, polar drift and static PA and Sharpcap's plate solving method.
All the above have the advantage of not needing to purchase a camera dedicated to polar alignment. In the southern hemisphere especially, the disadvantage of not having a bright human eye visible pole star is countered by the presence of a bright, camera visible polar asterism. So whilst its hard to polar align with a polarscope, it is relatively easy with a camera.
Geoff, I use Polemaster, cost a bit but I was Polar Aligned in under 7 minutes for the first time use.
So easy to use but as I said a bit on the costly side but as a portable user money maybe well spent...Christmas is coming..ask Santa!
Paul
I find Sharpcap PA works really well. A Sharpcap pro licence is pretty cheap (around $20 I think) and you don't need any proprietary hardware - just a guide camera and a small guidescope.
I tried everything as I was polar alignment inadequate
I thought Polemaster was the best, but Sharpcap is even better. I now religiously use Sharpcap software with my Polemaster camera and I’m polar aligned within minutes.
Sharpcap licence is very cheap, although I think you need to annually renew to use the Polar Alignment feature, and it will work with almost all astro cameras.
Lots of choices out there, so good luck sort through all the advise.
Thanks to all posters. I bit the bullet and decided to buy a Polemaster. I had some initial difficulties roughly aligning the tripod and identifying the Octans asterism but now have sorted those things out and am confident of getting alignment and ready to work in about twenty minutes.
On my driveway I incised a permanent true north south line determined by using the true noon sun shadow method whilst for field use I set up the tripod just using a decent compass.
I think the secret is having a reliable and repeatable method for setting up your tripod, becoming familiar with the Octans asterism and PRACTICE.
Paul I looked up the Sharpcap app and it looks very interesting and maybe later may want to see how it goes against the Polemaster one.
I am really only a beginner in imaging but was really happy when I saw my first star image of Canopus. (80mm Vixen?, Canon M6, 1 min, ISO 1600).
Geoff
One thing that can be very useful to do is to loosen the screws that move your mount in azimuth (Provided it is like the EQ6 style bases where you can back out the screws used to align the mount without risk of the mount head leaving the tripod) and have a look at the polemaster output while you pan the mount from side to side within its azimuth alignment adjustment limits. It can help you get familiar with the asterisms that are either side of Octans at each time of year so if you plonk it down roughly aligned you should see something familiar to help you out, even if you are quite a long way off.
Geoff you are spot on regarding the tripod positioning. If you can set things up so the tripod goes back into the exact same place each time you setup then half the battle is over. Repeatability is key. I solved my problem by screwing three 5mm thick plastic discs to the concrete, where each disk has a hole in the centre for the tripod leg to sit in. Since doing this I rarely do polar alignments anymore, because I only do EAA with 30~45 second exposures. Of course when I do a PA, it is always really close so only needs a minor tweak.
My Polemaster continues to work reliably but some ago I added a CEM70 to my collection of gear.
I have had plate solving instability problems from the outset using the inbuilt iPolar which has led me to believe that the unit is faulty. I have now sent it
(the iPolar not the whole CEM70) back to iOptron for checking. Story in another thread "iOptron iPolar issues".
My fear is that if the iPolar checks out OK, either the problem is related to my urban location or I am too stupid to use the iPolar. Either way my CEM70 with inbuilt iPolar is going to prove to have been a poor choice.
I am looking at alternative PA options and note that Sharpcap has a PA feature.
My question is whether that Sharpcap PA would work with DSLRs as the imaging camera or would I need to buy a dedicated astro camera.
Any other suggestions would be welcome, but I want to keep my setup as simple as possible as for my premium imaging sessions I would like to set up in dark sky areas away from home.
My question is whether that Sharpcap PA would work with DSLRs as the imaging camera or would I need to buy a dedicated astro camera.
Yep, Sharpcap will work.
That said, there are some other options these days.
1. NINA with it's three point polar alignment. It's free. It doesn't need a view of the south celestial pole.
2. Polemaster Adapter. Buckeyestargazer make one that fits into a finder shoe. Geoptik have one that attaches to a vixen or losmandy bar. I have both and both work fine.
3. ASI AIR.. same as the three point polar alignment from NINA (in fact, they used the same code) but you'll need an ASI AIR
Thanks AdamJL.
The problem I am encountering is understanding how my DSLR can be connected to the computer and recognised in Sharpcap.
I have two Canons, a 60DA and a mirrorless M6, but the procedure for doing that seems unclear and more in the specialist photographer realm than in the astronomy realm.
Doing a lot of web searching on how to do it but no luck so far.
I am desperately hoping that when I get my iPolar back, it will work at least in some locations, but just don't want to have too complex an alternative or to need extra devices like a Polemaster (which I already have on another mount) if it doesn't.
I'll check out Nina as am not familiar with that.