LAW
08-02-2014, 10:31 PM
Hey everyone, after some of the amazing time lapse videos on here and YouTube I've been keen to get my own rig. I found a $20 unit on eBay which is fun to play with in daylight but completely useless for astro use so I'm looking at the Skywatcher EQ1 with RA drive. I's ~$200 and should provide flexible slow movement for what I want.
I'm hoping that it will provide "close enough" tracking for wide angle Milky Way shots as a 'grab and go' with just my DSLR and I can use the North/South selector to reverse the panning direction for when I want to shoot off the rotational axis using the speed controller for different effects. To mount the DSLR I'll use a 2" bar with a 1/4" countersunk bolt mounted in it, but rather than bolt the dslr directly to the EQ mount I'm planning on mounting a tripod ball head in between to give complete flexibility.
Has anyone had any experience with the EQ1? Or knows of a better rig for time lapse in that budget range? Or just any other ideas, suggestions...?
Hopefully (and this is just a thought experiment at the moment) I'll be able to set the mount for 90 degrees latitude for horizontal panning, or anything up to vertical at 0 degrees, select forwards or backwards with the North/South selector, and change the speed with the hand controller. The motor runs off a 9V battery and my DSLR has a 12V or 240V adapter as well as a dual battery pack and the capability of my Sigma 17-70mm and 70-300mm lenses so I'm hoping this will be the perfect "travel scope" for the amateur astrophotographer.
I'm hoping that it will provide "close enough" tracking for wide angle Milky Way shots as a 'grab and go' with just my DSLR and I can use the North/South selector to reverse the panning direction for when I want to shoot off the rotational axis using the speed controller for different effects. To mount the DSLR I'll use a 2" bar with a 1/4" countersunk bolt mounted in it, but rather than bolt the dslr directly to the EQ mount I'm planning on mounting a tripod ball head in between to give complete flexibility.
Has anyone had any experience with the EQ1? Or knows of a better rig for time lapse in that budget range? Or just any other ideas, suggestions...?
Hopefully (and this is just a thought experiment at the moment) I'll be able to set the mount for 90 degrees latitude for horizontal panning, or anything up to vertical at 0 degrees, select forwards or backwards with the North/South selector, and change the speed with the hand controller. The motor runs off a 9V battery and my DSLR has a 12V or 240V adapter as well as a dual battery pack and the capability of my Sigma 17-70mm and 70-300mm lenses so I'm hoping this will be the perfect "travel scope" for the amateur astrophotographer.