mount advice for camera + lens only

[sejanus]

hey all

haven't posted here in yonks, haven't lost interest just been busy with the business

I want to start pointing my camera at the sky again. I've lost my bug of shooting through the telescope, and just want to do widefield only. Specifically, I recently bought 2nd hand the old discontinued canon 200mm f/1.8 lens, which has optics to drool over.

The lens is 3kg by itself. The camera is about 1kg as well. So what mount should I get that will handle 4kg like a rock?

My uneducated guess is the heq5. Any thoughts?

some pics of the lens here to get an idea of the size, it's not that bad though - not like a 400mm or something silly like that

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/eos/EF-lenses/EF200mmf18LUSM/index.htm

cheers

[iceman]

Hey Gav! Long time no see.

You'll need a scope of some kind to do drift alignment, as well. The HEQ5 or EQ6 would be best, you'll want one with an auto-guide port.

[h0ughy]

as MIke said - or a g8 or g11 if you so wish

[[1ponders]]

When the bits get here and I install them, I'll let you know how I go with the straight EQ with dual motors to autoguide conversion. I'm going to try it on an EQ4. That would be big enought to carry the lens camera and a small guidescope.

[[1ponders]]

However EQ5 would be better than eq4 :P

[Dennis]

Also have a look at the Vixen GP2 and GPD2 series - they are compact, easy to transport and set up and you have the option of GoTo with the StarBook.

The Sphinx is also a suitable mount for that weight, and I think that Gerald is selling one in the For Sale side of the forum.

Cheers

Dennis

[sejanus]

thanks mate, yeah I'll probably just grab a tiny cheap refractor like I used to. I'd grab another eq6 but heck those things are heavy to move around

thanks for the other posts to the others in this thread too

cheers

[Dennis]

Using the built in Polar Alignment Scope of the GPDX I used to expose 35mm film at focal lengths of up to 200mm for 10 to 15 mins with no star trailing. However, the load was probably only around 1 ½ to 2kgs, although the mount is specified at 10kgs.

Cheers

Dennis

[Gerald Sargent]

I note your ineterst in returning to astro photography - most commendable.
As you clearly have some previous experience you bwillknow that the better
the mount the better the tracking. I have for sale a Sphinx plus a lot of
extras (I have my Atlux back in service and do not need two mounts), which
I have found has quite astonisishing "goto" accuracy and repeatabilty, and
can autoguide very well also. I found that it tracks very well.This is far a far better engineered mount than the Losmandys (which I have owned and found to be less well engineered). You will find my Sphinx advertised under
"telescopes etc" on iceinspace - as stated I am open to reasonable offers,
regards Gerald.

[sejanus]

thanks mate but i think it would be overkill for just a 4kg load

[kljucd1]

Hi 1ponders,

How did you go with this? I have an EQ4 and was thinking about purchasing the motors and having this mount specifically for wide field photography, (it has a 102mm refractor on it as well.)

Let me know:)

Regards

Daniel...

[Omaroo]

I recently bought a small Takahashi Teegul Sky Patrol II mount for this very purpose - no scope - just a camera. While it has an advertised weight limit of 3kg, there are plenty of people who push them to 4 and over. The new model is now out (III).

Here is a good review of one, and this bloke loads his up pretty well. PEC findings are included.

Typical Takahashi quality - I'm very pleased with mine. It's so small that it is a pleasure to fling its case on the seat beside me and go. The case image I've provided here shoes the scope packed - and next to a PDA phone for reference. It's a lot smaller than an EQ5 and even an EQ3.

Given that your glass only has a f/l of 200mm, I take it that you won't be chasing DSO's and other distinct objects, but going purely for wide field. The Teegul is pretty easy to drift align with a small scope (66mm or something around that size), so typical wide field is doodle to set up for. If you don't have a scope, the small (optional) polar finder will get you to within 30 arc-mins of the pole - so Milky Way photography is possible without much setup.

Here's the link to the test: http://www.astrosurf.com/carreira/comentario_tak_sp2_eng.html

Pic 1: How loaded???

Pic 2: Mine - with Nikkor 300ED & D40. Not a particularly light combo.

Pic 3: How small? :D