How to do Astrophotography in Hawaii at 10000ft.

[batema]

Hi,

Buddman and myself head of to Hawaii on the 24th September for a teachers astronomy conference for 10 days. Yahoooooooooo. One day we go to the Gemini North observatory for a day trip and then drop down to 3000m above see level to an observatory to do some observing through an organisations telescopes. We will have two canon cameras with us (400d and 1000d) but would love to know if anyone has any ideas on how to go about doing some photography at this level.
The only thing I can think of is star trails and maybe I could take my monfrotto and ask if I could attach it and do some widefield but that may be rude.

I would hate to waste this opportunity. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

[h0ughy]

you can do some startrails - just buy a gorilla pod - you can set that on the ground - fits easily into your bag and if need be - attach it to a fence or pole. Just make sure you have a good supply of batteries for the canon - and keep up the charge ;)

http://www.d-d-photographics.com.au/gorillapod.htm as an example

[batema]

Hi David,

That is one of the things I'll do for sure. What was that strange looking 2 surfboard looking device you had at astrofest?? I think you had the canon with the fisheye lens. Did that track the stars????

Mark

[h0ughy]

LOL yes that is my photon weapon of mass collection ;) it was and is an Astrotrak - look here http://www.astrotrac.com/

I have now bought the pier and wedge - a complete portable item. you will need a ball mount I use a benro ball mount 3 (can take over 20kg). Fantastic bit of gear - there is an article in the US version of S&T that features the astrotrac (september 2010 edition)

[batema]

Thanks Dave. It certainly is an amazing piece of equipment. The video makes it sound really simple.

[seeker372011]

Or for much much much less than an astrotrac you could try this, which debuted at NEAF

http://leo-optronics.com/


(look for the "music box" EQ drive)

Warning-I dont own one have never seen one and dont even know if it is commercially available

other better established alternatives to an astrotrac are the Kenko sky memo

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/kenko/skymemo/

or the Vixen GP2

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=439-1287-11294

or the Takahashi Teegul

http://www.takahashi-europe.com/en/TG-SP2.php

or this thingy


the Hoshino CD-1-which Peter Tan in Hong Kong lists on his website

http://www.eyebell.com/guide.htm

(you can get google to translate if your japanese is like mine, somewhat wanting)

nothing is particularly cheap-except the Music Box I suppose

The astrotrac is the most portable and carries the most load, but its not cheap

Narayan

[seeker372011]

Oh and you could try the portable EQ1 -very inexpensive relatively

http://www.telescope.com/control/accessories/mounts-and-tripods/orion-min-eq-tabletop-equatorial-telescope-mount

have had some frustrating sessions with my EQ1 but it can be made to work

[h0ughy]

guys it all has to get on a plane and travel - the teegul is far too heavy to travel - and i have one and it has been tried ;)

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow Mark that sounds exciting ;) hope you have a great time :thumbsup: