|
Hello Kevin,
Welcome to IIS. The wider the lens you use on the vixen polarie the less accurate you need to be in terms of alignment. So for most of your lenses using the polar meter to line up with true south (Yes you need to offset the magnetic south and yes for Cobram that is 11 degrees East according to the magnetic declination map I looked up) and setting your longitude with your protractor/polar meter, will get you producing great long exposure wide field images of the night sky. If you want to use one of your lenses to zoom in on certain features you may find that your alignment might need a little tweaking depending on your exposure times.
One thing to keep in mind is the weight capacity of the polarie and the stability of your tripod. No amount of accurate alignment will make up for a flimsy tripod or a top heavy camera/lens combo.
From your current lens choices I assume that you are already doing fixed tripod astrophotography? When you start tracking the stars, also keep in mind that any terrestrial elements in your images will blur over the course of the exposure(s) so if you want to include crisp landscape features you will need to blend a static shot in later.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Kind Regards
Greg
|