[jman17]

Hi,

I recently bought a second hand Canon 450D and am thinking of buying a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer star tracker (Ultimate Kit) from AstroPetes for some longer exposures and am looking for some advice before purchasing. This kit includes the mount head, latitude base, counter weight and bar, ball head adapter and a tripod. Would this kit be recommended, including the tripod? Can anyone confirm that I can set up the camera first then polar align with this package? It does include a counterweight and bar. I don't want to have to polar align then put the camera on. Also, if I was to manage to do up to 2 or maybe 3 minute long exposures (I would do shorter ones with longer focal lengths) with the 450D would this be too long to get good shots in light pollution, taking noise and shot exposure etc into account? I do plan to use Deep Sky Stacker and Star Tools to reduce noise as much as possible but just wanted some input before I buy as I have never done these length exposures before. I have an 18-55mm lens and a telephoto which extends up to 250mm focal length.

Thanks,
jman17