Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisM
Hello Joe,
Thanks for your suggestions. With the not-inconsiderable unexpected drain on funds to land the Stowaway 92, I don't have much$ for a fancy mount at this stage.
I'll be packing the kit into a vehicle rather than an aircraft, but on trips, the astro equipment will be competing for space.
I did look at the Starlapse but without dec control, it's not really what I'm after. The strainwave mounts look promising in terms of being small and fairly light weight, but still require a modest outlay. I much prefer to use a hand controller (which not all of them appear to have) rather than a mobile device or laptop.
I like your idea of acquiring your tripod weights on-site! That is quite nifty.
Cheers, Chris
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If you want economic and not airline friendly, there are frequent listings for belt modded HEQ 5’s for about $1000 or less. Provided you don’t want to add 4kg of cameras and accessories you should get away with an HEQ5. It is not the best around but does meet your requirements for easily car portable and cheap.
I built the lightweight tripod and a diy ultralight tracking head in the late 1990’s for solar eclipse photography before all the micro trackers started coming on the market. I found that I could make the tripod very strong but it was prone to tipping because it had no counterweights. The load sat centred around the polar axis and the longish dec arm could slide laterally to balance the load. But all the weight was hanging forward. Eventually I started using the Losmandy as the head but adapted it to my tripod. Tripod is low profile. I have to sit on the ground.
Joe