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Hi,
I am not sure that 300 by is a gospel requirement though lots of people say it is. I have a 85mm F7 refractor and I drift align with a 9mm reticle which I sometimes barlow (2 by). With guiding I can go for 5 minutes subs (i dont bother going longer because of noise) with no star trailing on the EQ6.
So my drift mag is a most 20 by. This seems to be fine at my imaging FL of 480ml with a reducer and guiding. If I tried to drift align at 300 by it would be extremely tedious trying to find a bright enough star. Regardless of alignment, with no guiding PE would destroy the photo after about 2 minutes.
What I am saying is drift align at the magnification that gives you good photos for your focal length and exposure time, dont make life difficult for yourself and assume you have to do it at 300 mag.
As far as planets are concerned, they are rarely in the right position and generally are too bright and large to be of any use for drift alignment.
Paul
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