Quote:
Originally Posted by maxwolfie
I will be especially interested in nebula as they are very interesting. My budget is really only say $300-$400 at this stage, I'm guessing this won't buy me too much?
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I'd recommend that you keep saving for no less than something like an EQ5.
The portable mounts (Polarie, Astrotrac, etc) are really fantastic - but they can be very challenging to learn on. Trying to get pixel-perfect tracking on these will seriously drive you nuts
However, it can be done:
these are my best deep sky photos taken with an AT.
Also, when you start out you tend to think of the equipment as being the biggest piece of the puzzle. Until you acquire something suitable, that's certainly true... but there's a LOT more skill, learning, and dedication involved than you might imagine!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poita
I'm an eq6pro owner and I would go for the Astrotrac for widefield. You will use it 10x as much as the HEQ5 for widefield. Faster and lighter to setup, way less power hungry, you will just chuck it in the car and use it wherever you go.
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I agree - you can be imaging within minutes on the Astrotrac, and get some wonderful shots. I think an EQ5 might be a good option here, though, because there's a longer upgrade path (e.g. add an ED80 down the track) and having a dual axis drive plus GOTO makes life easier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroID
I had it almost perfect but I then misaligned the mount by failing to notice an incorrect setting in the handpiece so ended back at stage one again.
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This sounds very strange?
How are you performing your alignment?
Polar alignment on the EQ6 is adjusted by tweaking the altitude/azimuth knobs on the mount itself (not the hand controller) - it shouldn't have anything to do with the 2 or 3 star alignment process?
By the way, your 40° W sky is more than enough for performing drift alignment.