I'm not sure if this should go here or under beginner equipment but I was tinkering in the garage and hacked together a very simple mount for getting better milky way photos with a dobsonian goto base.
Took about 10 minutes to build. Tracks very well for exposures up to 30 seconds and eliminates the star trails. It does not work so well for images around the polar axis.
FYI, the standard thread for a camera tripod screw is 1/4"-20 UNC.
Sorry for the very long delay in attaching an image, I had a serious back injury that has slowed me down.
Attached is an image taken with a canon 60d with a 70-200mm lens at 200mm. 5 images stacked. 15 second exposure f/4 and 1600 ISO. I have left the image largely unprocessed because the main goal was to show the reduced star trails.
Not bad given the mount is made of 2 bits of scrap timber, 2 timber screws and 1/4 inch bolt.
nice effort. such a simple solution with fantastic results. i really like the framing of that image as well, i think you have the makings of a great shot with some more data and processing
