Nice one Chris! I still have yet to test my Astrotrac If I come down to the Forest tomorrow evening we can do a direct comparison
hope it works well for you. if you do set up side by side you will notice that about the same time you need to reset and rewind- his polarie will be flashing at the top signalling a low battery. the trade off is that you can go all night on a set of batteries but Chris will have to change the Polarie ones roughly every 2 hours - especially if it is cold.
Pity you couldn't make it Moh - the sky was brilliant. As good as I've ever seen it at the forest. Maybe tomorrow...
Here's one from tonight - a quick 75 secs at ISO1600 with the Polarie set to "1/2" rate, which slows down the tracking speed to half - the theory being that you don't track the sky or the horizon perfectly - you track halfway between. This gives you a sky and horizon only slightly blurred.
Pity you couldn't make it Moh - the sky was brilliant. As good as I've ever seen it at the forest. Maybe tomorrow...
Here's one from tonight - a quick 75 secs at ISO1600 with the Polarie set to "1/2" rate, which slows down the tracking speed to half - the theory being that you don't track the sky or the horizon perfectly - you track halfway between. This gives you a sky and horizon only slightly blurred.
Second one - ISO400 for 300 secs at f/5.6
A quick test.
Chris they look spectacular! Tracking looks real good for 300secs, i'm impressed
How did you align the Polarie? I tried using my iPhone's compass and inclinometer for the astrotrac. Either the software is inaccurate or my setting up?
Chris they look spectacular! Tracking looks real good for 300secs, i'm impressed
How did you align the Polarie? I tried using my iPhone's compass and inclinometer for the astrotrac. Either the software is inaccurate or my setting up?
I don't use my phone Moh - I use a Suunto compass off the end of a fibreglass spirit level (which extends the edge a couple of feet away from any ferrous parts) with mag dec set to 12.5 degrees E and a good inclinometer. I have a Polarie-specific polar scope coming this week which will give me even better alignment.
Now that I've managed to spend time to carry out some basic exercises to determine what the best setup is with this totally new camera, I'll be able to spend productive time to actually take better images.
I don't use my phone Moh - I use a Suunto compass off the end of a fibreglass spirit level (which extends the edge a couple of feet away from any ferrous parts) with mag dec set to 12.5 degrees E and a good inclinometer. I have a Polarie-specific polar scope coming this week which will give me even better alignment.
Now that I've managed to spend time to carry out some basic exercises to determine what the best setup is with this totally new camera, I'll be able to spend productive time to actually take better images.
I purchased a Suunto M-3 Global compass today It has a built in clinometer too. I'll pop into bunnings sometime this week to see if I can buy a spirit level made from non-ferrous metal, then give the astrotrac another whirl hopefully with better luck.
[QUOTE=mbaddah;895544]I purchased a Suunto M-3 Global compass today It has a built in clinometer too. I'll pop into bunnings sometime this week to see if I can buy a spirit level made from non-ferrous metal, then give the astrotrac another whirl hopefully with better luck.
Where did you buy the Suunto from?
Keep in mind a polar scope will be useless in the day as far as I am aware.
I purchased a Suunto M-3 Global compass today It has a built in clinometer too. I'll pop into bunnings sometime this week to see if I can buy a spirit level made from non-ferrous metal, then give the astrotrac another whirl hopefully with better luck.
Where did you buy the Suunto from?
Keep in mind a polar scope will be useless in the day as far as I am aware.
Greg.
well you should be setting up in the wee early nightime hours
I purchased a Suunto M-3 Global compass today It has a built in clinometer too. I'll pop into bunnings sometime this week to see if I can buy a spirit level made from non-ferrous metal, then give the astrotrac another whirl hopefully with better luck.
Where did you buy the Suunto from?
Keep in mind a polar scope will be useless in the day as far as I am aware.
Reads to 0.1 degrees and has a spirit level on top to find level before calibrating. I only just got it so not sure how accurate it is.
For a compass, I'm going to machine a shaft that fits in the polarie polar hollow shaft with a T-ring on the end. I'll attach my dlsr with the digital compass display from the GPS to set polar axis azimuth.
It only indicated to 1 degree but then that's only as good as most compasses anyway.
joe
It was sent Tuesday, so hopefully my polar scope arrives today. I was going to look at the Vixen compass/inclinometer, but I have them already. The polar scope has got to give the best alignment short of drifting. Can't wait for another week or so and I also receive a Rokinon 7.5mm fish eye for the OM-D. That should give some speccie vistas.
If I come down to the Forest tomorrow evening we can do a direct comparison 
See you there!
