Polarie counterbalance experiment

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Interesting work Chris. I'd like to hear how it works out.

There is a Vixen tripod for the Polarie that has a counterweight shaft. Perhaps look at that as well for ideas.

Greg.

Greg - isn't the Vixen-supplied Velbon tripod itself counterbalanced? It has nothing to do with the Polarie as I understand it. It's just so that you can set up the tripod in a way where it is less likely to topple over.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Greg - isn't the Vixen-supplied Velbon tripod itself counterbalanced? It has nothing to do with the Polarie as I understand it. It's just so that you can set up the tripod in a way where it is less likely to topple over.

Oh I see. I thought it was counterbalancing the camera/lens.

Well that's not so useful.

Greg.

[dannat (Daniel)]

That is an ed80 Greg had on there, he tested it briefly he tod me & the polarie handled it , at the Asv meeting e had a long tele lens on it maybe 300mm (seemed like an older lend, not the compact ones you get today)

Hi counterweight shaft was long, I think it was so he could rotate it fully with contacting anything

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

The Polarie can hold more than it's original rating.

A rep on the vixen mailing list recently posted :

From:vixenoptics@yahoogroups.com on behalf of mrstarguy_usa (j.deis@vixenoptics.com)Sent:Wednesday, 22 August 2012 3:12:33 AMTo: VixenOptics@yahoogroups.com
Vixen's Polarie Star Tracker has been re-evaluated and it is now confirmed that it will hold 7 lbs of equipment. Lets get out there with our cameras and take some amazing photos!


So some of the concerns expressed in this thread about weight limits need to be rethought.

Joe