Great review! Short and to the point especially the setup process. One correction at around 07:50 - you say "aperture speed" when you meant "shutter speed." The chart shows the correct action though.
Wow, that was amazingly clear directions. Hands-down, the best. Now I have some idea of what the heck to do. And it’s a lot which I had no concept of before. Thanks so much, subbed! ❤
Fantastic video presentation! I'm strongly considering this product and this by far has been the best video I've seen. Short, to the point and simple explanations! Thank you!
I had one of the first GTI's in the first batch shipped out. This mount, at the time, suffered from heavy backlash. This was caused by how the screws were securing the worm gears. The screws were working themselves free. My understanding is that Sky Watcher has now included an additional nut for both the RA and Dec Axis. Hopefully this has solved the backlash issue. A spring-loaded worm gear would have been really nice too. The Dec Axis can also be sticky when turning it. This could create issues when trying to balance. Hopefully SW is using a better grease and not the glue/grease they were using. Also, the first mounts were only shipped with one counterweight with the GTI head only. It's nice to see two counterweights offered. The Wi-Fi, Go-To and App worked flawlessly. This mount has huge potential if the Backlash issue is finally solved. I would definitely use a tripod that had a nice wide flat base to secure the mount to.
Could you do a tutorial on how to polar align with the north star isnt in the sky? Perfect example- You want to track the sun for the upcoming solar eclipse pictures.
I bought one of these about a month ago and have taken it out 4 times. I've been happy with it. Some issues worth noting: The covers on the battery pack and alignment scope are quite cheesy just as mentioned in the video. I don't even worry about the alignment scope front cover any more, except when I put the mount away, because it falls off constantly. I take it off before I go out and put it back on when I come back in. I found that I could not do 30 second exposures with a 400mm lens without significant star trailing. He said he could do 1, 2, and 3 minutes, but I find that 15 seconds is the limit. This isn't a problem for those who are autoguiding. Another issue worth noting is that the level on the mount is tucked away under stuff, so you can't look at it directly on from the top. You can only look at it from the side, making it pretty useless. The solution I found is to level the tripod using a horizontal leveler bubble level before putting the mount on. I just lay a flat plate on top of the extension pier and put the level on that. I do try to check the level on the mount after I putting the mount on, but like I said, you can only look at it from a side angle. I know I've only mentioned the negative things here, so let me say that I've been quite happy with this mount. The issues I mentioned are rather minor, imo, and not deal-breakers for me.
honestly i would post the set up of the GTI extra mby even as a short if u can manage that.. i am newbie who bought the video and u r the first person who actually explained it well and without skipping important parts etc
Hi Paul! Great and concise tutorial for beginners. You're the first one I've seen showing what to do when the session ends! Can you please help me with advice. When I try to polar align, my tripod is leveled, my altitude is set correctly and it's facing north. But when I look into the scope, the 0 to 6 axis is angled. 0 is leaning to the right. If I straighten it up, the counterweight shaft is angled to the right. So from start the tracker is not vertical. When I try to align it, it goes all wrong. Thanks!
After 5 years of waiting I was expecting evolution, but agree cap, battery, old usb, power adapter old… all those need to change. 1 usbc fixes the the power and data and control, screw cap fixes the polar…. The app need a refresh at least to the 2000 lol But the things works…
MY BABY 🤩! Have one for more than a year and still love it! When I go crazy I even mount my 6‘‘-SC-telescope with my camera behind it. And it sometimes works amazingly well! Siril is my „weapon of choice“ as well, but agree: Not really self-explaining 😉
@@Fartmaster699 I know 😉! I don't do any slewing with it "on board", I set everything up with the camera and the 75-300 lens. Once everything works fine I change to the telescope. It works quite fine, but I am saving for a proper mount, that's for sure... until then I work with what I have - and love it!
Great stuff! How do you know which 3 stars to choose to do the proper alignment ? How do you know if it is aligned successfully after going through the process? I've been doing the 3 stars alignment (I just picked random stars) but I can't seem to figure it out what am I doing wrong, after that it won't go to any of the correct stars/nebulas etc after I do the alignment. So I must do something wrong. (It is properly aligned to Polaris.)
Hi Paul, thank you for the great video! Are you going to watch the April 8th Eclipse? Could you please do a video on Daytime Polar Alignment on the GTi. I'm preparing for the eclipse and am having many challenges with this! Many thanks!
Excellent to the point setup guide after watching lots of BS on UA-cam. Thank You!!! I have one question. After the polar alignment is complete, the camera is pointed a Polaris and I am ready a calibrate the mount, how do I set this as the home position? Currently I remove the camera, then do a GOTO Polaris, and then point the mount back to where Polaris really is, and then do the star alignment. I know this is backwards but how is this properly done?
I would really appreciate if you could stress a bit more on polar alignment and 3 point alignment. I’m just getting into astrophotography from wildlife photography so don’t have much idea on these parts. Thanks
Hey there..Great Overview. Question for you. I have the ASI Air Plus and when in Preview, I get an Exposure Failure banner. I have swapped cables, rest firmware, updated firmware and swapped power supplies. Still get the same message. Thoughts?
Thanks for the great walkthrough. Just one doubt: does the black plate you use to mount the DSLR to the GTi come with the GTi? Or do you have to buy it? IS it arca swiss? Thanks so much!
thank you for simplifying the process, looking to buy the same tracker as it has the GOTO feature. This is as complex as I will ever get, your results are amazing. Any clue on how to align this tracker for a total solar eclipse?
Hey man, that's such a nice video. Do you know what snap cable to buy to use with Sony A7C camera (type c port). It seems nobody is able to make it work. I cannot find a cable in first place.
I'm consodering to buy it, i have a sony a7iii with 200-600 f5.6-6.3 do you think th8s will hold up well? Sony body is around 650 grams and lens is 2.1 kg
1. How did you possibly get these tiny objects so highly magnified? Does 500mm really do that? 2. I want to shoot large area mountain landscapes with the night sky out & above, rather than celestial objects. Is this device inappropriate?
I've got the GTi with a Canon EOS 2000D / Rebel T7 and the Rokinon 135mm f2.0 lens but the tripod I purchased is a 1/4" thread despite listing it as a 3/8". What tripod are you using in this video? TIA
It's a 20+ year old Manfrotto tripod with the top portion removed. It's quite old, so I'm not sure of the model number. Perhaps a 1/4" to 3/8" adapter would work for you. Might be called a reducing bushing.
@@TheFriendlyReviewer I have tried an adapter and just cant seem to fasten it secure enough, when adding the counterweights and the camera and lens it wobbles slightly so i dont want to risk taking it out
Hello, nice video, it has helped me a lot, but i still got a question to ask. I've recently purchased the Star Adventurer GTi, and according to the shop where I bought, it should have the option of tracking an object, but I can't set it in the app. It lets me choose between "No tracking", "Sidereal" and "Lunar", but the option I want of "Point and track" isn't available. I don't know if it's a problem of my mount or if I misunderstood the characteristics of it. Does it allow tracking? And if yes, how do I set it and why doesn't it work? Thank you very much and happy new year.
They may have been referring to the use of an ST-4 style AutoGuider with the Adventurer GTi. I don't have one, but I believe it can plug into the system and it will track objects/stars in the sky.
If you mean tracking satellites and other things of the sort, then I don't think it can. I know the AZ-GTI (and gtix) can when connected to a laptop. But from what I know the Star Adventurer can't track these things continuously, only by leapfrogging (it jumps ahead and lets your target cross the field of view, and repeats).
I recently got the SA GTI and have been playing with the features. I tried out the point and track and I think it used to point your phone at an object in the sky and then have the GTI slew to that object. I guess it's used in case you don't know the name of an object that you can see. I believe once it has slewed to the object, then the tracking is just sidereal or lunar. It was kind of cool but not exact. I still had to do the fine adjustments to get the object centered in my frame.
@@TheFriendlyReviewer You didn't. I heard it in another UA-cam video. I like your video...simple and practical. Where can I download Your table about Lights, Bias Darks?
EDIT: My first statement about having the camera facing left or right, blocks the polarscope, is incorrect... The rest however, is the important part, that needs to be done, once polar aligned Not sure if anyone spotted this but with the camera pointing left or right, you cannot see through the polar scope. One important thing is the home position... dovetail scree facing the connections panel, counterweight facing the ground.. with polaris in view (telescope/camera) and both clutches locked down... Only when properly polar aligned, with the mount in the home position, do you start the alignment process... 1, 2 or 3 star... I suggest 2 or 3 for best results... Then you can choose a target and do what you set out to do, view or photograph a target.
I'm confused by this comment. For the unit I have, you can only see through the polar scope with the camera pointed left or right. This also matches the instructions that came with it.
@TheFriendlyReviewer Apologies for my confusion, you see I missed out the fact that after polar alignment you need to have the camera facing polaris, THE HOME position, then lock down both clutches before going to alignment... You are correct to see through the scope you must turn the canera/scope to the right or left, then once align, turn the camera to north/polaris then lock down the mount... because I got confused first time I tried setting it up.. in the dark...First zi vouldn't see polaris, camera could, but then I remembered the light was turned off in the app, and in between grabbing the phone and checking through the polarscope again, I did have the camera off to the side... It was all this stuff about yhe home position, which it critical before doing 1,2 or star alignment that I completely messed up and the mount was going way off target and I kind of gave up.... So sorry for the confusion, you are absolutely correct, that the lens/ scope has to be fa in right or left, before you can polar align. Obviously I am a total beginner in this and you know far more about this topic than I do, so I should have doubled checked before I commented. Anyway great video, keep up the good work and.... Clear Skies
So once the one star or two star alignment is done how do you actually get it to start tracking say for the Milky Way, you just use the arrows to move the tracker to face the Milky Way?
Finally a helpful walkthrough setting up GTi with a camera. Well done.
Great review! Short and to the point especially the setup process. One correction at around 07:50 - you say "aperture speed" when you meant "shutter speed." The chart shows the correct action though.
Wow, that was amazingly clear directions. Hands-down, the best. Now I have some idea of what the heck to do. And it’s a lot which I had no concept of before.
Thanks so much, subbed! ❤
Fantastic video presentation! I'm strongly considering this product and this by far has been the best video I've seen. Short, to the point and simple explanations! Thank you!
I had one of the first GTI's in the first batch shipped out. This mount, at the time, suffered from heavy backlash. This was caused by how the screws were securing the worm gears. The screws were working themselves free. My understanding is that Sky Watcher has now included an additional nut for both the RA and Dec Axis. Hopefully this has solved the backlash issue. A spring-loaded worm gear would have been really nice too. The Dec Axis can also be sticky when turning it. This could create issues when trying to balance. Hopefully SW is using a better grease and not the glue/grease they were using. Also, the first mounts were only shipped with one counterweight with the GTI head only. It's nice to see two counterweights offered. The Wi-Fi, Go-To and App worked flawlessly. This mount has huge potential if the Backlash issue is finally solved. I would definitely use a tripod that had a nice wide flat base to secure the mount to.
Simple and cool!!! Never seen such simple and very clear explanation. Thank you for saving my time. Only useful information ❤
Could you do a tutorial on how to polar align with the north star isnt in the sky? Perfect example- You want to track the sun for the upcoming solar eclipse pictures.
I bought one of these about a month ago and have taken it out 4 times. I've been happy with it.
Some issues worth noting:
The covers on the battery pack and alignment scope are quite cheesy just as mentioned in the video. I don't even worry about the alignment scope front cover any more, except when I put the mount away, because it falls off constantly. I take it off before I go out and put it back on when I come back in.
I found that I could not do 30 second exposures with a 400mm lens without significant star trailing. He said he could do 1, 2, and 3 minutes, but I find that 15 seconds is the limit. This isn't a problem for those who are autoguiding.
Another issue worth noting is that the level on the mount is tucked away under stuff, so you can't look at it directly on from the top. You can only look at it from the side, making it pretty useless. The solution I found is to level the tripod using a horizontal leveler bubble level before putting the mount on. I just lay a flat plate on top of the extension pier and put the level on that. I do try to check the level on the mount after I putting the mount on, but like I said, you can only look at it from a side angle.
I know I've only mentioned the negative things here, so let me say that I've been quite happy with this mount. The issues I mentioned are rather minor, imo, and not deal-breakers for me.
honestly i would post the set up of the GTI extra mby even as a short if u can manage that.. i am newbie who bought the video and u r the first person who actually explained it well and without skipping important parts etc
Super encouraging to see your results with the R5/100-500 combo. I thought that would be too much for this mount
thats perfect what i was looking for thanks bro !
Hi Paul! Great and concise tutorial for beginners. You're the first one I've seen showing what to do when the session ends!
Can you please help me with advice. When I try to polar align, my tripod is leveled, my altitude is set correctly and it's facing north. But when I look into the scope, the 0 to 6 axis is angled. 0 is leaning to the right. If I straighten it up, the counterweight shaft is angled to the right. So from start the tracker is not vertical. When I try to align it, it goes all wrong. Thanks!
After 5 years of waiting I was expecting evolution, but agree cap, battery, old usb, power adapter old… all those need to change.
1 usbc fixes the the power and data and control, screw cap fixes the polar…. The app need a refresh at least to the 2000 lol
But the things works…
MY BABY 🤩! Have one for more than a year and still love it! When I go crazy I even mount my 6‘‘-SC-telescope with my camera behind it. And it sometimes works amazingly well! Siril is my „weapon of choice“ as well, but agree: Not really self-explaining 😉
A 6 inch is 100% not fit for the SWSAGTI. Please be careful
@@Fartmaster699 I know 😉! I don't do any slewing with it "on board", I set everything up with the camera and the 75-300 lens. Once everything works fine I change to the telescope. It works quite fine, but I am saving for a proper mount, that's for sure... until then I work with what I have - and love it!
@@stefanschneider3681 I understand but my point is it can’t handle the weight of the c6 and ur risking damaging ur mount.
Great stuff! How do you know which 3 stars to choose to do the proper alignment ? How do you know if it is aligned successfully after going through the process? I've been doing the 3 stars alignment (I just picked random stars) but I can't seem to figure it out what am I doing wrong, after that it won't go to any of the correct stars/nebulas etc after I do the alignment. So I must do something wrong. (It is properly aligned to Polaris.)
So you don’t align Polaris to the center of the cross hair. I’ve noticed it was at the 7 or 8 o’clock position. Still new to this alignment stuff.
Correct, Polaris isn't true north. I'm guessing you know this by now.
Wow that's stunning
Great video! I have an R5, where can I find the cable to hook the R5 to the GTi?
Great! Finally found a GTI + DSLR are you adding a tracker
very nice video and easy presentation, one question, what is the rail you have put on the lens? thanks
Hi Paul, thank you for the great video! Are you going to watch the April 8th Eclipse? Could you please do a video on Daytime Polar Alignment on the GTi. I'm preparing for the eclipse and am having many challenges with this! Many thanks!
Excellent to the point setup guide after watching lots of BS on UA-cam. Thank You!!! I have one question. After the polar alignment is complete, the camera is pointed a Polaris and I am ready a calibrate the mount, how do I set this as the home position? Currently I remove the camera, then do a GOTO Polaris, and then point the mount back to where Polaris really is, and then do the star alignment. I know this is backwards but how is this properly done?
Merci pours les explications. 🙂
I would really appreciate if you could stress a bit more on polar alignment and 3 point alignment.
I’m just getting into astrophotography from wildlife photography so don’t have much idea on these parts. Thanks
Hey there..Great Overview. Question for you. I have the ASI Air Plus and when in Preview, I get an Exposure Failure banner. I have swapped cables, rest firmware, updated firmware and swapped power supplies. Still get the same message. Thoughts?
Thanks for the great walkthrough. Just one doubt: does the black plate you use to mount the DSLR to the GTi come with the GTi? Or do you have to buy it? IS it arca swiss? Thanks so much!
thank you for simplifying the process, looking to buy the same tracker as it has the GOTO feature. This is as complex as I will ever get, your results are amazing. Any clue on how to align this tracker for a total solar eclipse?
Question: Ap doesn't show up Advanced after I click utility. Is there an update I'm missing
Where did you get the Blue Bahtinov Mask that dropped over the lens?
Thanks for a great video. Which Snap port lead did you get for your Canon R5, as most listings don't mention The Canon R bodies.
Nice video, do you know what the battery life is? Thanx for the info.
Hey man, that's such a nice video.
Do you know what snap cable to buy to use with Sony A7C camera (type c port). It seems nobody is able to make it work. I cannot find a cable in first place.
Great review and yes the Cap is the worst. Was hoping someone 3D printed a better one on Etsy but no luck yet.
Excellent review
I'm consodering to buy it, i have a sony a7iii with 200-600 f5.6-6.3 do you think th8s will hold up well? Sony body is around 650 grams and lens is 2.1 kg
1. How did you possibly get these tiny objects so highly magnified? Does 500mm really do that?
2. I want to shoot large area mountain landscapes with the night sky out & above, rather than celestial objects. Is this device inappropriate?
Did you make that graphic of the camera settings for darks/flats/etc, if not, what site did you get it from?
Great video btw.
i got mine yesterday and i'm returning it already, the polar scope illuminator on max brightness doesn't light up much :( just my luck
Did you change the illumination setting using the Synscan app? I had the same problem until I found that.
Hello. Great setup and explanation details. Nice photo's. I see your not using guiding with mount or am I missing something? Thanks
no guiding needed below 1-2 min exposures, at least thats what I do. also with a normal camera with a 500mm focal
I've got the GTi with a Canon EOS 2000D / Rebel T7 and the Rokinon 135mm f2.0 lens but the tripod I purchased is a 1/4" thread despite listing it as a 3/8". What tripod are you using in this video? TIA
It's a 20+ year old Manfrotto tripod with the top portion removed. It's quite old, so I'm not sure of the model number. Perhaps a 1/4" to 3/8" adapter would work for you. Might be called a reducing bushing.
@@TheFriendlyReviewer I have tried an adapter and just cant seem to fasten it secure enough, when adding the counterweights and the camera and lens it wobbles slightly so i dont want to risk taking it out
@@swis4 If you can, buy the fitting tripod from Skywatcher.
I've bought the tracker+tripod combo and this thing is a beast.
very good, thankyou 😊
Nice, complete review.
What is the thing called what you used to focus the camera?
A Bahtinov Mask
@@TheFriendlyReviewer thank you
Hello, nice video, it has helped me a lot, but i still got a question to ask. I've recently purchased the Star Adventurer GTi, and according to the shop where I bought, it should have the option of tracking an object, but I can't set it in the app. It lets me choose between "No tracking", "Sidereal" and "Lunar", but the option I want of "Point and track" isn't available. I don't know if it's a problem of my mount or if I misunderstood the characteristics of it. Does it allow tracking? And if yes, how do I set it and why doesn't it work? Thank you very much and happy new year.
They may have been referring to the use of an ST-4 style AutoGuider with the Adventurer GTi. I don't have one, but I believe it can plug into the system and it will track objects/stars in the sky.
If you mean tracking satellites and other things of the sort, then I don't think it can. I know the AZ-GTI (and gtix) can when connected to a laptop. But from what I know the Star Adventurer can't track these things continuously, only by leapfrogging (it jumps ahead and lets your target cross the field of view, and repeats).
I recently got the SA GTI and have been playing with the features. I tried out the point and track and I think it used to point your phone at an object in the sky and then have the GTI slew to that object. I guess it's used in case you don't know the name of an object that you can see. I believe once it has slewed to the object, then the tracking is just sidereal or lunar. It was kind of cool but not exact. I still had to do the fine adjustments to get the object centered in my frame.
What is a " parking position "?😊
Not sure - where did I talk about it
@@TheFriendlyReviewer You didn't. I heard it in another UA-cam video. I like your video...simple and practical. Where can I download Your table about Lights, Bias Darks?
whats the .5 -3m shutter speed. i dont get it?
30 seconds ~ 3 minutes
EDIT: My first statement about having the camera facing left or right, blocks the polarscope, is incorrect... The rest however, is the important part, that needs to be done, once polar aligned
Not sure if anyone spotted this but with the camera pointing left or right, you cannot see through the polar scope.
One important thing is the home position... dovetail scree facing the connections panel, counterweight facing the ground.. with polaris in view (telescope/camera) and both clutches locked down... Only when properly polar aligned, with the mount in the home position, do you start the alignment process... 1, 2 or 3 star... I suggest 2 or 3 for best results... Then you can choose a target and do what you set out to do, view or photograph a target.
I'm confused by this comment. For the unit I have, you can only see through the polar scope with the camera pointed left or right. This also matches the instructions that came with it.
@TheFriendlyReviewer Apologies for my confusion, you see I missed out the fact that after polar alignment you need to have the camera facing polaris, THE HOME position, then lock down both clutches before going to alignment...
You are correct to see through the scope you must turn the canera/scope to the right or left, then once align, turn the camera to north/polaris then lock down the mount... because I got confused first time I tried setting it up.. in the dark...First zi vouldn't see polaris, camera could, but then I remembered the light was turned off in the app, and in between grabbing the phone and checking through the polarscope again, I did have the camera off to the side...
It was all this stuff about yhe home position, which it critical before doing 1,2 or star alignment that I completely messed up and the mount was going way off target and I kind of gave up....
So sorry for the confusion, you are absolutely correct, that the lens/ scope has to be fa in right or left, before you can polar align.
Obviously I am a total beginner in this and you know far more about this topic than I do, so I should have doubled checked before I commented.
Anyway great video, keep up the good work and.... Clear Skies
So once the one star or two star alignment is done how do you actually get it to start tracking say for the Milky Way, you just use the arrows to move the tracker to face the Milky Way?
Hi...Great review. Simple and precise with relevant details. Will rematch a couple of times ... question may arise to you!
The M42 is way overprocessed lol
The cap is poorly designed, the cap only clips on when the battery packs are removed.
That is correct, they clash.
Not too helpful. You have to go more into detail what you do and what you use.