Hello Peter, Glad to see this tutorial.. I am also going over your detailed tutorials.. It was a pleasure meeting you in Florida and the sessions we had.. To all who are just researching and trying to find your way into Astrophotography, I can personally vouch for Peter's knowledge and patience in all aspects of AP. From helping set up Star Guider Pro, to going over my lenses, and telescope and going over dark skies and helping me align the SGP to Polaris over and again in the Everglades ..The post processing sessions we had again and again helped me to gain confidence to work on the images we obtained.. Hope this helps for anyone that require help to start into AP..
Thank you Radha! I really appreciate that! I had a great time in Florida, so thank you for reaching out! I probably would never have made it down there otherwise. I'm glad you enjoyed the lesson, and I look forward to hopefully working with you again in 2019!
Very helpful video, Peter! It would also be good to mention that you DO NOT want to have the center column of the tripod extended when actually shooting because it allows too much shake and can cause star streaks in the photo. Best to keep the center column all the way down or use a tripod like your Feisol CT-3442, which has no center column,. Clear skies!
Hi Peter, last night I correctly focused my Rokinon 14mm 2.8 for the first time, thanks to your tip of focusing on not the brightest star, but one of the smaller - less bright stars near it. I’m so excited to explore more of your channel and thank you for your excellent content.
Don't know if you'll see this Peter but I have a question. Why do you not recommend using a ball head? You never really go into detail. I've had a look at the tripod collars but for me they're like an extra 100+ on top. After getting the trackers and all I haven't the money spare. I was hoping to use my ball head. Cheers.
Peter, another excellent introduction to using star trackers. For balancing the camera/lens on the dec arm you might try a nodal slide/rail or macro slide like the Manfrotto 454.
Yeah I had considered that, but then I went down a rabbit hole of dovetail plates and forgot about nodal rails. Thanks for the reminder though, that may be a great option specifically for telephoto lens users! I'd just have to make sure you could still attach the skyguider pro's camera mounting block to the nodal plate. If I do get one, I'll probably make another tutorial for balancing the declination, since I haven't seen that clearly explained anywhere.
Nice video Peter. I put the ISO to maximum when I do my intial framing. That way I only need to take a 5 second shot to see the object. It saves a lot of time as it usually takes quite a few shots to get the framing just right. I then put it back to my normal ISO once done.
Peter another great video, really in depth coverage from the user for the user, I faced many of these problems as well! What a pleasure to watch the video - again! Keep on your great work! Best regards from Germany!
Have you seen my Star Tracker Buying Guide video yet? I break down all the major points of each tracker, it might help give you a better idea what will work best for you.
If I could add one tip. I wouldn't raise the tripod too high. It is more prone to movement by the wind, fart, or ground. I've been keeping my scope about 3 feet off the ground and I think it helps keep it sturdy when using high focal lengths.
One suggestion for proper balancing: Try to balance your setup and counter weight so that the worm gear always has contact to the transmission gear. That means one side will slightly be havier than the other. That helps to avoid the backslash problem in the gear/ra-axis. For the northern hemisphere the east side (camera or counterweight, depends on the direction you are photographing at) has to be slightly heavier than the west side.
Here's a balancing tip when you need to use two of the cylindrical counter weights. Move one to be about 1/2" away from the upper end. Next, bring the rig into pretty good balance by moving the second (outer) weight. Finally, make the finest adjustments using the counter weigh closest to your rotational axis. This give you the most control over the balancing process. Good balancing helps give good results!
Good video 👍🏻may pick up a dove tail now for my Z61 ! What I've been using to locate objects is a £15 celestron star finder pointer fixed to camera hot shoe makes finding objects easier.
I recently ordered the Sony 200-600 lens for my A7RIII and am really anxious to try it out. You have made me see just how powerful these new camera lens are. I have already made a few nice photos with the Star Tracker and the 70-300mm Sony lens. I have got some sharp stars at 30S, ISO 2500 around M42. I am impressed with the tracker. I had my Star Tracker mounted on a nice wooden tripod from 1959 but today moved it over to a second Meade telescope tripod. I think a bit more stable. I found a place 21 miles from my house in the desert on the road to WSMR that I traveled for 20 years that I now set up at. Kind of spooked me to get way off the road into the BLM property as who knows what could happen. At the place I picked on the road (it is known as WAR road) I get about two cars passing per hour. Enough to make me feel OK but not so much as to interfere with shooting. BTW - you and I commented on the graticule being lit or not-lit in the polar alignment scope and the obvious solution is to use the mount the way it comes from the factory. I see nothing wrong with turning it over if that is what it takes to balance the scope and counterweight but turning it over does turn off the light in the alignment scope.
The advantage of a ball head is that it lets you re-frame the object to a more pleasing composition. It allows you to exclude or include certain stars or parts of a nebula that you might want or don't want just by adjusting the ball head. With the camera attached directly to the declination axis, you are confined to what it gives you. I'm totally on board though with not having lens and camera dangling too far from the tracker thereby causing instability. It's a trade-off.
Good points! My main concern was to keep a low center of gravity and mimic an actual telescope setup. If you are using reasonably sized lens and camera, you could always use a ballhead for more flexibility in your composition. Just gotta be careful not to strain the mount, if the camera is at a weird angle with the ballhead.
Star tracker / star guider / adventurer …. Im new . Want to purchase- but I am confused between these … thx - excellent video . I want to do Milky Way and deep space . I have wide angle and long lens
Good to see you again Peter. This thing takes me 5 minutes to do a good polar alignment using Polar alignment app. It's great. Been trying to get some time lapse pics in the day with this since the nights have been cloudy or rainy. No good results yet. Have you tried it?
Thank you for your awesome video but in none of them where you introduce or review all these star trackers, you mention what TRIPODS should be USED for these mounts, which, once the tracker, balancing weights, ball head, camera and lens are mounted on, come to a pretty hefty weight, like 10 to 20 lbs if not more, so I guess it's not with the average travel carbon fiber that you're going to mount all the stuff on with often limitations of 5 to 10 lbs load on those, so what do you use and what is advisable to use ? The Ioptron 3201, cheap and designed for the Skyguider Pro ? the 3501 little beefier and still cheap ? Something else ? I think we're many beginners having that question for which I don't see many videos talking about it. I see many on trackers, but i didn't see much with a word on tripods to use with them, when it should be the cornerstone of the whole setup for stability. If you can help... Wait, I just found your "My 2020 Astrophotography set up" video, where you mention your Feisol CT-3442. Thank you, it's a start, although you want to replace it, this one has a 55 lbs given load though and you seem to find it little weak. Okay, I'll dig more. I still have to find a good Tripod comparative video for this kind of setup. Now that I just got my Skyguider Pro and Space Cat 51 (Yes, you're guilty, with AstroBackyard channel), that's the one piece I now need to get. Anyway, if you know of any comparatives, or who knows, could do one... Thank again for all your great videos and content.
Great video. I'm new with star tracker. There's Something I Don't understand. You use star tracker to be able to do super long exposure time , without star trail. But why you say we gonna have star trail on wide angle lens after 5 min., and on telephoto lens after 1 min. ? I was thinking that with that tool, you could do exposure time about 30 minutes, or 1 hour, easily, without star trail ?
It really just depends on your polar alignment accuracy. Most people have a hard time getting it very precise, for a variety of reasons. Therefore, I tend to give guidelines on what to expect Also, the trackers have what's called Perioidic Error. In other words, they aren't perfect. After a certain amount of time, there will be problems.
GREAT video about pointing and balancing! Just starting out with that tracker and those hints should help a lot! Does anyone have suggestions on how to do a pano of the Milkyway with a tracker? I find that I get all messed up trying to point the camera at each of the next pano locations. Using a ball head so I can reposition the camera. But I haven’t found a good position to set the declanation arm to to make it easiest to keep repositioning the camera.
I did a mosaic of the Milky Way with my 70-200mm lens and SkyGuider Pro this past summer. It wasn't easy though! I think I may have used a ballhead though, rather than the method I show in this video I intentionally turned everything to Portrait orientaion, so I could capture more of the Milky Way, then I just moved everything slightly over each shot. It's basically guesswork, and hoping you don't go too far. Of course, since you'll be taking a longer exposure for each photo (mine were each 60 seconds), this can take a while to get a decent pano of the Milky Way. Here's the final result, I think I had about 15 photos or so: www.peterzelinka.com/img/s/v-3/p2918893771.jpg?fbclid=IwAR0DCbWoo_pofvpfDS4PlKgjSVwbn9hQH2GeONL8_YMsdl24QSlv5l5pUEw
Great detail information. I am very new to astrophotography and looking forward to buy a ioptron tracker. Which would you recommend, ioptron sky guider pro or sky tracker pro? Please suggest.
I was actually forced to reverse the declination bracket the way you have because that way the 12 in the scope reticle is at the top as it should be... Also in my manual the images show that this is the correct way to set it up..
Can you do a tutorial on how to locate objects with a DSLR? I have trouble finding nebulae and galaxies even with a telescope and don't see how you are doing this.
I cover that extensively in my Deep Space Course. However, it just comes down to knowing a few bright stars in the night sky, and how these objects relate to them. With a fairly dark sky, some practice, and a wide FOV to start, you should be able to get the objects in the frame very quickly
Awesome video! I've been trying to find a tracker for a while now. Amazon doesn't have the sgp available now, which is a shame (I have a gc balance I'm trying to use). I want to bring it for an upcoming trip to hawaii, but now I'm debating just going with the stp or the sky tracker... I'm so torn
What time of night do you usually shoot? Just before and after sunset, or after midnight, and why? When I shoot urban landscapes I usually shoot before and just after sunset (civil twilight) because I like to capture city lights and buildings at the same time. I'm going to be heading to Banff for a ski trip this year and I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a star tracker and more importantly if I'm willing to be out in the dark doing photography.
Really just depends on what object I'll be photographing and what time of year it is. Sometimes I shoot just after dark, other times I wake up at 3am to shoot, and occasionally I'll stay out all night capturing photos. However, I focus either on nightscapes or deep space astro. I try to get as far away from the city as I can, usually.
Great tutorial. I live in Chile, in a town near the Atacama desert. I have perfect dark skies for astrophotography, but polar align in the southern hemisphere is pretty difficult since we don't have a star like polaris. Any advice? Great content in this channel. Keep it up!
A great, easy to follow video Peter. A question if I may...i have recently purchased the Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro. When I look through the reticle, the reticle itself is in focus but the stars appear out of focus. Is this normal and how can I fix this?
There should be a little focusing ring on the back of the polar scope, where you put your eye. Try turning that while looking through the scope and it should change the focus
Hi Peter. I think you wouldn't need a ball head if you are photographing just the night sky. However, if you are shooting, for example, a portrait-orientated photo of the Grand Canyon in the foreground, with the Milky Way in the background (so 1/3rd ground, 2/3rds sky), a Ball head might be necessary in order to have a level horizon. Thoughts?
Peter, great review/ tutorial. One question, how do you use this in solar tracking, is there some sort of alignment you have to do before selecting solar on the dial. Obviously there is no Polaris visible during the day so what do I align with to solar track?
You'll need to do a rough polar alignment. Pretty easy to do. Just find North, point your star tracker as close as possible to North (you can use a compass app and hold it over the tracker). Then, dial in your latitude on the base, now your star tracker is angled up at the right spot. Finally, make sure the bubble level looks good. That's really all there is to it. You can't do a precise polar alignment, but the sun should stay centered in the frame for quite a while with this method.
@@PeterZelinka sorry have another question, could you recommend a sturdy tripod, without breaking the bank, also i would like to be able to fit it in to a large suitcase.
Easiest way to find North during the day... is to find South. The sun is due South (180 degrees) when at its highest point in the sky each day. You could do that visually with a stick, etc. or just use the many websites that will tell you the exact time, based on your city or your coordinates. Search for "Solar Noon."
hi Peter, Congrats, lots of great videos with a simple language. I've a question: if I'll use a sky tracker for a deep space photo, should I take as many as photos I can? why? for stacking? or can I take 1 picture with 2 or 3 min?
Your goal is always to capture as much light as possible. You can do this by taking a lot of photos and by taking longer exposures. Realistically, you might only be able to take 60 second exposures, depending on your focal length. My goal is usually to capture an hours worth of images. So if you can shoot 2 minute exposures, then you'd only need about 30 images. Of course, the more photos you take, the better the final image will look!
@@eduardotieppo2482 yeah, if you are shooting deep space images you'll always want to stack your photos to reduce grain and increase detail. The more images you have, the better!
Hey, you mention that you turn around your declination mount to get more counterweight leverage, right? But then you run into clearance issues. Why not just buy/make a longer rod so you can mount the counterweight further away without the clearance issues?
I actually just learned of another solution, thanks to one of my students. He informed me that a M6 1.0 sized screw will replace the default iOptron screw, and prevent any clearance problems when rotating the camera mounting block.
I usually recommend a 100-400mm, 150-600mm...that's about it haha. Anything 200mm or less is not enough for real deep space work. I love using my Tamron 150-600mm for deep space images. I also use a William Optics SpaceCat telescope with my dedicated astro camera. That's a nice combo
thanks peter for all the great information. i have little query regarding stacking. can we achieve same results from stacking images and aligning them? oe we need star tracker for longer exposures
Well, even with a star tracker you'll be stacking and aligning photos. However, you'll be able to capture a lot more signal and have a much better photo. Without a tracker, you'd be limited to 4 seconds or less, before there are star trails. That's nowhere near enough time to capture a decent signal (light) from the nebula or galaxy. Even a relatively short 30 second exposure, taken with a tracker, will be 10 times longer! Once you have a star tracker, you can take 100 images, at 30 seconds, and then stack them together to create a pretty nice final image! Of course, it's always better if you can take even more images at longer shutter speeds.
I'm guessing here, but you might get close by setting the declination on your tracker to zero and using a compass to point the mount toward (true) North?
at 11.45 you rotate the polar scope. You can see that the target reticle is not in the center of scope and it kind of revolves around the scope. My scope is doing exactly the same. If i align my scope to far away target and then rotate the target remains exactly on the center of the crosshair but the crosshair revolves around just like in your video. Is this expected behaviour? Excellent tutorial videos!
9:20 - Could you put a quick release arca swiss clamp onto the declination mount between the tripod foot of the lens and the tracker? Then use a long lens plate on the tripod foot (120mm for instance); this would allow you to slide the lens and camera fore/aft like the telescope example. Most people will already have a long lens plate on their telephoto lenses for other uses (ie: gimbal head/wildlife). It would make transitioning better as well so there's no need to remove the arca swiss plate and attach the declination bracket. And vice versa. The quick release and the lens plate would be under $40 together and would allow a much more convenient transfer between mounting solutions with the same telephoto lens. Just a thought! I've recently been intrigued by astrophotography... I did my first stack last night in Sequator - 37 images at 6sec each aimed at Andromeda with a 85mm F1.8. I'm hooked! I immediately see the need for a tracker; so time to start saving $$$ - I'm torn between the Star Adventurer and the SkyGuider Pro... You had mentioned telephoto work is slightly better with the Star Adventurer though so perhaps I'm leaning more towards that direction. Great videos by the way! Keep up the great content!
yeah! I've had a few people message me with their setups, and they are doing something like that. They have a arca-swiss rail basically and they can easily adjust for the declination balance. You'll love having a star tracker, it's so nice to be able to shoot actual long exposures at telephoto focal lengths! Yeah, the Star Adventurer is a great choice!
I’m super new to astrophotography and I was wonder does the star tracker make it so you don’t have to stack images, or is it used to get longer exposure images so you don’t have to stack so many at once.
Both For wide angle imaging, you really only need a single 4 - 8 minute exposure for a great result. For deep space, you can take multiple longer exposures (30 seconds to 5 minutes each) and stack them together for the best results.
does the 12 really need to be at the top, or is it just having the axes vertical and horizontal? I mean for example if the 3 is at the top instead of the 12.does it matter for northern alignment.
Once you have polar alignment, is it safe to rotate the clutch/camera to back to a good position to compose? I might be second-guessing myself, but every time I'm aligned, and I swing the camera back to where I want it, the reticle is off.
Yes, you can aim the camera wherever you want after doing a polar alignment. However, I do recommend double checking the alignment once you've found your object and composition. I just look through the polar scope and make sure Polaris is where I left it on the reticule.
OK, so I used Stellarium to find Polaris and I see the actual North Celestial Pole is located at 6:20h with respect to Polaris itself. Do I put Polaris in my scope on the cross hairs or do I eye ball where the cross hairs are supposed to go in my scope?
You don't want Polaris in the crosshairs. If you place Polaris correctly on the circle, then the crosshair will be aimed right up at the North Celestial Pole
Tried to download the advanced firmware. No install file, only .mcf that Windows can't open! Contact form on Skywatcher crashes without sending my message!
I currently use the Feisol CT3442 tripod. It's carbon fiber, so I can also take it on hiking trips. However, I would probably recommend something a bit heavier, if you plan to use it exclusively for astro. With that said, I haven't had a single issue with this tripod so far. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/848831-REG/FEISOL_CT_3442_Tournament_CT_3442_Rapid_Tripod.html
Hi Peter, can the star tracker be used in light polluted skies to increase night sky detail and colours? If the sky is Bortle 4, will it work well? What Bortle skies to you work under? Thanks
Since he hasn't answered you I'll tell you something else. Your question is really a massive loaded question. It's not just as simple as a yes and a no answer, let alone the fact that so many things can affect what you're asking. Firstly Bortle 4 skies are probably the best sort of skies your going to get in built up countries. A tracker doesn't decrease pollution it'll increase it because you're exposures are longer meaning more light captured. Example 1s exposure captures 1000 light, 10s exposure captures 10,000, not accurate, simple example. The more good light you capture the better detailed. It's been two weeks, perhaps you already own a tracker, perhaps you know more now. If you don't own and still don't know then I'd really recommend doing research from the bottom up. I asked questions like you and had to learn the hard way. You don't learn a whole lot asking questions like that because there's always stuff you need to know but don't get it from asking questions and getting specific answers.
@@Kyle_Hubbard thanks for the reply. I think i have a better understanding of it all after more research, but I'll only find out for sure when I can try it out with the tracker. Just waiting for the star adventurer 2i to come back in stock.
@@lukeoxlade7119 Cool. I recently got my first star tracker but I got the ioptron. I'd read that the tracker performed better than the Skywatcher and it has a physical battery which attracted me and isn't expensive to replace, could keep two charged. Plus it's primarily metal rather than plastic, heavier weight limit, etc.
@@Kyle_Hubbard did you get the sky guider pro? I guess I'll do a bit more research into both and see which is best for me. I was originally looking at the MSM tracker but have recently started shooting some deep sky objects, so that wouldn't work.
@@lukeoxlade7119 Looked at MSM myself. Would end up being more expensive than needed. The laser doesn't even come with the starter package. I also choose something I could use for DSO. I got the pro version because it just made sense, you'll need it all anyway. I picked what I got for the reasons I mentioned. To be honest I spent two almost three weeks making multiple "final" choices. The two things I didn't like about the SA2i was the fact it consisted of a lot more plastic than the skyguider and that from everything I read the tracking can be a little more inconsistent, I didn't really like that when I was finding out information. The other thing for me was I was thinking to myself as to whether I really needed all those wifi features and for me the answer was no because I already owned the things the app offers. Also FYI I actually looked at their app earlier on unrelated to your post and their app on the Playstore has a rating of 1.8/5, supposedly they've broken the app since the newest release and that was back in 2019, lol, and people reporting bugs but the app hasn't had an update since June 2019 and soon to be coming up for two years. Keep doing some research and make your own conclusion but I wouldn't rule the Skyguider out just yet. It's a bit more expensive FYI but for me the expense was worth it.
Could be a stupid question, I have been using the Star adventure pro and aligning it withe the 0 on top and the 6 down below and then locking the axis and doing my polar alignement. If i unlock the axis after I align it, does that mess it up? I ask because I was using the ball head with a longer lense and thought i had to use it other wise I would mess up the alingment if i unlocked the axis. thanks !
Once you've done a precise polar alignment, you can rotate the camera mount around as needed. As long as you don't accidently move the tripod, or adjust the altitude / azimuth screws, the alignment shouldn't change.
Hi Peter, something I still don't understand, The star tracker is just used for long length lenses? I mean , if I use a wide lens I don't need it right? tsk
Actually, a star tracker is incredibly useful for wide angle nightscapes! Instead of being limited to a 30 second photo (at most), you can shoot up to 5+ minutes, and still have sharp stars! This allows for incredibly clean, colorful photos of the night sky! Of course, you would have a blurred foreground, which becomes a pain. But the goal is to get a clean shot of the night sky, then get a nice photo of the foreground. Once you have both, you can blend them together and create a really high quality final photo. This is something I cover in-depth in my Star Tracker Tutorial series: www.peterzelinka.com/star-tracker-tutorials
Hey peter was wondering if you or anyone here could help. I have a sky guider pro and my clutch is stuck..every time I rotate the plate the clutch moves with it, any idea on how to fix it?
I got the same problem. If you contact iOptron Support they give you a pdf and show you what to do. I still need a 2mm allen wrench in order to remove the mounting adapter that sits on the RA Clutch. I have no idea how it got stuck but this a pain in the ass if this happed more often.
@@brandondicorpo1995 hello, it would be great if you can tell me exactly what you did and if this worked what ioptron support shows. I will try it tomorrow again once I get a 2mm allen wrench.
caste2510 yes I literally followed the steps they sent and you will need that 2 mil Allen wrench or Allen key , it wasn’t as hard as I thought. The Allen key use it as a wedge to stop it from turning, may take you a few mins to understand but you’ll get it, keep me posted and best of luck ! I’ll try and make a vid worse comes to worst :p
@@brandondicorpo1995 thanks for your answer. It worked. Really not that hard. I hope it stays like this. It would be also good to know what causes the clutch to get stuck.
why spend 300-$500 for a star tracker that can only handle a camera or small scope, when you can get a real tracker like the AVX for $400-$500 used or $800 new?.
While you're right in the sense that the avx is a much better mount the reason for getting one of these trackers is simply portability. Much simpler to take this little thing around than the avx. Might be less daunting for someone new to astrophotography too.
Size mainly. I travel a lot, so a big AVX mount is not practical for my scenario. If you are just shooting in the backyard, an AVX mount would be a better option
Tracy Lee just got a 12 minute expo off an ECH-630 tripod at 35mm. If you like these kinds of shots check her out on Instagram: Tracyleephotos. It’s insane.
Thanks so much for the relatively concise, clear, and no nonsense intro. This is exactly the video I wanted to find. Cheers!
The best explanation ever heard about DSO photography!
Your tutorial videos are the gems. The Best explanation so far.
Excellent video Peter. Thank you.
Could not have explained the process better - thank you very much :)
Very detailed and informative.
Hello Peter,
Glad to see this tutorial.. I am also going over your detailed tutorials.. It was a pleasure meeting you in Florida and the sessions we had..
To all who are just researching and trying to find your way into Astrophotography, I can personally vouch for Peter's knowledge and patience in all aspects of AP. From helping set up Star Guider Pro, to going over my lenses, and telescope and going over dark skies and helping me align the SGP to Polaris over and again in the Everglades ..The post processing sessions we had again and again helped me to gain confidence to work on the images we obtained.. Hope this helps for anyone that require help to start into AP..
Thank you Radha! I really appreciate that!
I had a great time in Florida, so thank you for reaching out! I probably would never have made it down there otherwise. I'm glad you enjoyed the lesson, and I look forward to hopefully working with you again in 2019!
My star tracker has just been on my shelf gathering dust along with my GoPro before this video, so helpful
Solid helpful information.... Thank you.
Very helpful video, Peter! It would also be good to mention that you DO NOT want to have the center column of the tripod extended when actually shooting because it allows too much shake and can cause star streaks in the photo. Best to keep the center column all the way down or use a tripod like your Feisol CT-3442, which has no center column,. Clear skies!
I have downloaded your two sets of lessons (Deep Space and Star Adventurer). They look to be outstanding. An excellent value for the money.
Thank you Dan!
Hi Peter, last night I correctly focused my Rokinon 14mm 2.8 for the first time, thanks to your tip of focusing on not the brightest star, but one of the smaller - less bright stars near it. I’m so excited to explore more of your channel and thank you for your excellent content.
Excellent explanations- best tutorial I've seen!
Don't know if you'll see this Peter but I have a question. Why do you not recommend using a ball head? You never really go into detail. I've had a look at the tripod collars but for me they're like an extra 100+ on top. After getting the trackers and all I haven't the money spare. I was hoping to use my ball head. Cheers.
Very thorough and clearly explained!
0:56 for the star adventurer, there is a hole in the right side of the tracker for visually aligning with Polaris
GREAT channel! Thank you!
Peter, another excellent introduction to using star trackers. For balancing the camera/lens on the dec arm you might try a nodal slide/rail or macro slide like the Manfrotto 454.
Yeah I had considered that, but then I went down a rabbit hole of dovetail plates and forgot about nodal rails. Thanks for the reminder though, that may be a great option specifically for telephoto lens users! I'd just have to make sure you could still attach the skyguider pro's camera mounting block to the nodal plate.
If I do get one, I'll probably make another tutorial for balancing the declination, since I haven't seen that clearly explained anywhere.
Nice video Peter. I put the ISO to maximum when I do my intial framing. That way I only need to take a 5 second shot to see the object. It saves a lot of time as it usually takes quite a few shots to get the framing just right. I then put it back to my normal ISO once done.
Excellent telescope astrophotography for 2019! Filters too!
Peter another great video, really in depth coverage from the user for the user, I faced many of these problems as well! What a pleasure to watch the video - again! Keep on your great work! Best regards from Germany!
Excellent video and very useful. Thank you!
Great video Peter 👍🏻 Well done. I'll look into your course too. Now I need to get a tracker.
Have you seen my Star Tracker Buying Guide video yet? I break down all the major points of each tracker, it might help give you a better idea what will work best for you.
Great presentation, thank you
If I could add one tip. I wouldn't raise the tripod too high. It is more prone to movement by the wind, fart, or ground. I've been keeping my scope about 3 feet off the ground and I think it helps keep it sturdy when using high focal lengths.
One suggestion for proper balancing: Try to balance your setup and counter weight so that the worm gear always has contact to the transmission gear. That means one side will slightly be havier than the other. That helps to avoid the backslash problem in the gear/ra-axis. For the northern hemisphere the east side (camera or counterweight, depends on the direction you are photographing at) has to be slightly heavier than the west side.
Here's a balancing tip when you need to use two of the cylindrical counter weights. Move one to be about 1/2" away from the upper end. Next, bring the rig into pretty good balance by moving the second (outer) weight. Finally, make the finest adjustments using the counter weigh closest to your rotational axis. This give you the most control over the balancing process. Good balancing helps give good results!
Good video 👍🏻may pick up a dove tail now for my Z61 ! What I've been using to locate objects is a £15 celestron star finder pointer fixed to camera hot shoe makes finding objects easier.
This is very helpful. Thank you
I recently ordered the Sony 200-600 lens for my A7RIII and am really anxious to try it out. You have made me see just how powerful these new camera lens are.
I have already made a few nice photos with the Star Tracker and the 70-300mm Sony lens. I have got some sharp stars at 30S, ISO 2500 around M42. I am impressed with the tracker.
I had my Star Tracker mounted on a nice wooden tripod from 1959 but today moved it over to a second Meade telescope tripod. I think a bit more stable.
I found a place 21 miles from my house in the desert on the road to WSMR that I traveled for 20 years that I now set up at. Kind of spooked me to get way off the road into the BLM property as who knows what could happen. At the place I picked on the road (it is known as WAR road) I get about two cars passing per hour. Enough to make me feel OK but not so much as to interfere with shooting. BTW - you and I commented on the graticule being lit or not-lit in the polar alignment scope and the obvious solution is to use the mount the way it comes from the factory. I see nothing wrong with turning it over if that is what it takes to balance the scope and counterweight but turning it over does turn off the light in the alignment scope.
awesome video thank you very much!
May I ask which star tracker you used there or which you would recommend?
The advantage of a ball head is that it lets you re-frame the object to a more pleasing composition. It allows you to exclude or include certain stars or parts of a nebula that you might want or don't want just by adjusting the ball head. With the camera attached directly to the declination axis, you are confined to what it gives you. I'm totally on board though with not having lens and camera dangling too far from the tracker thereby causing instability. It's a trade-off.
Good points! My main concern was to keep a low center of gravity and mimic an actual telescope setup.
If you are using reasonably sized lens and camera, you could always use a ballhead for more flexibility in your composition. Just gotta be careful not to strain the mount, if the camera is at a weird angle with the ballhead.
@@PeterZelinka Yeah, you are right, when using big telephoto lenses your setup gives more stability
Nice, little tip for the star adventurer pro, we can use the free app for the "mini" version to have the polar alignment :)
Great work
Good video. I was thinking about picking up one of these trackers. Thank you! Subscribed! 👍
This is great. Thank you. Terrific!!
Great video!
Star tracker / star guider / adventurer …. Im new . Want to purchase- but I am confused between these … thx - excellent video .
I want to do Milky Way and deep space . I have wide angle and long lens
great video --- helped me a lot. thank you
Good one! Thank you!
Brilliant!
Good to see you again Peter. This thing takes me 5 minutes to do a good polar alignment using Polar alignment app. It's great. Been trying to get some time lapse pics in the day with this since the nights have been cloudy or rainy. No good results yet. Have you tried it?
Honestly, the only time I've used any of the trackers for timelapses was when I was creating some samples for the tutorial videos
Thank you for your awesome video but in none of them where you introduce or review all these star trackers, you mention what TRIPODS should be USED for these mounts, which, once the tracker, balancing weights, ball head, camera and lens are mounted on, come to a pretty hefty weight, like 10 to 20 lbs if not more, so I guess it's not with the average travel carbon fiber that you're going to mount all the stuff on with often limitations of 5 to 10 lbs load on those, so what do you use and what is advisable to use ? The Ioptron 3201, cheap and designed for the Skyguider Pro ? the 3501 little beefier and still cheap ? Something else ?
I think we're many beginners having that question for which I don't see many videos talking about it. I see many on trackers, but i didn't see much with a word on tripods to use with them, when it should be the cornerstone of the whole setup for stability. If you can help...
Wait, I just found your "My 2020 Astrophotography set up" video, where you mention your Feisol CT-3442. Thank you, it's a start, although you want to replace it, this one has a 55 lbs given load though and you seem to find it little weak. Okay, I'll dig more. I still have to find a good Tripod comparative video for this kind of setup. Now that I just got my Skyguider Pro and Space Cat 51 (Yes, you're guilty, with AstroBackyard channel), that's the one piece I now need to get. Anyway, if you know of any comparatives, or who knows, could do one... Thank again for all your great videos and content.
Super video ☺👍:)
Another Excellent tutorial. Any budget lens you would suggest for astrophotography other than the stock 18-55mm I have on my cropped Canon SL2?
The Rokinon brand usually has good, affordable lenses! I used the 14mm for a while, and I was going to buy their 85mm, until I got a 70-200
Great video. I'm new with star tracker. There's Something I Don't understand. You use star tracker to be able to do super long exposure time , without star trail. But why you say we gonna have star trail on wide angle lens after 5 min., and on telephoto lens after 1 min. ? I was thinking that with that tool, you could do exposure time about 30 minutes, or 1 hour, easily, without star trail ?
It really just depends on your polar alignment accuracy. Most people have a hard time getting it very precise, for a variety of reasons. Therefore, I tend to give guidelines on what to expect
Also, the trackers have what's called Perioidic Error. In other words, they aren't perfect. After a certain amount of time, there will be problems.
GREAT video about pointing and balancing! Just starting out with that tracker and those hints should help a lot!
Does anyone have suggestions on how to do a pano of the Milkyway with a tracker? I find that I get all messed up trying to point the camera at each of the next pano locations. Using a ball head so I can reposition the camera. But I haven’t found a good position to set the declanation arm to to make it easiest to keep repositioning the camera.
I did a mosaic of the Milky Way with my 70-200mm lens and SkyGuider Pro this past summer. It wasn't easy though! I think I may have used a ballhead though, rather than the method I show in this video
I intentionally turned everything to Portrait orientaion, so I could capture more of the Milky Way, then I just moved everything slightly over each shot. It's basically guesswork, and hoping you don't go too far. Of course, since you'll be taking a longer exposure for each photo (mine were each 60 seconds), this can take a while to get a decent pano of the Milky Way. Here's the final result, I think I had about 15 photos or so:
www.peterzelinka.com/img/s/v-3/p2918893771.jpg?fbclid=IwAR0DCbWoo_pofvpfDS4PlKgjSVwbn9hQH2GeONL8_YMsdl24QSlv5l5pUEw
@@PeterZelinka Nice! I bet using the 70-200 really took lots of shots! So far I have only done this with a 24mm. Yep, guesswork! Thanks for sharing!
Thankyou
Néw subscriber !
Love your video
Great detail information. I am very new to astrophotography and looking forward to buy a ioptron tracker. Which would you recommend, ioptron sky guider pro or sky tracker pro? Please suggest.
Short Answer : SkyGuider Pro
Long answer:
ua-cam.com/video/adM8P_Asd5w/v-deo.html
I was actually forced to reverse the declination bracket the way you have because that way the 12 in the scope reticle is at the top as it should be... Also in my manual the images show that this is the correct way to set it up..
Can you do a tutorial on how to locate objects with a DSLR? I have trouble finding nebulae and galaxies even with a telescope and don't see how you are doing this.
I cover that extensively in my Deep Space Course. However, it just comes down to knowing a few bright stars in the night sky, and how these objects relate to them. With a fairly dark sky, some practice, and a wide FOV to start, you should be able to get the objects in the frame very quickly
great video. thanks for sharing :)
Awesome video! I've been trying to find a tracker for a while now. Amazon doesn't have the sgp available now, which is a shame (I have a gc balance I'm trying to use). I want to bring it for an upcoming trip to hawaii, but now I'm debating just going with the stp or the sky tracker... I'm so torn
Or the sky watcher **
One of the very few videos on the Star Adventurer/Tracker. I have the Adventurer from Sky Watcher.
What time of night do you usually shoot? Just before and after sunset, or after midnight, and why? When I shoot urban landscapes I usually shoot before and just after sunset (civil twilight) because I like to capture city lights and buildings at the same time. I'm going to be heading to Banff for a ski trip this year and I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a star tracker and more importantly if I'm willing to be out in the dark doing photography.
Really just depends on what object I'll be photographing and what time of year it is. Sometimes I shoot just after dark, other times I wake up at 3am to shoot, and occasionally I'll stay out all night capturing photos.
However, I focus either on nightscapes or deep space astro. I try to get as far away from the city as I can, usually.
Great tutorial. I live in Chile, in a town near the Atacama desert. I have perfect dark skies for astrophotography, but polar align in the southern hemisphere is pretty difficult since we don't have a star like polaris. Any advice?
Great content in this channel. Keep it up!
I do have a tutorial for the Southern Hemisphere polar alignment here:
ua-cam.com/video/VKjGc-VjUFk/v-deo.html
A great, easy to follow video Peter. A question if I may...i have recently purchased the Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro. When I look through the reticle, the reticle itself is in focus but the stars appear out of focus. Is this normal and how can I fix this?
There should be a little focusing ring on the back of the polar scope, where you put your eye. Try turning that while looking through the scope and it should change the focus
@@PeterZelinka thank you very much. I'll give it a go.
Cool tutorial. Do you use a modified camera?
Nope, stock D750
Hi Peter. I think you wouldn't need a ball head if you are photographing just the night sky. However, if you are shooting, for example, a portrait-orientated photo of the Grand Canyon in the foreground, with the Milky Way in the background (so 1/3rd ground, 2/3rds sky), a Ball head might be necessary in order to have a level horizon. Thoughts?
Correct! If I'm using a wide angle lens I attach a ballhead, which makes things much easier at wide angle focal lengths!
Peter, great review/ tutorial.
One question, how do you use this in solar tracking, is there some sort of alignment you have to do before selecting solar on the dial. Obviously there is no Polaris visible during the day so what do I align with to solar track?
You'll need to do a rough polar alignment. Pretty easy to do. Just find North, point your star tracker as close as possible to North (you can use a compass app and hold it over the tracker). Then, dial in your latitude on the base, now your star tracker is angled up at the right spot. Finally, make sure the bubble level looks good.
That's really all there is to it. You can't do a precise polar alignment, but the sun should stay centered in the frame for quite a while with this method.
@@PeterZelinka thanks Peter :)
@@PeterZelinka sorry have another question, could you recommend a sturdy tripod, without breaking the bank, also i would like to be able to fit it in to a large suitcase.
Easiest way to find North during the day... is to find South. The sun is due South (180 degrees) when at its highest point in the sky each day. You could do that visually with a stick, etc. or just use the many websites that will tell you the exact time, based on your city or your coordinates. Search for "Solar Noon."
@@robrussell5329 thank you Rob for the suggestion, sounds like a logical solution, I will give it a try.
hi Peter, Congrats, lots of great videos with a simple language.
I've a question: if I'll use a sky tracker for a deep space photo, should I take as many as photos I can? why? for stacking? or can I take 1 picture with 2 or 3 min?
Your goal is always to capture as much light as possible. You can do this by taking a lot of photos and by taking longer exposures. Realistically, you might only be able to take 60 second exposures, depending on your focal length.
My goal is usually to capture an hours worth of images. So if you can shoot 2 minute exposures, then you'd only need about 30 images.
Of course, the more photos you take, the better the final image will look!
@@PeterZelinka So, if with a star tracker, I should go trough a stacking process, that's it?
@@eduardotieppo2482 yeah, if you are shooting deep space images you'll always want to stack your photos to reduce grain and increase detail. The more images you have, the better!
Hey, you mention that you turn around your declination mount to get more counterweight leverage, right? But then you run into clearance issues. Why not just buy/make a longer rod so you can mount the counterweight further away without the clearance issues?
I actually just learned of another solution, thanks to one of my students. He informed me that a M6 1.0 sized screw will replace the default iOptron screw, and prevent any clearance problems when rotating the camera mounting block.
Recommendations for what lenses are good for this sort of thing?
I usually recommend a 100-400mm, 150-600mm...that's about it haha. Anything 200mm or less is not enough for real deep space work.
I love using my Tamron 150-600mm for deep space images. I also use a William Optics SpaceCat telescope with my dedicated astro camera. That's a nice combo
thanks peter for all the great information. i have little query regarding stacking. can we achieve same results from stacking images and aligning them? oe we need star tracker for longer exposures
Well, even with a star tracker you'll be stacking and aligning photos. However, you'll be able to capture a lot more signal and have a much better photo.
Without a tracker, you'd be limited to 4 seconds or less, before there are star trails. That's nowhere near enough time to capture a decent signal (light) from the nebula or galaxy. Even a relatively short 30 second exposure, taken with a tracker, will be 10 times longer!
Once you have a star tracker, you can take 100 images, at 30 seconds, and then stack them together to create a pretty nice final image! Of course, it's always better if you can take even more images at longer shutter speeds.
@@PeterZelinka thank you Peter..🙂
When you live close to the equator and cannot see polaris. What is your advice about a precise polar alignment for a star tracker?
I'm guessing here, but you might get close by setting the declination on your tracker to zero and using a compass to point the mount toward (true) North?
at 11.45 you rotate the polar scope. You can see that the target reticle is not in the center of scope and it kind of revolves around the scope. My scope is doing exactly the same. If i align my scope to far away target and then rotate the target remains exactly on the center of the crosshair but the crosshair revolves around just like in your video.
Is this expected behaviour?
Excellent tutorial videos!
9:20 - Could you put a quick release arca swiss clamp onto the declination mount between the tripod foot of the lens and the tracker?
Then use a long lens plate on the tripod foot (120mm for instance); this would allow you to slide the lens and camera fore/aft like the telescope example.
Most people will already have a long lens plate on their telephoto lenses for other uses (ie: gimbal head/wildlife). It would make transitioning better as well so there's no need to remove the arca swiss plate and attach the declination bracket. And vice versa.
The quick release and the lens plate would be under $40 together and would allow a much more convenient transfer between mounting solutions with the same telephoto lens.
Just a thought!
I've recently been intrigued by astrophotography... I did my first stack last night in Sequator - 37 images at 6sec each aimed at Andromeda with a 85mm F1.8.
I'm hooked!
I immediately see the need for a tracker; so time to start saving $$$ - I'm torn between the Star Adventurer and the SkyGuider Pro... You had mentioned telephoto work is slightly better with the Star Adventurer though so perhaps I'm leaning more towards that direction.
Great videos by the way! Keep up the great content!
yeah! I've had a few people message me with their setups, and they are doing something like that. They have a arca-swiss rail basically and they can easily adjust for the declination balance.
You'll love having a star tracker, it's so nice to be able to shoot actual long exposures at telephoto focal lengths! Yeah, the Star Adventurer is a great choice!
I’m super new to astrophotography and I was wonder does the star tracker make it so you don’t have to stack images, or is it used to get longer exposure images so you don’t have to stack so many at once.
Both
For wide angle imaging, you really only need a single 4 - 8 minute exposure for a great result.
For deep space, you can take multiple longer exposures (30 seconds to 5 minutes each) and stack them together for the best results.
@@PeterZelinka thanks!
does the 12 really need to be at the top, or is it just having the axes vertical and horizontal? I mean for example if the 3 is at the top instead of the 12.does it matter for northern alignment.
Once you have polar alignment, is it safe to rotate the clutch/camera to back to a good position to compose? I might be second-guessing myself, but every time I'm aligned, and I swing the camera back to where I want it, the reticle is off.
Yes, you can aim the camera wherever you want after doing a polar alignment. However, I do recommend double checking the alignment once you've found your object and composition. I just look through the polar scope and make sure Polaris is where I left it on the reticule.
@@PeterZelinka Thank you! I knew I was 2nd guessing myself...
OK, so I used Stellarium to find Polaris and I see the actual North Celestial Pole is located at 6:20h with respect to Polaris itself. Do I put Polaris in my scope on the cross hairs or do I eye ball where the cross hairs are supposed to go in my scope?
You don't want Polaris in the crosshairs. If you place Polaris correctly on the circle, then the crosshair will be aimed right up at the North Celestial Pole
He keeps talking about the SkyGuider Pro, but the video is labelled SkyTracker Pro (??)
Tried to download the advanced firmware. No install file, only .mcf that Windows can't open! Contact form on Skywatcher crashes without sending my message!
Which tripod do you use in real outings? Can you set up a link?
I currently use the Feisol CT3442 tripod. It's carbon fiber, so I can also take it on hiking trips. However, I would probably recommend something a bit heavier, if you plan to use it exclusively for astro.
With that said, I haven't had a single issue with this tripod so far.
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/848831-REG/FEISOL_CT_3442_Tournament_CT_3442_Rapid_Tripod.html
Hi Peter, can the star tracker be used in light polluted skies to increase night sky detail and colours? If the sky is Bortle 4, will it work well? What Bortle skies to you work under? Thanks
Since he hasn't answered you I'll tell you something else. Your question is really a massive loaded question. It's not just as simple as a yes and a no answer, let alone the fact that so many things can affect what you're asking. Firstly Bortle 4 skies are probably the best sort of skies your going to get in built up countries. A tracker doesn't decrease pollution it'll increase it because you're exposures are longer meaning more light captured. Example 1s exposure captures 1000 light, 10s exposure captures 10,000, not accurate, simple example. The more good light you capture the better detailed. It's been two weeks, perhaps you already own a tracker, perhaps you know more now. If you don't own and still don't know then I'd really recommend doing research from the bottom up. I asked questions like you and had to learn the hard way. You don't learn a whole lot asking questions like that because there's always stuff you need to know but don't get it from asking questions and getting specific answers.
@@Kyle_Hubbard thanks for the reply. I think i have a better understanding of it all after more research, but I'll only find out for sure when I can try it out with the tracker. Just waiting for the star adventurer 2i to come back in stock.
@@lukeoxlade7119 Cool. I recently got my first star tracker but I got the ioptron. I'd read that the tracker performed better than the Skywatcher and it has a physical battery which attracted me and isn't expensive to replace, could keep two charged. Plus it's primarily metal rather than plastic, heavier weight limit, etc.
@@Kyle_Hubbard did you get the sky guider pro? I guess I'll do a bit more research into both and see which is best for me. I was originally looking at the MSM tracker but have recently started shooting some deep sky objects, so that wouldn't work.
@@lukeoxlade7119 Looked at MSM myself. Would end up being more expensive than needed. The laser doesn't even come with the starter package. I also choose something I could use for DSO. I got the pro version because it just made sense, you'll need it all anyway. I picked what I got for the reasons I mentioned. To be honest I spent two almost three weeks making multiple "final" choices. The two things I didn't like about the SA2i was the fact it consisted of a lot more plastic than the skyguider and that from everything I read the tracking can be a little more inconsistent, I didn't really like that when I was finding out information. The other thing for me was I was thinking to myself as to whether I really needed all those wifi features and for me the answer was no because I already owned the things the app offers. Also FYI I actually looked at their app earlier on unrelated to your post and their app on the Playstore has a rating of 1.8/5, supposedly they've broken the app since the newest release and that was back in 2019, lol, and people reporting bugs but the app hasn't had an update since June 2019 and soon to be coming up for two years.
Keep doing some research and make your own conclusion but I wouldn't rule the Skyguider out just yet. It's a bit more expensive FYI but for me the expense was worth it.
Could be a stupid question, I have been using the Star adventure pro and aligning it withe the 0 on top and the 6 down below and then locking the axis and doing my polar alignement. If i unlock the axis after I align it, does that mess it up? I ask because I was using the ball head with a longer lense and thought i had to use it other wise I would mess up the alingment if i unlocked the axis. thanks !
Once you've done a precise polar alignment, you can rotate the camera mount around as needed. As long as you don't accidently move the tripod, or adjust the altitude / azimuth screws, the alignment shouldn't change.
I can't figure out why you keep extending the center column that high. Doesn't that make your life much more difficult?
I only do that for these tutorial videos. When I'm actually shooting I use a different tripod without a center column.
Is it the Tamron SP f/5 6.3 lense you use?
Yeah, the Tamron 150-600mm. I'm still using the original version, but there is a new G2 version
Hi Peter, something I still don't understand, The star tracker is just used for long length lenses? I mean , if I use a wide lens I don't need it right? tsk
Actually, a star tracker is incredibly useful for wide angle nightscapes! Instead of being limited to a 30 second photo (at most), you can shoot up to 5+ minutes, and still have sharp stars! This allows for incredibly clean, colorful photos of the night sky!
Of course, you would have a blurred foreground, which becomes a pain. But the goal is to get a clean shot of the night sky, then get a nice photo of the foreground. Once you have both, you can blend them together and create a really high quality final photo.
This is something I cover in-depth in my Star Tracker Tutorial series:
www.peterzelinka.com/star-tracker-tutorials
What lens did you use to make that video?
nikon 24-70
Hey peter was wondering if you or anyone here could help. I have a sky guider pro and my clutch is stuck..every time I rotate the plate the clutch moves with it, any idea on how to fix it?
I got the same problem. If you contact iOptron Support they give you a pdf and show you what to do. I still need a 2mm allen wrench in order to remove the mounting adapter that sits on the RA Clutch. I have no idea how it got stuck but this a pain in the ass if this happed more often.
caste2510 thanks for the reply!? I managed to fix it! :)
@@brandondicorpo1995 hello, it would be great if you can tell me exactly what you did and if this worked what ioptron support shows. I will try it tomorrow again once I get a 2mm allen wrench.
caste2510 yes I literally followed the steps they sent and you will need that 2 mil Allen wrench or Allen key , it wasn’t as hard as I thought. The Allen key use it as a wedge to stop it from turning, may take you a few mins to understand but you’ll get it, keep me posted and best of luck ! I’ll try and make a vid worse comes to worst :p
@@brandondicorpo1995 thanks for your answer. It worked. Really not that hard. I hope it stays like this. It would be also good to know what causes the clutch to get stuck.
why spend 300-$500 for a star tracker that can only handle a camera or small scope, when you can get a real tracker like the AVX for $400-$500 used or $800 new?.
While you're right in the sense that the avx is a much better mount the reason for getting one of these trackers is simply portability. Much simpler to take this little thing around than the avx. Might be less daunting for someone new to astrophotography too.
Size mainly. I travel a lot, so a big AVX mount is not practical for my scenario. If you are just shooting in the backyard, an AVX mount would be a better option
Tracy Lee just got a 12 minute expo off an ECH-630 tripod at 35mm. If you like these kinds of shots check her out on Instagram: Tracyleephotos. It’s insane.
you got a dip in bro?