Lightweight Motorized Mount

[hatflyer]

Are there any motorized mounts that can be controlled by software or handheld device that can automatically slew and weighs under 3 pounds? The load would be about 3-4 pounds (DSLR).


Thanks

[Thefatkitty]

Well, there is this: Star Adventurer mini WiFi

You'd need to get a tripod, but that would give you a broad choice.

Hope this helps,

[hatflyer]

Well, there is this: Star Adventurer mini WiFi

You'd need to get a tripod, but that would give you a broad choice.

Hope this helps,

I need 1 that I can aim at any given coordinates (slew), in part to use polar alignment software. I already have the Skyguider Pro.

thanks.

[Richard]

Out of curiosity why does it have to be less than 3 pounds?

[hatflyer]

Out of curiosity why does it have to be less than 3 pounds?

Physical limitations.

[Bigzmey]

Another option - AzGti

https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/az-gti-mount

You can also get the wedge for it and run in EQ mode.

[AstroBee]

I do not know of any mount under 3 lbs that have the Go-To capabilities you are asking for.

[JayTee]

Here, reference this spreadsheet attached to the following post.

viewtopic.php?p=9751#p9751

[SkyHiker]

How about an iOptron Cube? Weighs 3 lbs. This link is for the Alt/Az version, but it may have a built-in wedge, not sure. Of course, with the tripod it is heavier - this is just the mount's weight.

[hatflyer]

How about an iOptron Cube? Weighs 3 lbs. This link is for the Alt/Az version, but it may have a built-in wedge, not sure. Of course, with the tripod it is heavier - this is just the mount's weight.

Is it any good?

Btw, are electronic mounts better than manual? Seems once u are aligned, the mount is locked in place. Unless electronic ones make PA much easier, or help with a guiding scope?

[SkyHiker]

Is it any good?

It's the only 3 lbs. motorized mount that I know. On the old astronomy forum there was somebody who modified it to get decent performance for some AP IIRC. Don't expect too much of it.

Btw, are electronic mounts better than manual? Seems once u are aligned, the mount is locked in place. Unless electronic ones make PA much easier, or help with a guiding scope?

I thought you wanted a motorized mount with goto capability. Those usually have electronkcs.

If you want performance you will need to get something much heavier.

[hatflyer]

Is it any good?

It's the only 3 lbs. motorized mount that I know. On the old astronomy forum there was somebody who modified it to get decent performance for some AP IIRC. Don't expect too much of it.

Btw, are electronic mounts better than manual? Seems once u are aligned, the mount is locked in place. Unless electronic ones make PA much easier, or help with a guiding scope?

I thought you wanted a motorized mount with goto capability. Those usually have electronkcs.

If you want performance you will need to get something much heavier.

Yeah, I thought I wanted a goto, electronic mount. But it seems after further review that, unless they help a lot in PA, I guess they aren't needed for AP? Is that right?

[SkyHiker]

For a person with physical limitations though, the last thing you want is something that doesn't work out of the box because getting something sub-par to work also takes a lot of physical work, not to mention the frustration in trying to improve it and failing. If you can go one step up in weight maybe this ES mount will work. The PMC-eight system will hopefully have its user interface and reliability ironed out by now. Even this is not a sure bet, I don't know anyone who has this scope on this forum. Next up is something like an AVX but then we are talking about another weight class higher up. In that case, iOptron has some nice light weight mounts as well to look into.

If that is out of the question, how about a portable scope that you can simply plunk down and that does all the alignment and tracking by itself such as the Stellina or evScope? The only reason I mentioned the iOptron cube is because it meets your weight limitations. Keep in mind that there is a big difference in goto for visual and goto and tracking for AP - the latter needs to be much better than a cube.

[Gordon]

Doing astrophotography is very rewarding, however the greater majority of folks doing AP are using very heavy and expensive equipment. What you are asking for, more than likely will not give you the results you are looking for.

I will make a suggestion that will hopefully help.

Have you considered doing 'remote astrophotography'? We have members that do quite a bit of remote ap work member dcrowson @dcrowson does much of his work using a remote telescope. The advantages are you don't have to buy any equipment, and the equipment they allow you to use is very high end. Plus the areas the scopes are located are some of the best dark sky locations in the world.

It's just another option.

Here's some links:

This is the one Dan (dcrowson) uses:
https://darkskynewmexico.com/

and here's a few others:

https://telescope.live/home

https://www.insightobservatory.com/p/home-page.html

Hopefully this is another option for you.

[hatflyer]

For a person with physical limitations though, the last thing you want is something that doesn't work out of the box because getting something sub-par to work also takes a lot of physical work, not to mention the frustration in trying to improve it and failing. If you can go one step up in weight maybe this ES mount will work. The PMC-eight system will hopefully have its user interface and reliability ironed out by now. Even this is not a sure bet, I don't know anyone who has this scope on this forum. Next up is something like an AVX but then we are talking about another weight class higher up. In that case, iOptron has some nice light weight mounts as well to look into.

If that is out of the question, how about a portable scope that you can simply plunk down and that does all the alignment and tracking by itself such as the Stellina or evScope? The only reason I mentioned the iOptron cube is because it meets your weight limitations. Keep in mind that there is a big difference in goto for visual and goto and tracking for AP - the latter needs to be much better than a cube.

Yeah, the goto would be for PA it seems. I think I was mixing up goto to find other stars, but once u have PA, your mount stays put, right, so u don't lose PA? So the Goto is not usable once u have PA, or can u still use the Goto function without ruining PA?

So right now the set-up would be to roughly PA with compass/inclinometer, then use NINA and make micro-adjustments on my manual mount, then use Skyguider Pro to track? I'm looking for a minute or so exposure up to about 100-150mm lens on a crop sensor. Would this set-up work ok?

Btw, I'm in Bortle 7 but can still get 1000+ stars in my limited patch of southern sky.

Thanks.

[hatflyer]

Doing astrophotography is very rewarding, however the greater majority of folks doing AP are using very heavy and expensive equipment. What you are asking for, more than likely will not give you the results you are looking for.

I will make a suggestion that will hopefully help.

Have you considered doing 'remote astrophotography'? We have members that do quite a bit of remote ap work member dcrowson @dcrowson does much of his work using a remote telescope. The advantages are you don't have to buy any equipment, and the equipment they allow you to use is very high end. Plus the areas the scopes are located are some of the best dark sky locations in the world.

It's just another option.

Here's some links:

This is the one Dan (dcrowson) uses:
https://darkskynewmexico.com/

and here's a few others:

https://telescope.live/home

https://www.insightobservatory.com/p/home-page.html

Hopefully this is another option for you.

Will check those out. Thanks!

[SkyHiker]

Yeah, the goto would be for PA it seems. I think I was mixing up goto to find other stars, but once u have PA, your mount stays put, right, so u don't lose PA? So the Goto is not usable once u have PA, or can u still use the Goto function without ruining PA?

With an equatorial mount the goto is independent of the polar alignment. That is, first polar align the mount then calibrate the goto and the goto will not interfere with the polar alignment.

So right now the set-up would be to roughly PA with compass/inclinometer, then use NINA and make micro-adjustments on my manual mount, then use Skyguider Pro to track? I'm looking for a minute or so exposure up to about 100-150mm lens on a crop sensor. Would this set-up work ok?

I see, you just want accurate polar alignment for your Skyguider? What you describe should work, I think. Alternatively, for ease of use maybe this this iPolar device is the way to go.

Keep in mind that the Skyguider is a single-axis device so you will need a ball mount for your camera. It may still be hard to align the camera your target if you can barely see it (most targets are like that). This is what I found when I was using my G11S with (quite good) setting circles, finding targets that you can't see is pretty frustrating. Of course, with the focal lengths that you have in mind it gets a bit easier.

[hatflyer]

Yeah, the goto would be for PA it seems. I think I was mixing up goto to find other stars, but once u have PA, your mount stays put, right, so u don't lose PA? So the Goto is not usable once u have PA, or can u still use the Goto function without ruining PA?

With an equatorial mount the goto is independent of the polar alignment. That is, first polar align the mount then calibrate the goto and the goto will not interfere with the polar alignment.

So right now the set-up would be to roughly PA with compass/inclinometer, then use NINA and make micro-adjustments on my manual mount, then use Skyguider Pro to track? I'm looking for a minute or so exposure up to about 100-150mm lens on a crop sensor. Would this set-up work ok?

I see, you just want accurate polar alignment for your Skyguider? What you describe should work, I think. Alternatively, for ease of use maybe this this iPolar device is the way to go.

Keep in mind that the Skyguider is a single-axis device so you will need a ball mount for your camera. It may still be hard to align the camera your target if you can barely see it (most targets are like that). This is what I found when I was using my G11S with (quite good) setting circles, finding targets that you can't see is pretty frustrating. Of course, with the focal lengths that you have in mind it gets a bit easier.

I saw that iPolar device. Wasn't sure how hard that is to install (u have to open up the SG Pro and play with the electronics). Any sense of how good it is?

So what do u do when there is a hard star to find?

[SkyHiker]

I saw that iPolar device. Wasn't sure how hard that is to install (u have to open up the SG Pro and play with the electronics). Any sense of how good it is?

I have seen the iPolar for a Losmandy G11 and was impressed. You can talk to it with a mobile device.

So what do u do when there is a hard star to find?

I use an equatorial mount for my AP so I don't have this problem.

I polar align my barndoor tracker by lining it up with a Telrad along its rotation axis. Its bull's eye is accurate enough to place Polaris in the right place and take 1-minute exposures with a camera. Then I try to aim the camera at the target but it's tricky, also because any motion can easily distort the polar alignment.

While I don't advocate laser pointers, this is a case where it will work well to align a camera to a target if you know how to star hop. There are also small red dot finders that can help, YMMV. There are probably some that you can mount on a DSLR flash shoe.

[hatflyer]

[/quote]
With an equatorial mount the goto is independent of the polar alignment. That is, first polar align the mount then calibrate the goto and the goto will not interfere with the polar alignment.

[/quote]

Just to be clear, a goto equitorial mount does not need a tracker? You PA with it, then u can still move the mount in any way u want, away from the orientation used to PA because it was calibrated? The mount now knows where stars should be?