Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro mini-Review - Astrophotography with a Cell / Smart Phone
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Curius about the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro or Astrophotography with a Cell / Smart Phone? This is the video for you to show you how simple it can be and the results you can expect when starting out!
Buy on Amazon to Support AVT-Astro:
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro: amzn.to/3YPh8eT
Get AVT Astro Gear and Apparel: avt-astro.com/...
My Blog full of great Astro content/reviews: www.avt-astro.com
A nice practical review. And its a great way of moving into AP without all the mega expense. I alway suggest this style of AP (DSLR version) for beginners as they can learn all about darks, flats and bias frames and expect to get reasonable results. The pages of classifieds are littered with the dreams of astro-photography meeting the harsh reality of improvisation and making it work. I personally love this aspect of amateur astronomy. But it may not appeal to the 'instant' generation of today. Sometimes you need to keep working at it. This little mount for all its flaws is a gateway to more and better. I still have the base model 2 without the wifi. Just point and dial up your speed, how easy is that! Another fun review.
Thanks for the reply, I agree with your thoughts!
I have one and have mounted it atop a solid Manfrotto camera tripod. I've taken 1.5 min exposures with a Nikon D5500 and Samyang 85mm lens and the tracking (after decent polar alignment - something which I struggle with) was perfect. Perfect round stars even when zoomed in greatly. Not a trail to be seen. I've also used an SVBony SV503 70ED scope but haven't photographed with it yet. However, with a 2 inch 40mm eyepiece and decent but not perfect PA, I had the moon apparently absolutely still in the eyepiece for at least an hour. For all I know, it would have remained there all night. The scope is about 7.5 lbs. The 2 inch diagonal and 2 inch eyepiece would add at least another 2lbs. I think it is a great piece of kit, light, portable, easily set up for operation and to easily achieve 1.5 mins (I could probably do more than this but haven't tried yet) at 85mm FL is brilliant in my book. I took Cygnus region, just as you did here, with 30 x 1.5min subs and every sub was a keeper. With processing, I easily brought out the NA nebula, Pelican, Sadr region and the Crescent nebula all in one frame with good Ha reds even with a non modified DSLR. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Good report! Really appreciate your experience with the mount and I'm sure it will help many people👍
@@AVTAstro I will say one thing though: While the wedge is usable, it suffers from the issue where, when you have set your PA and then tighten the latitude bolt, it moves polaris in the polar scope again so it's a matter of repetitive smaller adjustments. It's a pain but not a killer. There is a video on youtube where a guy provides a fix for it with a couple of shims.
Also, when I said "zoomed" above, I meant when I zoomed in on the final photo, not zoomed with the scope or camera. I tried to add a link to the specific photo I'm speaking of but I think youtube remove links (it was my facebook).
My android phone (Galaxy A53) has an option for voice capture instead of touching the phone and creating vibration. Just an idea for others if using a cell phone on any scope.
Great tip!
It looks shaky to me, maybe a better base? It is a camera mount and a light one at that. Could put my 8x50mm RACI finder scope on it though or your PST 40mm Solar Scope might work on it as well Vlad?
I'm sure a pst would work as long as it's not a windy day. The tripod I was using was not the best to say the least but even the head is much flimsyer then say an eq4.
@@AVTAstro EQ-3, my EQ-4 is better than that. 🐒lol
11lbs is a gross exaggeration for this mount. The mounts much larger than this one from Skywatcher in the same family can only carry 5kg (11lbs).
Yeah I would agree that over 5lb is not ideal at all.
@@AVTAstro I'd actually go the other way and say the specified payloads for these other mounts are highly conservative. I posted the following on Cloudynights:
I'm not sure about this payload question at all and the answers by manufacturers and here's why: I have an EQ5 mount which, according to the manufacturer (Skywatcher) should have a max payload for imaging of around 6.5Kg. I have constantly heard "Do not put an 8 inch SCT on an EQ5, an EQ6 is advisable", yet, one can see Skywatcher 200PDS Newtonians consistently being sold with EQ5 mounts by these same manufacturers. Also, when researching an AZ GTi, on YT you read comments like the following:
Joshua Carter
5 months ago
What is the heaviest rig you’ve loaded on the AZ-GTi? My understanding is that the counterweight should be added to the overall weight since the mount is not meant for use with a counterweight. Even with small lenses I’m over the 5kg mark. How is it that you can use even heavier setups?
Masa Schumit
5 months ago
Weight limits for mounts are not clear. There are both interpretations including and excluding counterweights. The manufacturers are not clear on this. In my experience, the AZ-GTi seems to be OK for around 7 kg including counterweight.
Reply
QCS RM
5 months ago (edited)
I'll second Masa on that. I use AZGTi with 127 Mak, Evoguide 50, 2 cameras and ASIAir all included plus counterweight at 7 - 8 KG Total --- and it has been working great since last 2 years. I can feel it can go further but I never took the risk.
Reply
Doug
2 weeks ago
@QCS RM I'll third that, I have very similar rig to you, Mak 127, 2 cams etc, no probs with about 7 kg of gear
th-cam.com/video/PlJ2RmXE8hc/w-d-xo.html
Now, if an AZ GTi can handle 7 to 8Kg for imaging, I am quite certain an EQ5 can handle 10Kg (plus?). As for an HEQ5: ?? 15KG or more?
Go to 1:54:18 on this video and see this guy doing EAA with an 8 inch Newt on an EQ5. th-cam.com/users/liveVRA3tLcKB8o?feature=share
Perhaps he can't do 2 or 3 min exposures (I don't know and I don't think he has tried) but he's doing EAA pretty well on a well overloaded EQ5 if you keep to manufacturers' recommendations.
I'm just not convinced you cannot get decent work done with more the 6.5Kg on an EQ5 and, I can assure you, the Star Adventurer, on a decent tripod, can handle 3 to 4Kg no issue.