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Advice on geared head for astro trac

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by dhanson on Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:03 pm

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Is the Manfrotto 400 deluxe geared head a good head to buy for mounting an Astro Trac? Or is there an alternative?
I've read that a ball head is ok but for the longer lenses it might be more difficult to align properly.

Thanks for any suggestions.

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by ChrisRoss on Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:48 pm

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Looks like it would do the job, but pretty pricey and you don't need all of its features. Why don't you look at the wedge that Astrotrac offer:

http://astrotrac.com/products/astrotrac ... wedge.html

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by crw816 on Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:48 am

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I use the wedge that Chris linked to, and polar alignment is a breeze... I have polar alignment set within 3 or 4 minutes and then move on to locating my target. For camera support I use a RRS BH55 and it supports my 300f2.8 (plus converters) without any difficulty.

If you are in the usa, OPTCorp in california is a dealer and they are great to deal with.

Does this help?

Chris White
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by dhanson on Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:12 am

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Thanks very much - Chris and Chris
Yes this helps very much. I hadn't even looked at the wedge, I assumed that I would need a geared head (I do have the RRS BH55). Can you tell I'm just starting out?

Again, thank you for replies.

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by Diane Miller on Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:19 am

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I'm on the learning curve with an Astrotrac as well. Do you know about their Yahoo e-group?

I have the wedge, which could be better but it works. I have tried the TH3010 counterweight head and it is extremely awkward to lock down one aimed, and there is a lot of droop with a heavy lens like the 600, even if it is balanced. I've just gotten the RRS BH-55 which is much easier to aim and lock. Not yet sure if it limits aiming angles with the 600, or how stable the rig will be.

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by crw816 on Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:59 am

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dhanson wrote:Thanks very much - Chris and Chris
Yes this helps very much. I hadn't even looked at the wedge, I assumed that I would need a geared head (I do have the RRS BH55). Can you tell I'm just starting out?

Again, thank you for replies.

Great. I too am just starting out with Astrophotography. It takes a lot of patience, but is a lot of fun and very rewarding. My biggest complaint is that there are so few truly clear nights here in Vermont!!!

Chris White
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by djhanson on Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:40 am

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Something like an Astrotrac is not meant to support larger telephotos. In those cases it would be best to look into something like a Losmandy GM8, which is a easy to polar align using its polar scope. I've owned it in the past and it works great for widefield with larger telephotos (e.g. 200mm+). cheers, dj

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by crw816 on Fri May 01, 2015 7:21 am

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Regarding hte astrotrac and larger lenses... it really comes down to how long you want exposures to be. I get perfect results with my 300mm f2.8 at 60 seconds and near perfect at 90 seconds. 2 minutes is still very very good. Ive tried it with a 1.4x and a 2.0x and still have great results at that 60 second range. With 200mm lens I can get 2 to three minutes with perfect tracking. Longer times would certainly require a more robust mount. I have not used a Losmandy GM8.

Chris White
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