Super video so well explained

will be using tip no 4 😊

😂 if you struggle to eye up polaris using the finder, you need to learn to do squats. No joke, I had a sore neck issue a few years ago. And since that scare, I strength trained so I could squat without struggling, and can now easily make adjustments to the skywatcher SA 2i, without spending extra money on a replacement WO wedge for £200+

i'm not so sure. maybe it's the accent maybe you're setting it up in the northern hemisphere, but this video is lost on me.

Hi Bob. Thanks for all the great tips! I particularly loved your idea of putting the top pano head of the Artcise MB52 on the SA dec mount, so I bought an MB52. However, I can't for the life of me get the top pano head off the ball head. It looks like it should come off with a hex key but I can't get it to budge. How did you manage to remove it? Any guidance would be much appreciated!

Hi Bob, much appreciate your video here! Just a question re the Williams optics latitude base mount - there seem to be 2 versions available (low and high latitude range) - which one would be the right one to get? Thank you for your help. Cheers from Hong Kong

You should take measurements for the sensor position before removing the screws (how much they are tightened), so as not to lose focus ability of the camera if the sensor is wrongly positioned.

When i finished filling in the chart with my numbers, it didnt end exactly on my 12 hour date, of Jan 10th. In fact, the 12 on the chart was Jan 14.... Is that ok?

Some useful information here. Thank you, peace and love from Aberdeen

Awesome vid, with the date dial etc I’m confused why you actually even need it, I’m in Australia, and if I’ve polar aligned with with octans/ sharp cap what’s the dial used for ? Cheers!

18:16 where did you get the reminder sticker that is on the mount, with yellow and green and white blocks? I can make out "Object Calculation Positive -" but i cant make out the rest.

Hey. I am back with another question. I am gonna give it another go, trying to sort out the goto upgrade. At 11:20 what ball head did you use to get that component that you added for better declination adjustment? What screw did you use?

Excellent video. I'm a newbie to astrophotography. I just purchased this tracker. Your are SO right about the base. My problem is with the azimuth control knobs. Precision they are not! I turn the knobs forward, nothing happens. I turn them both backwards, nothing happens. They just snug up quickly and the platform doesn't turn. I loosen the set screws and the platform turns in a herky-jerky fashion. Can't believe one has to loosen set screws just to adjust the azimuth. Once the screws are loosened even slightly, the entire base is sloppy on that axis. Tech Support was of no help. Their comment to me was: "it just a basic tracking platform"; I guess implying that it's low budget, made like crap and not to expect too much from it. That was my take-away from that comment. I hope the 2i body performs better. That battery cover, really! Doesn't seem like it would've been a technical challenge to design a cover that doesn't come off so easily. I believe I'll look into your suggestion regarding the William Optics base. Thank you sir!

Great tips. Thank you! I had seen Kamil's video on printing the scale. One thing I would add to your instructions and his is to make sure it's prints the correct size. The instructions give some guidance, but there's room for error. The way I worked it out was, like you, first find the 90 degree points around the perimeter, and I marked and notched them with a utility knife. Then I wrapped blank paper around and marked on the paper. Then I measured those marks and rescaled the image into a Word document with the ruler guides, making sire the 0, 90 and 0 degree marks lined up where I calculated them to be. I particularly appreciated your tip about the polar scope illuminator. I have the tape, and I also bought a 3D printed glow in the dark insert, which works really well, but I'm anxious to try to fix the illuminator... if I didn't toss it. I liked your solution on modifying the mount on the dec bracket. I had done something similar by mounting a panning base with an Arca clamp, but it was a bit bulky. Yours is a lot more trim. I'd like to find something like that, but stick with my current overall solution - I attached a Leofoto quick change receiver, so I can still use a panning base, or I can install an additional ball head or two-way head if I want. It makes for a more modular design and I can easily poach from my other camera gear without having to screw and unscrew things. I've had the William Optics EQ base on my wish list for quite a while. The clutch on my Sky-Watcher base got stuck and I couldn't tighten it, so I switched to a heavy duty two-way tilt and pan head with 5 degree markings for tilt. However, I recently came across another video where one guy showed how to create and insert plastic shim washers into the Sky-Watcher base so that you don't get that movement you talked about, but it also solved my problem of the clutch being stuck, so I have use of it again. It always perplexed me why that clutch and its innards are plastic, while the rest of the base is all metal, except for the spirit level. Very odd design. Thanks again! Very informative.

just asking why not replacing a clear glass over the sensor?

Absolutely magnificent job!

So im in the process of doing "the astro mod" on my 450d, its going to be q "naked sensor" as i cant afford the money for a filter for it, and i started thinking would a clear piece plastic sheeting work if i was to put it were one of the filters were to stop the dust getting at it, you know like the clear sheeting from say a kids toy box from a shop that lets you see inside the packaging, you know what i mean ??, or is it better to leave it naked, kinda worried about it because i cant afford a 50 quid filter, so deffo couldnt afford a new camera if it was to get dust or something in it.

One more point: Stellarium and other apps (Pushtocam and FinderCam) will give the Alt-Az for any object at your time and location. In addition, I have been using a compass and digital inclinometer to line my mount up with the target. Pretty good for short focal lengths.

Great effort on this video. I have the SA mini and will be working on how to attach a smart phone with an astro finder feature to the mount. I think AstroHopper will work for Android and for iPhone, Pushtocam and FinderCam. I have made a video on both and am quite sure both will be great in finding your target.

Wedge or Mount Base Fix -- I took apart the base and in the clutch found two different plastic washer thicknesses, one was 0.01" the other was 0.02". I added another 0.01" made out of plastic(mylar) to the short side and now the clutch is fixed, does not have the spring over when tightened down. If you measure the gap between the two white pieces it is about 0.785", and the thickness of the black piece with the gear teeth is 0.744" which leaves 0.041" for the plastic washers. From the factory one washer is 0.01" thick looks like mylar, the other is 0.2" looks like polyethylene, adds to 0.03" thick but leaves 0.011" of slack. To fully clamp down the clutch has to go another 0.01" and pushes the black part over, causing the misalignment. I cut the washer out of thin (0.01") sheet mylar, it doesn't have to be pretty, then put it in, the washers add to 0.04" with 0.001 slack and now the problem seems entirely gone. I used a little tape to pre-position the washers onto the black part, while inserting it back into the white part, and brought the washer hole down on the other side with a pen. So I think it is a factory error, a wrong size washer. I also put two wraps of teflon pipe tape on the three adjustment screws, as they were still side to side loose when fully in, indicating over etching on the Alu part. Smooth as silk and tight now. I left the main screw alone. If you can adjust the height with the clutch fully on, then you probably have an undersized washer.

Was given a 1100D for free today, has a faulty sensor, images are all pinks lines or made of multiple boxes of pink lines. After watching this, I think I'll buy a new sensor and give it after watching this video. Thanks

What can I say... First, your video close-ups are just too shaky. If you go through the trouble to hack your Star Adventure for more stable mounting and alignment, you should apply some stability practices to your videography as well. Secondly, your Star Adventure mount is slightly out of focus throughout the whole video. Considering this is a video about the Star Adventurer, it should fill more that 1/6th of your video frame. The Star Adventurer is only reason everyone is watching this video and yet it is literally the smallest item in the video frame. Thirdly, there is some sort of overhead glare washing over everything or maybe your camera lens is dirty. It is hard for me to watch you talk about precision astrophotography mounts when there is on precision in your how-to video. This is probably why you have 12K in views but only 361 likes. You lost me at the shaky video footage. Considering I see that you took the time to edit this video, you could've edited in more stable footage with sharper close-ups too. You will probably delete this critique from your video feed, and that's okay, but I hope you apply my criticisms to your future video products.

very informative - thanks a lot!!!

i have just ditched the clutch screw and replaced with a regular screw with locking nut, i just dont release it and stays with same high friction, its still adjustable

What method did you use to figure out the dates? also, you said you did yours in 10 minute increments, yet i am not able to get the dates to match up.

Another good tip from my photography is to hang a backpack full of rocks off of the tripod, this will make it almost "tripod leg kick" proof. Also makes for an even sturdier platform. I also use an angle finder from my Minolta film cam that lets me look more comfortably and MoveShootMove makes the bracket, also MSM makes a laser kit for the Star Adventurer. great tip on the Williams Optics EQ base, I really do not like the Star Adventurer base at all. So many good ideas!!! I need to get a move on. Cheers!

Hello Bob. Great video! So, my dates are different. I got 0 = Jully 12 and 12 = Jan 10 Why does it seem as though everyone is getting different dates? If you set the marker to 0, and you are simply leveling the green bar, shouldnt they be the same? Also, if I pull up your chart in excel and enter my 2 dates, will it populate the rest of the dates automatically?

Lovely video and amazing photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Tried so hard to get the formula..... COULD YOU PLEASE HELP ME AND OFFER ME A TABLE WITH MY DATES? For my unit, 0 is Jan 10th, and 12 is June 12th

Tried it… my values on the scale are completely different from yours… is this normal????

Mega!!!

7:08 Im sorry....did you just spin that head around??? Sir, i need to know how you did that...

4:52 LMAO....i didnt even know you had to turn the battary cap to turn it off. I just always have turned the brightness down to 0. I thought the ON and OFF arrows were just to let me know how to remove the cap.....yep, a regular einstein here.

Concerning your Nikon connection problem, it sounds like a bad cable problem. Have you checked the cable? I am using Canon myself. I experienced connection issues, NINA could not see the cam due to a bad (visually perfect) USB cable. Changing the cable solved my problem. On the other hand, I have successfully used that imperfect cable for other devices.

This is absolutely exceptional, thank you Sir!

I decided on a slightly different approach to setting declination. You already have part of it here, in your video--you need only a panoramic base that has degree markings. The one I have has 4 dots, 90 degrees apart. After doing a polar alignment, I get my camera roughly pointed at the celestial pole, and set the panoramic base so that 90 degrees is indicated. I then loosen the RA clutch and take a 10 second exposure while swinging the camera for most of a circle. The image will tell you where the RA center is. Then I use the fine adjustment knob to get the center of that circle as close to the center of the image as possible. And then leave it for the rest of the session. After this, I use the panoramic base to set declination, and hour angle to set RA. Then I refine polar alignment. My panoramic base has markings every 2.5 degrees, which is close enough that I've gotten my image in frame on the first try at 400mm focal length (400mm on a DX Nikon camera is about 3.3 degrees by 2.2 degrees FoV).

I bought a Minolta right angle viewer for a SLR and glued a plastic film canister to it. Cut open one end. Slides over polar scope! Works great!

Why don't companies like Star Adventurer offer Right Angle Viewfinders for their Polar aligners?

Excellent tutorial 😊

Outstanding job of explaining something that is less than intuitive for someone just starting out such as myself. Thank you very much! Just got my Star Adventurer and had some success with the more obvious objects like Orion and the Pleiades but recently attempted M51 but instead of the Whirlpool Galaxy, I spent the night photographing the binary star Cor Caroli.. Ha! Live and learn as they say. Today with the help of your video, I think I learned something. Next chance, I'll attempt your well instructed method of using my printed declination scale and HA chart to find it.... hopefully.

Bob, just watched a couple of your vids, got to this one and see you were planning to do a lot more this year but it’s now nearly May. Hope everything’s ok? Enjoyed the star adventurer tips having just bought one.

That thermometer setup is genius!😂

Fantásticos consejos

where did you get the Williams Optics base? I didn't see it on their site..but I may have missed it.

i have seen on ebay a fiber optic attachment that clips on to selection dial the red light runs from the dial through the fiber optic to an attachment that clops in to front polar hole. no batteries

Nearly 1/12 of January down and I've had 2 nights out. Both nearly smoked out with so many people burning coal and log burners in this crappy town. Let's hope for some better weather! As a note, perhaps shorted your into to one animation, and the outro is pretty loud and unnecessary. Just my opinion!

Looking for a great 2023. Hope your year is a great as planned! CS.

Happy New Year Bob. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far 👍

Good on you Bob! Hope you have a fantastic year!

Happy new year Bob. I'm eagerly awaiting my canon 80d and samyang 135mm lens to arrive so I can get started myself.