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DIY Astrophotography Long Exposure Star Tracker ($40, No Electronics)

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Camera: amzn.to/2SDWf3x (Any DSLR, but this is what I use)
Tripod Head: amzn.to/2C676MF
Hinge: amzn.to/2C6uEAM
Carriage Bolt: amzn.to/2GVbh3d (50 pack, but you only need one)
More details about building can be found here:
www.cyber-omele...
This video shows you how to build and use a budget barn door tracker for astrophotography with a standard SLR camera.
If you've ever tried to photograph the night sky, you probably ran into the problem of star trails. Long exposure reveals some great detail in the night sky, but after about 15s the stars become streak.
In this video you'll see what goes into building a very simple star tracker, as well as how to use it. This features images taken with a Sony A7 and 28mm lense, though any DSL with a 50mm or lower lens can capture similar shots.
More details about building can be found here:
www.cyber-omele...
Music:
Deliberate Thought by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/

Опубликовано:

14 фев 2017

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Комментарии : 98

@onyourmarkphoto 4 года назад

Awesome Ben. It's people like you with the smarts that make things like this affordable and possible. Just a good camera alone is a major purchase for many so this allows us to try things beyond 20 seconds!

@samsen3965 Год назад

Love it when details are this clear. Thank you for this great production and upload. It's real fun to try for any photographer interested in the deep dark sky, especially if you are accompanied by a young sole that might find that spark here to shine in his/her future life.

@BenjaminEagan Год назад

This means a lot to me Sam! Thanks for the comment, and keep that spark shining as bright as you can!!

@Dennis_S1000RR 4 года назад

So I can just put a small motor with 1 rpm ontop and have an automatic tracker? :D

@ions2 3 года назад

Battery powered too! Anyone got a link to one?

@Bluebuthappy182 3 года назад

@@ions2 Apparently you can use a motor out of a microwave. It turns at something like 6 rotations a minute so I'd have to use gears to get to 1 rotation a minute

@no_mercy4183 Год назад

Don't stress too much on 1rpm motor, you can get a 100 rpm one and use gears

@therosses5 5 лет назад

Exactly what I was looking for. I'll probably purchase a $300 tracker at some point, but I want to prototype the process, first. The other DIY projects are too much work for prototyping, in my opinion. Manually cranking the handle for a few minutes will burn some carbs, as well.

@jackdeangelis6585 5 лет назад

Nice explanation. One additional suggestion - use a compass and inclinometer (angle gauge) to do the initial set-up then sight along the hinge to refine the alignment. Use the compass to aim the tracker (parallel to hinge) to true north and the inclinometer to tilt the tracker to your latitude. Now Polaris should be approximately lined up with the hinge. Many good-quality compasses have a inclinometer built in. This should work in the Southern Hemisphere as well with appropriate modifications (and turning the crank in the opposite direction).

@anzaeria 2 года назад

I know that polar alignment in the Southern Hemisphere is harder because there is no central star to line up with. Would it be possible to get good results with just using a compass and inclinometer in conjunction with a wide angle lens?

@jackdeangelis6585 2 года назад

@@anzaeria Yes, that should work fairly well. I've used this technique in the Northern Hemisphere to at least double the exposure time (1 stop) over untracked.

@anzaeria 2 года назад

@@jackdeangelis6585 Ah that does sound kind of promising. Theoretically, I could get 20 seconds exposure time with my 12mm lens on M4/3 with a static tripod. With a compass and inclinometer on a barn door tracker, I could see that I would be able to leave the shutter open for 40 seconds. I wonder if I could get away with 60 seconds.

@cammie9766 4 года назад

Thanks, this is amazing, I really want to see what I'm capable of with this, and later probably I'll buy a professional one

@culturenomad 2 года назад

excellent idea

@stanson5850 5 лет назад

Saturate your threaded rod with thread cleaner and turn your bolt by hand down the length of all the threads a few times. That will clean it up well. After that, put a bit of oil on the threaded rod. Being able to smoothly and easily turn the rod through the T-nut in the board can make a world of difference with camera shake. A dirty, hard to turn rod can easily ruin an image from the camera shake. Great video though. I'm convinced this method is way easier than the barn door traps that utilize motors and bending rods.

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Thats a good suggestion. I've just relied on the averaging from the open shutter compensate for the shake, but every bit helps.

@VA3OSO 7 лет назад

I've made a few manual ones, and this type, with the threaded rod on the top works best and is more stable than having it on the bottom.

@BenjaminEagan 7 лет назад

Glad to hear this is the more stable design! You ever get into home made electronic trackers?

@VA3OSO 7 лет назад

I made an electric one using a 1 RPM AC motor. It worked really well. After that I got a iOptron Skytracker, then a Skywatcher HEQ5 SynScan GPS.

@robertdantona2138 5 лет назад

Thank you for the explanation for us simpltons. I will be building this. 👍

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Haha it is my pleasure. Good luck. I love this project, it's like a magic trick using simple machines and knowledge our our planets rotation.

@anandarunakumar6819 3 года назад

I love simplicity. This is great, we need to use less batteries and help getting a dark sky.

@das250250 6 лет назад

If you place a ball end of the screw it will glide across the bottom door without much jitter. Conversely, a better design is to make the end of the screw a conical point ( with the end very slightly blunted ) and glue a thin metal plate on the bottom door so the screw glides with minimal friction. I would also add a very simple arduino board and motor to turn the screw automatically. Probably the biggest reproducible issue might be axis alignment. A great lil vid

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

Thanks, good tips. I did make an Arduino version, but the motor movement is inconsistent so I'm planning to revisit it this summer.

@das250250 6 лет назад

SO your saying the motor didn't work right or it turned and caused some issue ? Make sure the screw turns on the bottom door on a conical point and on a metal base so it glides ..or 3d print a plastic /nylon fine tip which rotates onto the bottom door which should have smooth metal or plastic nylon surface .The tip ensures that as the angle increases the shift in screw thread angle doesnt affect the smoothness.

@das250250 5 лет назад

@@BenjaminEagan the movement of a stepper should be extremely precise as should the timing

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Yes, the reason it didn't work was a weakness in the stepper itself... It was a threaded rod stepper, and the threaded rod got stripped by the motor. Plus, force on the rod could cause it to spin backward when it wasn't being actively driven. So it was a flaw in the hardware.

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

@@CyberAndy_ I'm well aware of tangent error, but with wide angle lenses it doesn't become significant on the order of visible star trails for 5-10 minutes. So this is not the root cause.

@-ShootTheGlass- 4 года назад

Thanks for sharing this info. Definitely going to make one! 👍

@dopo8333 4 года назад

Excellent, man! Thanks!

@Predator18999 4 года назад

The only problem is the manual mechanism. Every time you touch the arm, it will generate micro-vibrations that will make your photo a bit blurry.

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Yup, that's why it works best with wide angle lenses (blur from the shake is less distinct). I have no issue with blur below ~35mm.

@neilfpv 4 года назад

Great tutorial! Am I right that once I've pointed the hinge to polaris, I can point my camera to wherever I want in the sky?

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Yup, that's exactly right! I think I answered this elsewhere too, but the simplicity of it really blows my mind.

@neilfpv 4 года назад

Cool! I'll start building it. I have the parts. Thank you!

@dankahraman354 6 лет назад

very nice Ben!

@mohakasherbissoy1995 4 года назад

can you share your clicked photo using this mount? I wanna see the output images.

@Luca-hw2hb 5 лет назад

is it really that exact and can you make a test video where you are using this

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

It really is, but the wider the angle of the lense the more precise it will appear. No plans to add a test video of me using it at this point, unless I revisit the project this summer (when the sky gets interesting again).

@sunnyrana4248 4 года назад

Ben Eagan did you get any shots as an example of how the results of using a tracker such as this looked? I mean I think you’re a genius for this Beautiful simple solution however a little disappointing there was no imagery to support.

@michaelcarman4875 Год назад

ok it seems you have the simplest and easiest barndoor i could find. my real problem is the stacking and editing afterwards. i can't even download the program for that let alone use it. any suggestions? i'm a 78 year old guy who has thought about astro photo for many years. now it seems maybe too difficult. thanks.

@BenjaminEagan Год назад

Hey Michael Carman, you actually don't need to do any stacking when you've got a tracker. Just adjusting the light settings with the simplest editors can get you some great shots. You should give it a try!

@michaelcarman4875 Год назад

@@BenjaminEagan thanks much for the encouragement. !!!

@srsridhar93 4 года назад

Could you share the design of that DIY star tracker. It would be very helpful.

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Yup, it's linked in the description

@Hunurpiku 4 года назад

That's great

@TimGamesNL 6 лет назад

Thanks, I tried it out and it works. now I just have to find a dark sky

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

That's the hard part!

@TimGamesNL 6 лет назад

Ben Eagan my only problem is that the camera shakes too much. When I take a picture with a 60 sec shutter speed, there appear 3 stars. Do you have any tips to decrease the camera shake?

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

It really comes down to technique. If you turn it a quarter turn every 15s, you make your motions smooth and as quick as you can. You could also add some weight to your mount, I think that works for cameras and telescopes. What lens are you using?

@SackyX 10 месяцев назад

Do the boards need to be 11 1/2 inches long?

@swingsetmafia 7 лет назад

So i'm new to all this. if i want to take some shots of the planets ill need a camera, scope, and a tracker right? what kind of scope and camera do you recommend for planets?

@BenjaminEagan 7 лет назад

You actually don't need a tracker to image planets as many are very bright. I've only ever used this one: www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/powerseeker-telescopes/powerseeker-70az-telescope, which is about as bottom end as you can get. It still lets you see Jupiter's spot and moons, Saturn's ring, and faint detail on mars though. The moon looks fantastic. Planetary imaging is an expensive task, so I haven't managed to do very much myself yet. Maybe some others can chime in with suggestions for you!

@jbreezy3146 2 года назад

Does the rotation vary based on lens? example 7.5mm fish eye

@BenjaminEagan 2 года назад

It doesn’t change the rate of rotation, but since you use your hand to update it’s position, the wider the lens, the bigger the update intervals can be. For example rotating 1/3 (120 degrees) every 20s works with fisheye but wouldn’t work for a 50mm.

@DoronTshuva770 4 года назад

I'm pretty new to all of this and I don't know of the math, I'm thinking about setting a gimbal I have for a slow movement, if i point it to the north star (putting a ball head to the plate of the gimbal), how much does it need to spin in degrees/min?

@bushcraftandastronomer.3775 4 года назад

Really enjoyed your video knowing you can make one which cost not that much. I'm going to try and make it for myself. Thanks for the tips and info you shared! How good is this? What can I expect from this? With this can you photograph objects like the North American nebula or the ring.nebula M57? What about the horse head nebula? Again thanks for info and tips!

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Hi Bushcraft And Astronomer, when it comes to hand turned trackers I think Triangulum and Andromeda are the best galaxy images you're going to get. The best use would be capturing really stunning widefield shots, as the wide angle lenses mean you don't have to turn as often (and therefor you introduce less shake to the image).

@thedindon 4 года назад

So as long as the hinge is aligned with Polaris, you can point your camera at any object and follow it through the sky?

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Yeah! Honestly it still blows my mind that it is as simple as that, but it works.

@michaelcarman4875 Год назад

the sky is spinning and the earth is not. very good tracker.

@louiesabang599 4 года назад

thanks ben! subd!

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

Thanks crude comic! With a name like that, you oughta upload some videos too.

@chavakano54 5 лет назад

If you want to photograph the milky way were should you align te tracker?

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Hi Salvador, no matter what you're photographing you should always align the axis with Earth's axis of rotation. In the Northern Hemisphere that means you can just point the hinge straight at Polaris. If you're south of the equator I'd suggest googling "southern hemisphere polar alignment". Harder to align, but at least the milky way is up while the nights are long!

@chavakano54 5 лет назад

OK now I get it, you align the Tracker to the North star, but you point the camera wherever you want, Thanks again !!!

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Exactly right. Still sort of feels like magic, but your pictures will turn out proving it works!

@chavakano54 5 лет назад

I will share the pictures I take next week!!

@homegrownjoe 5 лет назад

Awesome video thank you! Can I ask what lens you use? The reason I’d like to know is that I have the Samyang 14mm and it suffers from some pretty heavy distortion. Will this affect how the stars come out in the final shot if using a tracker? All the best, Joe

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

Hey Joe, I have a 10-22mm I use sometimes, but mostly I stick to my Canon FD 22mm f2.8 as it's quite light. For wide-field with the human powered tracker, wider is actually better as it will be less sensitive to vibrations. So I would say the distortion isn't going to get any worse because of the tracker, but if distortion is already affecting image quality, that will still be an issue here.

@homegrownjoe 5 лет назад

@@BenjaminEagan Thanks Ben. I'm going to give it a go.

@BenjaminEagan 5 лет назад

@@homegrownjoe Awesome, good luck! Feel free to share your photos here after, I'd be interested to see how it goes.

@rooftopastronomer2697 3 года назад

It won't affect the stars in the final photo because light from the same part of the sky is hitting the sensor.

@BOBBERtheKID 7 лет назад

I've upgraded to a sct, I now I have an eq1 collecting dust. Would I be better of just using that with a motor drive or a barn door?

@BenjaminEagan 7 лет назад

I think eq1 with a motor driver would give better results, but there's something fun about DIY too. Either way you'll get some good photos.

@DoomWalker42 3 года назад

Take that flat earthers!

@ColtonEckert1 4 года назад

So if I have a 400mm lens on my camera with this tracker, would I need to turn it more often than every 15 seconds to smooth it out?

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

There is the rule of 500 that says "divide 500 by your focal length to find how long your exposure can be before star trails appear". So for 400mm you'd need to turn it almost every second. So I can really only recommend this rig for widefield and wide angle lenses, rather then imaging deep sky objects.

@ColtonEckert1 4 года назад

Ben Eagan ohhh ok, got it!! Thank you!

@neomadrasi 3 года назад

@@BenjaminEagan is it divide focal length by 500 or, divide 500 by the focal length? With the first formula, a 600mm lens can tolerate the earth's rotation for 1.2 seconds and a 50mm lens for 0.1 second?!

@BenjaminEagan 3 года назад

@@neomadrasi yes definitely a typo above! 50mm can get away with roughly 10s (if your camera is full frame, otherwise multiply by your sensors crop on the focal length first)

@daveshad74 6 лет назад

Question. When the door opens, the rod slides across the bottom board. Is this wanted? Or should it be stabilized?

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

It hasn't been a problem for me because the movements are so infrequent, but smoothing this could potentially reduce vibration.

@daveshad74 6 лет назад

Ben Eagan I have duplicated the basics of your design. I modified the design slightly adding the guide for the screw to follow, it removed any wobble. Tonight I got my first near perfect 5 min exposure. I can't thank you enough for sharing your design. I've been wanting to do this for a few years...basically to save my camera from accruing shutter count doing this the hard way. As soon as I can, I will share my images with you, and if you have any more advice, I'd greatly appreciate it.

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

David, I am absolutely thrilled to hear this! Please share the images with me when you can, I'd love to see what you got. I made another video about an electronic tracker, but it hasn't given me great results. When the milky way returns this summer I'm planning to try another build, but so far this setup is my "state of the art".

@daveshad74 6 лет назад

Ben Eagan ok, I can't figure out how to share a photo 🤔. But maybe you could answer a question. I want to use a 100mm lens. Do I turn the rod a quarter turn every 3 seconds? I have a Canon with crop sensor. This may be my last chance at shooting Orion Nebula this year. It actually comes out to a 3.125 second exposures time according to the 500 rule. I suck at math. Any help would be appreciated.

@BenjaminEagan 6 лет назад

Hi David, yeah I don't think youtube makes it easy to share photos. I find putting it on imgur (imgur.com/) and sharing a link the simplest, but don't worry about it if that's too much. You got your interval right at around 3s, which gives you 20 adjustments per minute. You still want 1 full rotation every 60s, so since 360/20 = 18, you want each turn to be 18 degrees. This would be hard to estimate but if you mark off the intervals in advance it could be done! Hope that helps, please tell me if you manage to get the nebula!

@justincammidge 4 года назад

That's not really how u get polar alignment. Polaris is not the center. This is a very very rough alignment and will probably not work for deep sky photography. It may work for very wide angle photos. But even that is sketchy.

@BenjaminEagan 4 года назад

I cover that in this video, that you're limited to wide angle lenses with 10s intervals between adjusting the screw.

@daveeckblad 7 лет назад

TY For sharing this. May I suggest using two strap hinges instead? Those are the longer hinges with plastic bushings. They have almost zero play in them and won't rattle or move around. Otherwise, for a simple system, your setup is great! Here's an example of what I made. imgur.com/a/Ut6Xg

@daveeckblad 7 лет назад

And holy heck your idea to mount the springs at an angle is awesome. I never thought of that. Your method allows for tension without much change in overall load as it opens. SWEET.

@BenjaminEagan 7 лет назад

Thanks for the suggestions and compliments! Strap hinges sound like a good idea, when I google it though there are lots of variations - would you mind linking something like what you're talking about?

@daveeckblad 7 лет назад

Here's the style that I used. You'll see them in the imgur gallery link. s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/StanleyNational/781315_c1?$skuimage$ You can see the black plastic bushing in the middle. Helps keep things nice and tight. I found that normal metal-on-metal hinges rattle too much. Also, piano hinges, if not installed very precisely, will warp and bend the upper plate slightly as you move the bolt. It's been an eye-opening experience when building these things to realize how small the tolerances are when it comes to success in the camera. Have fun. And clear skies!