iOptron SkyGuider Pro Tutorial - 2019 Update 

At about 18:30 you recommend mounting the camera to the short end of the declination bracket and the counterweight rod and counterweights to the long end to gain more counterweight leverage. However, the polar scope illuminator only turns on when the declination bracket is oriented long end up. I tried your scheme and discovered I would have to perform polar alignment with the camera down and counterweights up. I went back to iOptron’s intended configuration and added an extra counterweight. I own iOptron’s original Sky Guider, so I already have two extra counterweights. I might not need a counterweight bar extension. I can now perform final polar alignment with the payload configuration exactly as it will be when shooting. BTW shining a laser through the polar scope for rough alignment is a big help.

Only video worth watching when you want to set up you Starguider Pro for the first time and how mount your different lenses and the only video explaining step by step and clearly. Great job 👍🏻

Thank you - that's seriously useful. I've spent the morning going through your videos and have changed my purchase order for a Star Adventurer to the SkyGuider Pro with the dec bracket. I'm so excited to get it and put it to use. Thanks very much for your videos, they're a joy to watch and so are you! 😍

Thank you Peter! This is the one video I was missing. Thanks for the detailed explanation, it’s of tremendous help!

Got my Sky Guider this morning and this is the video I needed to have a good start. Thank you.

Hey Peter, wonderful video-- I learned so much! One thing I found helpful with the polar alignment was bringing a green laser with me out in the field. My friend Bill actually showed me this method. We would place the green laser up against the polar scope, and from there you can compare the beam of the green laser that is shining through the scope out to the sky, with where the north star is, and roughy adjust the tracker from there so you can get the north star in the scope. You know you have it when the beam finally points at the north star through the scope. This tends to eliminate a lot of struggle and frustration out of the way before you get a precise alignment by looking through the scope with your eye once you have the north star locked in. This worked well with our SkyTracker Pro's and will look forward to using the same method on the SkyGuiderPro. Hope this helps!

Your previous video on the SG Pro really helped me capture some great Milky Way images the first time out with my new SG. Thanks for some great tutorials.

Just got my first mount, the SkyGuider Pro, this last week and, this tutorial really helps. I am now considering the course offered. Probably will.

Can't thank you enough for this video! Even as a pro photographer this thing just seemed daunting - but your well thought-out, detailed tutorial makes me feel really confident to be going on my first shoot tomorrow. Thank you thank you thank you!

This was amazing. Start to finish. My skyguider pro just arrived and I set it all up as you suggested. Thanks!

I use my Skyguider Pro maybe 1x per year and everytime I have to re-learn how to use it, I go back to your videos, Lol...Thanks for making these!

Great video Peter! My husband got me one of these for Christmas, I had no idea what it was or what to do with it. This video cleared everything up for me in a clear, concise and easily understandable manner. Thanks so much!! I truly appreciate your instruction!! 🙂

Thank you so much Peter. I really hadn't understood how the rotating camera clamp was supposed to be used. Now I do!

Again, I so enjoy your lessons and information. I am just learning my SkyGuider Pro and feel much more confident!

Thanks for this, Peter. I’m new to astrophotography with a tracker and have just taken delivery of the iOptron. This tutorial has really helped.

Massively helpful, thank you. I've not been struggling, just scratching my head. This has confirmed some things I've been doing right, and helped with others that I haven't got quite right. One major thing is to make more use of the ball head mount. Will look at your courses. Sound fun 😊

Thanks for making this! Just got my Skyguider this week and your video helped me set it up and get started.

Mate this video is brilliant. I just ordered my Skyguider Pro. Can't wait to use it. Thank you so much for posting this. Have a great Christmas 🎄 😊

Perfect timing! Based on your other videos and reading your overview of star trackers, I ordered the SkyGuider Pro a few weeks ago. Just waiting for it to arrive I the mail 😀

Awesome video Peter. I am looking at skyguiders currently, and when I take the plunge then I am sure this video will be watched again.

Very, very helpful and informative video. I just got a SkyGuider Pro and I watched this whole video once while waiting for it to arrive, then a second time after trying it out for the first time (somewhat incorrectly, I'm now seeing). The reconfiguring of the declination bracket is not at all obvious. Thank you for explaining everything so clearly!

thanks man, today I received my skyguider pro, great tip to re-setup the counter weight!

I'm a real beginner at this and decided to first try my Nikon D5500 and lens with a standard tripod first while I learn about the Sky Guider Pro and Sky-Watcher Adventurer and ultimately decide which one to buy. This was a great intro to the Sky Guider! Thanks!

I have been sitting on my tracker for two weeks lol, this video was awesome!!!! Thank you!!!

I was looking for a walk-through on how these things work because I’m thinking about buying one and this video did exactly that. Awesome tutorial, thank you!

Great explanation! Hope to get your course and buy a SkyGuider soon!

I think we were the only ones not invited to the Sony soccer game party. White lenses jabbing out everywhere. Enjoying your videos still. Will look forward for more.

Thanks alot for these videos man. You've been a great help. Clear skies.

This video is do helpful thank you! I had zero issues setting up and only had to exchange the screws (smaller mm for the bigger mm) for the ballhead mount! 👍

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Really well explained. Great content!

Thanks so much for this video! The directions and video that came with my SkyGuider Pro were very confusing. You really helped clarify the setup process. Looking forward to trying mine out!

Peter your explanation was excellent and easy to follow. Thanks I will follow up with your other courses.

Hi Peter Great video. Perfectly clear instructions. May I suggest as I have just found out, frustratingly, novices like me using the equipment for the first time you should get use to the set up in daylight before trying for the first time. I tried it last night for the first time and by the time I had shuffled between your video and the actual equipment the clouds came over. Hay ho at least I now know how to set up and align everything. Got as far as alighing the poling star and made the mistake of then going to attach the camera at which point the clouds covered everything. Other frustration is that the bag that the tracker comes in only fits back in if you move it back to zero which means if you are always working from the same location you have to re-alight every time if you know what I mean. I have moved to a bigger bespoke bag to save that happening. Hope you don't mind the comments, just views from a new novice. Appreciate all the courses you provide. Nikon P900

Thanks, you just answered all my questions about that system. Very helpful.

Great video man, really appreciate all the help. You've probably saved me many hours of finagling and tweaking things.

Such a good video. I went through all the same misteps you described. If only I saw this a few years ago! Thanks!

A big thank you from Seattle. Fantastic video😎👍

Thanks for this tutorial. I've struggled with the SkyGuider Pro, and finally got it to work correctly tonight. Just so others know, the higher the megapixel count on your camera, the more precise your alignment needs to be for the stars to stay sharp.

You solved my confusion! You’re a skilled teacher.

Thank you. Very good tutorial. The pacing was perfect.

very good in depth tutorial for this mount. Thanks

Thanks for the videos. Keep up the good work.

just like to say thanks and this helped me a lot, as just got the SkyGuider, cheers.

Awesome tutorial. It helped a lot. Thank you!

You’re amazing and thanks for sharing, Peter

This would be helpful also to people using the Star Adventurer, I think. There's a lot in common between the iOptron and the SkyWatcher. Nice job, Pete.

How do we give 2 thumbs up?! Awesome video! Watched it a few times and I think I can finally use my tracker to its fullest potential. Thanks a lot!

This is an exceptionally good video.

great introduction video, to get rough polar align before looking through the recticle i use a laser pen and point it through the polar scope to lign up to polaris its so much easier then i fine tune

This is wonderful! Thank you so much for cutting my learning curve down!

Amazing vid!

This was a fantastic video

Excellent instruction. Thanks I plan on getting one soon.

Awesome video, thank you.

Thank you so much for your EXCELLENT instruction !!!

Great video, thanks!

Thank you so much for the nice video. Very instructive

Incredibly helpful. Your video helped me get much better pictures of comet NEOWISE F3! You should be paid by iOptron and they should be sending their products set-up the way you adjust them. In a pinch I used a bag of rocks attached to the counterweight rod when the camera was slightly too heavy to balance :-)

Thank you for a great video.

Great video great problem solution

Man, thanks for the info. Just flipped mine over. I have the D750 and a sigma 20mm. This should help.

Great video 🙌

Second time watching it. Thanks Peter.

Extremely helpful for this newbie, thanks! It's a pity that iOptron doesn't provide useful tutorials, or even link to third-party videos such as yours for new users.

Thank you for your advice!!!!

Very well done video. I rented a SkyGyider Pro and would not have figured out that I need to reverse the declination bracket.

Thanks heaps. You are awesome. Love from NZ.

Great video...thank you

Thank you so much for explaining things so clearly.

Thank you. Nice and clear.

No confusion at all! Great explanation and thanks for pointing out the troubles with ball heads and heavy cams with lenses! Spot on! Plus: you should get some kudos from iOptron, since I'm about to order my SkyGuider Pro ;)

very good video thanks!

PSA, Williams optics sells a counterweight extension bar which is cheap, ships internationally really quick and gave me enough extra leverage to use one weight with my a7iii + 100-400 + 1.4 teleconverter. Always nice to carry less weight and have a single setup that's more versatile without having to swap weights on and off.

For ballhead installation, I suspect one can omit the grooved ring adapter altogether. There is a spare 3/8-24 chrome thumbscrew in the kit like the one for attaching the counterweight shaft. Using the supplied Allen wrench remove the 4 screws attaching the grooved ring. then use the thumbscrew to directly mount your ball head.

great video bro :)

I am just starting to take interest in any type of astrophotography. It just so happens that we are taking a driving vacation to Albuquerque coincident with the 2023 annular eclipse. I have found Peter's videos on the Ioptron SkyGuider extremely helpful in taking my first step in tracking the eclipse. I have been practicing and it has been very necessary to get a feel for the set up and settings. One thing I did try on my own was to use a geared head beneath the camera instead of a ballhead. The geared head allows me to make very small movements when trying to align my target, especially with the camera being higher and creating leverage which made the ballhead difficult to control. I used the Sunwayfoto GH-PROii. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks Peter for a great set of videos, I will be using many more in the near future.

This skyguider pro better than star adventure? Going to use 90% telephoto lense (i have 150-600mm). Star adventure here eu cost 100e less than ioptron. Or should i go with AZ-GTI with eq mount. I got lots people recomend that but i want hear your opinion first

Great tutorial , Peter. Really like the way you calmly explain every detail . I'm just starting out in this fascinating hobby . i am really confused about dark , bias , and flat frames so i'm concentrating on just taking long single shots at present . i am torn between the Skyguider Pro which looks a really solid piece of kit and the skywatcher star adventurer and additional wedge . i have a small refractor (WO ZS61) which i intend to use more than a traditional Camera / lens setup . I was leaning towards the skywatcher but now i find myself looking at the iOptron.

THANK YOU!! i could not understand why I could not balance my lens (sigma 150-600). I was using a wholel bunch of extra weight and figured something must be wrong... saw this.. quickly switched the bracket around and bingo.. only need the slide the weight 3/4 a way down the pole!!!! life saver

That was a good introduction to the SkyGuider, I like your style. I have just two remarks: When using a ball head with a rotating base you can lose the mounting base, it then just adds unnecessary height and weight. I have a low height ball head permanently attached to the bracket. And if you don't use a heavy DSLR and lens, mounting the camera without a ball head on the short side of the bracket won't get balanced.

Thank you 🙏🏽

Peter thanks for posting this video as it made setting up the SkyGuider pro so much easier. Your explinations are so well laid out and helped fastrack things for me - well done. The only issue I found by reversing the counter weight is that you have to rotate the assembly around when doing the scope alignment, then return back. I found that breathing on the assembly can through the alignment off and thus rotating back and forth results in the same issue. In the default setup, the counterweight would sit at the bottom, thus the scope light would be on and one could perform the alignment from that position. Also the way that the entire arm mounts onto the skyguider seems more secure in this position, given that way the mount gets secured. I've opted to purchase an extension arm to allow the weight to go further down in the default setup. Thought's, or suggestions?

Thanks so much!! This was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I’m on to your full course Question: are you planning any updates of this video with the iPolar? My StarTracker came with the iPolar. Thanks again!

You are really a star instructor. Thanks. (No, I would likely not have figured this out)

For iOS devices there is iOptron’s Polar Scope app for polar alignment in northern or southern hemisphere.

Thanks Peter, could not work out why it wasn’t balancing, never thought to flip the dec bracket 🤯

Good video. Just an observation, with regard to your declamation bracket modification. When modified and attached to the sky guider pro, the resulting orientation of the radical on the polar scope will be 180° off. 12 o'clock will be down, 6 o'clock will be up, and all of the indicators on the reticle will be upside down.

Awesome! ioptron needs to have this link on the instruction page,, ioptron better be paying you

Really helpful:-) thank you. Paul (UK)

It occurs to me, all the times you say, 'that's probably close enough' could be why you get so much better results from guiding than just polar alignment. Just a thought.

Hi Peter! I've been following you in social media, you've had inspired me to put astrophoto in my photography preferences. 12 months ago I bought a Skyguider Pro after watched a video of you, I love it the SGP. I used to live in Madison, NJ and it was very easy to use with North Polar alignment, but, I moved back to Brazil. So, do you have any tutorial to use the SGP in the Southern Hemisphere ? that doesn't involve hundreds of thousands of calculations :) ? thank you, have a great day Ed.

I hope for clear skies. XD

This is awesome! Could you please do an update with the ipolar integration? Thanks!

Thanks for the useful video. Which tripod do you recommend to use with the SkyGuider Pro?

Polar finder was broken on my S8 (no menu button - and reading the reviews, it's not just that phone). So tried a free app called Polar Clock. Sufficiently similar reticle, no adds, free and has an accessible menu. It's nice when things work.

Hi Mr. Zelinka, thank you for your informative videos. I recently purchased a previously owned version of the iOptron Star Tracker mount from a classified ad on the cloudy nights webpage not realizing that the version I was purchasing includes the new iPolar upgrade. Unlike the traditional Star Tracker Pro, the iPolar upgrade replaces the miniature scope built into the device with a software driven camera that allows one to polar align using a computer. I didn’t figure this out for quite some time ... I can laugh now but for about an hour this evening I was struggling with why my device is different than what is described in several RU-vid videos. How funny is that. Anyway ...I see you use a laptop for a lot of your work, so adding the iPolar alignment software to your protocol may be of interest... and then perhaps you will consider a video on the iPolar so that people like me do not become bi-polar as we struggle to learn the new device without proper instructions.

Hey Peter, great video as always! This will help me so much. Do you have any recommendation for a tripod for the SkyGuider? Which one do you use in this video/in general when using the SkyGuider? Hope you'll have a very successful year 2020!

Thank you so much for the useful info, could you please explain how to use it the Ipolar installed?

Great video. Is it possible to have the iPolar electronic polar scope installed in the existing SkyGuider mount and have a second optical polar scope mounted elsewhere on the SkyGuider Pro so you have the option for aligning either electronically or optically depending on you conditions?

Thanx