Getting into this slowly after a 30 year break - the paradigm shift is remarkable. I remember cooling Ektachrome with dry ice to get mediocre pictures, and people experimenting with webcams. The pictures you get are astounding. I've decided to base my setup on the SW GTi and ASiair combo. They seem to work brilliantly provided the tripod is decent. Cameras, scopes and filters are much harder to work-out.
My biggest learning curve has to be the post processing. Its ironic because im good at troubleshooting computers and fixing issues that most people would call a tech person for service on. But when it comes to stacking, pulling data, and processing altogether I seem to trip over my own two feet! I'm still trying and I know I'll eventually get the hang of it. Hope you're enjoying the come back!
Hi Trevor, I just finished watching your video on the portable astrophotography setup and found this rig to be really cool! One suggestion I have for improving the setup would be to consider using shorter cables for your USB connections, power cables for the camera, and other accessories. By doing so, you can reduce the "creepers of cords" effect and achieve a cleaner, more organized appearance for your rig. Not only would this enhance the visual appeal, but it might also minimize the chances of cables getting tangled or accidentally disconnected during your astrophotography sessions. I am planning to attend Cherry Springs State Park this year too! Clear skies!
That's a really nice setup. I got into this hobby much with the help of your videos. I bought a DSLR and eventually a SA 2. Used it for about 2 years and then last fall I decided to sell all my DSLR gear to get some dedicated astro gear instead. But after 2 and a half months of nothing but cloudy nights I have to admit my interest in the hobby slowly faded. And now summer is coming which means northern Sweden is too bright to do any astrophotography at all. Damn shame really but you never know I might pick it up again next fall. I still enjoy' watching all your videos even though I am not actively participating in the hobby. :)
Great video, Trevor! I coincidentally have been saving up for a portable rig recently, so your previous videos as well as this one are amazing for insights and suggestions! I will definitely follow advice on the ASIAIR and the star tracker. I have also been contemplating whether or not to get a guiding scope or if it might be enough without for now. Would love some suggestions! Thanks for the great content, as always!
I’m retired and starting my new hobby of astrophotography! I am using the same astrograph and a Mele mini computer, ZWO Mini Guide Scope with a Player One Ceres-M camera, Pegasus Mini power box, QHY Focuser, ZWO AM3 mount and tripod. I haven’t picked a camera yet, but will use a Player One Neptune-M till I decide. I’m very excited to learn how to take images! Thank you for your videos they have been very inspiring.
Great video Trevor. I have the SA Gti also and love it with a SkyWatcher 50ED/ZWO 585 MC as a travel rig. Have you experienced any play in the RA axis? Many of us had problems with this as the adjustment screw works loose over a few hours of use. There is a detailed thread that mentions this problem on Cloudy Nights. The solution is to use plumbers tape on the adjustment screw to make it nice and tight when you put the screw back in. This has solved the issue for me. After months and hundreds of hours of use the adjustment is still perfect. I also like that the recent firmware update enabled Bluetooth on the mount. So you can control it from a PC while still connected to the internet via wifi.
Now that is interesting. I also "upgraded" my Star Adventurer 2i last summer from my 450Da+Samyang 135mm to a FRA300. And then in November I strapped my QHY268c+filter wheel from my Newtonian to it, since it was so sad to see, that the DSLR was not using the scope to it's full potential. So I ended up with pretty much the same setup as you did and I'm very happy with the results it produces. You'll have a lot of fun with the setup 😊
I would like to see a video of where you just do Astrophotography with just a DSLR & tripod so beginners can know what to expect from this hobby when they first start! Plus Most of your videos have at least a star tracker or telescope in them so some people might think you can’t get good images without a star tracker or telescope. On that note I would really like to see this type of video thanks and bye!
Great rig thanks for the video. I have a bunch of stuff from decades of photography and a few lunar and solar eclips photo sessions. I would like to build a rig like yours, using your video maybe I can figure out what I need to get to round out the stuff I have.
Going to cherry springs on April 28th with my schools club, and by myself at some point during the summer. I cannot wait! Definitely bringing my little tracker for those nice milky way shots. I've been looking at the Sky-Watcher GTi for a while, since my current AVX mount is actually too good for my Redcat. Good to know the GTi can do a really nice job with a similarly sized scope! Thanks again!
I’ve got a pretty similar rig and works like a charm. I’ve taken some of my best shots with it. Az gti, evolux 62ed, zwo 533mc pro. Though I’m a little overweight since I’m using an electronic filter wheel. Running at 90% of azgti payload recommendation. Yet had no trouble at all and is sub 1” on the tracking. Your rig seems like a 2023 version of what I built in 2022. I think you choose well and you are going to have a lot of fun with it. Can’t wait to see your pictures this summer.
Man my startracker is still the great Heq pro and guess what, I chose this one after seeing your videos, maybe 7 years ago ! I think it's great, not the most portable but still light enough to be taken almost everywhere (until you want to shoot in the mountains 😉)
Hi Trevor. I’d heard you mention in another video that you find your garage a little noisy and I can certainly hear that in the audio of this video. Some rugs on the floor would help a little, but also some simple sound absorption panels would be good. Those can be made with wood frames, some foam inserts and fabric covering. You can also make “cloud panels” in the same construction to hang from the ceiling. With the right combination of those elements the room acoustics will be dead flat.
I think you’re going the right way in using a drawer for an optional filter, if using the built in threads to screw a filter you limit the whole night using a filter, whereas using a filter drawer you can pick and choose your options on the fly..👍
If you are less advanced than I am I would love to hear any suggestions you have for ways that I can tweak and improve this setup. Well I'm broke as all hell due to inflation and government pocket gouging, but since you didn't ask....I use a canon t5 with a 75-300mm ef iii as a finder scope on my orion skyquest xt plus 8 inch dob and a custom rocking wedge and jank barn door with a clock drive to get up to 14.5 second exposures and stack them to get and see most the things. I also have custom flextape attached to the dob to be able to stick weights to it to counter balance the dslr and the rest is pray and send it. Been debating on gettin the star tracker just for the dslr, but on the other hand a fluid head and my jank barn door doesnt do terribly bad. Lol
Great video, thanks! I pre-ordered my star Adventurer GTI back in April and received in August. It's been a great tool. Along with ASIAIR it has revolutionized my astrophotography and made finding in capturing targets a joy. Since I have to be mobile, it's perfect to travel with. I put it in my carry-on bag for flights. I do a makeshift counterweight with ankle weights from Goodwill! Lol!
I planning to make it there too. I’m still waiting for my gti but my rig considering everything will be 4,3-4,5 kg so that little 250g may help to unload the gears
i ordered this sky tracker back in November with Adorama ..... i am still waiting for this..... i dont have a telescope yet but i have been eyeing the star tracker evolux 82 ED APO or Evolux 62ED or even both for starting out..... for now i am going to get my feet wet by using my nikon 70-200 f2.8 and if i really get into it..... i will start upgrading for better things ..... i did also order the ASIAIR Plus because they finally support the nikon z6 and z50...... and i have both ..... pretty stoked out about this setup for now.... i am sure in time i will have more things to add to this setup
Thank you for this channel. We are buying a vacation property in northern Minnesota with Bortle 2 skies. My dad enjoyed astronomy as a hobby before he died, and had several telescopes, but never did any astrophotography. I am so looking forward to getting into the photography aspect of this in the new place, and your channel has been invaluable in getting into the hobby.
Agena Astro carries an IOptron 1.35 kg (3 lb) counterweight that fits the 20mm counterweight rod of the Star Adventurer perfectly and is almost exactly the same outside diameter as the Star Adventurer GTI counterweight.
I'm configuring a similar setup right now, mostly for use when we travel in our RV. SWSA GTi, SW Evolux 62ED with reducer so it's f/5.8, Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO 30mm f/4 guide scope with ASI120mm mini camera, and a ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera. I used the iOptron carbon fiber tripod--the included SWSA tripod is not great. And I replaced the stock SW saddle with one from ADM Accessories. I use N.I.N.A. on a Mele Quiter3Q mini pc to control the whole thing. Have you needed to tweak the mount at all? Mine tracks pretty well in RA but guiding in Dec is not very good. Waiting for a chance to try it out again after making some adjustments to the declination axis gear meshing.
Hi Trevor, I'm also going to the Cherry Springs Star Party this summer. I've been to a few other star parties over the years in Oklahoma and North Carolina, but this one will be a first for me in Pennsylvania. I have some older portable astrophoto gear, but I also have a Star Adventurer GTI on order since February that I hope will arrive in time to learn to use before I hit the road for Cherry Springs. I also hope I bump in to you there. I've learned so much from your videos and it would be great to chat for a bit. (I'd also love to meet Rudy the Astro-Dog! I hear that pets aren't allowed on the astronomy camp ground there, but I hope I'm wrong about that!) Safe travels and Clear Skies!
Looking forward to seeing you at Cherry Springs. I will have to stop by and see your setup. It will be my first time at the June star party. I will be bringing my HEQ5 and my Redcat 51. I am also going to bring along a 6" RC scope I am borrowing but not sure what I will actually end up shotting with.
Nice video and very nice rig Trevor. Just a remark by the way: I think you could improve your power management: use the car charger output on the Anker battery to power the Asi air and camera instead of the AC output and 12V transformer: you are losing an awful lot of energy here ! It may also be a good idea to power the SA GTi through the Asi air instead of the battery packs. It removes a point of failure (batteries running dry) and my experience with the AZ GTi on whch it is based is that it provides a more accurate tracking. The torque of the motors is directly dependant on the voltage of the power supply. As the batteries drain, this voltage will decrease and so will the power of your rig. You don’t run into this issue if you use the constant 12V supply provided by the Asi air.
Amazing video. Been taking stellar astronomy and ever since, been really interesting in astrophotography and eventually want my very own telescope setup!
„My“ GTi 🥰😅! I actually plug it in, too, and with your massiv battery, why don‘t you? No hassle with the batteries, when doing a lot of „GoTo“ I find they run down quite fast. Great video as always, thanks!
A very nice rig you have, I was thinking of upgrading mine to the same. I have now a skywatcher adventurer star tracker, no guide scope, Canon 77D camera non modified with Tamron 150-600mm lens, which is kind of heavy for the star tracker
My SA 2i was able to handle the D850 + Tamron 150-600 G2 with it's original counterweight, which is kind of it's absolute limit in weight without additional CW. The SA GTi is more capable since it has 2x+ heavier and it's tracking precision is like 15% better as I experimented with it.
Did you have to calibrate your polar scope? I was getting some really visible star trails, thought maybe it was due to polar alignment and that was it, I turned it one way to the other and the scope would fly off the star. I think I got it adjusted, but it was a pain in the butt. The only.issue I have now though is to focus on the star, or the crosshairs I had to turn the focus know for the polar scope way to the left and it wobbles.. also have a issue where I see double lines of my polar scope, so it's been a little pain.. hoping for within the next month to have ASIair mini, guide scope, and guiding camera. May break down and buy a pole master before the end of the year. This mount is the mount I will be using for atleast the next year or 2.
Hi Trevor - that's a very nice rig! If you find yourself with time on your hands (!) it'd be great if you'd do an "advanced" users guide to the Star Adventurer GTi. I've had mine for over a year and I still find myself puzzled over some of its behaviours. Clear Skies!
Cracking video Trevor. I have a very similar setup for field AP. I'm mounting my WO Z61, ASIAIR Mini, 533MC Pro and guide scope onto the GTi. The payload is just shy of max tolerance, but even though the counter weight is right to the end of the shaft, RA balance is just a bit off to the scope side. I think I will try a small additional counter weight, while hopefully not excessively going beyond the max payload capacity. Failing that I'll decouple my ASIAIR and Velcro to the tripod! 😀
It's amazing how a tiny bit of weight on one side can throw things off. For this rig - I found I could balance the DEC better with the cables hanging off of the opposite side of the ASIAIR :)
Hey Trevor, I have a star adventurer 2i pro and recently got a 102mm doublet but I need a saddle for it to connect. Do you have any recommended several saddles that I could use to connect them?
Trevor how well does the guiding work with the GTi? I've been using a SW EQM-35 since I started the hobby and have never been super happy with the guiding on it. Thinking about replacing the 35 with the GTi. Thanks
love the video and I cannot wait to get the gti mount. Quick question, the Carbon Fiber tripod that you have is out of reach for me at the moment and was wondering if the tripod that comes with the startracker good enough? Or is there a tripod ~$300 that might be a better option? thanks In advance!
Great review but not sure the ZWO AM5 arrival had much of impact on this one as it more than 3 times the cost of this mount This is a very nice mount as it’s for not that much more money than a fully loaded single axis tracker you’re getting a full goto mount. That along is worth the extra cost for the easy of getting on targets quicker. I probably would have looked at this one if it was available when I was looking for a smaller lighter more portable mount than my eqr6p I ended up going with the ioptron cem26 but even that one is almost double the price of this one. You have made a huge impact on my astrophotography and choice of gear with your reviews and content. Keep up the great content. Clear skies
Hi Trevor, thanks for another interesting video. How about a portable setup for under $3000 (the cost of your camera alone in this video). Is it possible to put together a decent portable setup for $3000-3500?
hi just wanted to ask a quick question, im looking at getting this mount in the next month to set up an astrophotography rig (not a beginner but still learning), ive notice on a few videos and posts that a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Equatorial Wedge is recommended is this the case? im looking at pairing it up with the William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO from FLO. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Hi Trevor,Sorry I Missed Your Live,I Was Asleep😂😂😂In The Midst Of Storms,Cherry Springs Too😢 Sweet Scope,and Mount,I Need A Sky To Justify What I Have,lol..And Getting Ready To Hyperstar The 6se As Well,Great Video As Always,God Bless And Clear Skies🙏🏻❤️🌏🔭✨
What is the extra counterweight you are using? Is it lighter than the one that is from Star Adventurer GTi? I have seen where people have said the weight that comes with it can be too heavy for using a DSLR and smaller lense,Ike the Rokinon 14mm lenses I want to use for milkyway timelapses, however I haven't really read where you can get other counterweight that can fit that counter weight bar, so any suggestions would be awesome.
will the GTI do a meridian flip? YEs the turntable feature on the Radian tripod is my favorite feature, plus its light and not any more expensive than a less functional tripod
I have 3x new rigs R1- sW SAGTI Samyang 135 Zwo asi-071 mc pro R2- am5 edge hd 8 asi 2600mm pro lrgb sho filters R3 - am5 rasa8 asi-294mm pro bin 1 baader f2. All so portable and basic yet so powerful I love ur vids Trevor. Ur the reason I spend so much money 😅😅
Hi, Trevor - great rig, will have to hit a decent lottery prize to buy all of it outright, though! Usually I just shoot wide-angle landscape/Milky-Way stuff (with either the "older" Star Adventurer Pro setup or a Move-Shoot-Move), but did buy a Celestron 8E recently for use with my Nikon D850 for planets and deep-sky stuff. Do you have any videos on this setup for newbies? Thanks!
Hi Trevor, I'm just starting this hobby thanks to your contagious enthusiasm. I'm about to receive my SAM mount these days and start also this season with my EOS 70D w/ the EF-S 18-55 mm STM & the nifty-fifty lenses and ordered a used Samyang SY14M-C after your recommendation for beginners. So I have a steep learning curve ahead, but I'm already anxious anticipating my path to go deep sky. In between, I'm refraining right now from buying a beginner long focal length lens. Would you have a window in the season to cover a basic setup with the EF-S 55-250 mm STM lens ? I've seen your 70-300 setup but it seems this could be a very good, more recent option. I'm specially keen to know if you would need to add a counterweight to your setup (though surely I will to my SAM setup).
Hi, good people 😎. I'm thinking on buying my first astrophotography camera and can't decide between ASI178MC and ASI224MC. Another doubt I have is how should I use it? For taking pictures? (I'm currently using a Nikon D5100) or is it better to use it for autoguiding? 🤯 Please, help me 😅
Trevor I’ve been following you for sometime, is it possible for you to do a future project using the ASIAIR and do a mosaic image of your choice or say a public vote, maybe if it helps use followers likes on this comment to show the interest in a mosaic project. Take care and clear skies to all.
The latest design of the SWSA GTi comes with both a 5-pound and a 2.5-pound counterweight. Of course you probably already know that. Just sayin'. Clear skies!
beautiful video, as always. I'm also thinking to buy a new setup for widefield imaging, just a question, is it a problem that this setup is very undersampled?
Great point! It doesn't bother me - but that might be my imaging processing style/taste for the final image. When shooting at longer focal lengths I try to get the image scale in the sweet spot :)
I was going to ask about the GTI/ASI AIR connection since there isn't one in the initial reveal. I did see the RJ45 cable connected on the location video. Is there any difference between using the RJ45 cable or the printer cable that comes with the GTI? Either seems to work. Clear skies:)
Hs anyone noticed the sky getting more polluted this past year? I went to bear lake Utah and usually at night it's incredible but in 2022 It was so clouded with pollution or something I couldn't see nearly as much.
He's injured (cracked ribs) so I do not think so. I think he is going to be ok. He posted under his Community tab a few days ago about this, if you want to read up on it.
Great vid and will follow your progress. Thanks for sharing this. Would you be able to add the dew heater, counterweight, and backyard light pollution filter links to the description as well? Thanks again.
What are your thoughts on DSLR based imaging using a 70-200 2.8 lens? I am hoping to add a Nikkor 16-35 f4 in the next few weeks (I have a 17-35 Tamron 2.8-f4 but I don't think it is very sharpe). Thanks
@@Tim_the_AstronurdTim, were $ no concern I'd suggest looking at the nikon 400mm f/4.5Z lens on something like their Z6ii. Trevor, another inspiring video.
@@kylezeringue5673 I have a modded d5300 and a stock z6ii, if I ever want to shoot with them, I use a Rokinon 135mm. one of the best budget primes out there for astro.
It will be perfectly fine. I have both the SA 2i and SA GTi. On my D850 with Tamron 70-200 G2 200mm f3.5 I got sharp 2:00min result with the 2i and 2:40 with GTi, without any additional guiding. The Tamron 17-35 f2.8-4 is still better than my Sigma 20mm Art, but the manual focus is harder, it's way too lose.
I have the HEQ 5 and the SA Gti. Both great mounts but the HEQ 5 is way more steady and precise in my experience. At home I go with the HEQ 5 every time. The SA Gti is only used while travelling.
