Thanks for the info bill. I'll take a good look at it. I was hoping to get something for the Leonids. I probably only need about two minutes (real time) of accuracy, but the investment in something more accurate could definitely be worth it.
Tom C. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peifer, William [OCDUS]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 11:24 AM Subject: RE: Barn Door Trackers > Tom Cakalic (aimcompute) wrote: > > Does anyone know where I can purchase a powered, motorized barn > > door tracker for a 35mm camera? Are such things sold commercially? > > Hi Tom, > > Can't say I've ever seen one of these sold commercially -- most people > usually build them. Simple tangent drives (like barn-door trackers) have > residual error accumulation that becomes significant for exposures of more > than a few minutes in length. If someone was going to pay for a commercial > equatorial drive, I'd imagine they'd probably want a different design that > doesn't have the inherent tracking error accumulation of a tangent drive. > You might want to consider a standard motorized equatorial mount. I've seen > pictures of commercial units designed expressly for astrophotography, but > don't know who carries these. I'm sure they're quite expensive -- perhaps > the price of an MZ-S body? Alternatively, you could buy a motorized > equatorial ~telescope~ mount. Orion Telescope (Santa Cruz, CA) carries a > fairly sturdy Chinese-made tripod and head called a Sky View Deluxe, which I > believe is currently selling for $199 -- but they now have a discount price > of $179 if you order over the Web. (Add another $24 to get a 1/4"-20 > adapter plate that mounts to the head.) You can get a cheap single-axis > drive for it for $69, or a better dual-axis drive with drive corrector for > $199. > > See the following links: > http://www.telescope.com/cgi-bin/OrionTel.storefront/3bec1b2600c6e1302719c0a > 80a6606b6/Product/View/G603 > http://www.telescope.com/cgi-bin/OrionTel.storefront/3bec1b2600c6e1302719c0a > 80a6606b6/Product/View/G608 > http://www.telescope.com/cgi-bin/OrionTel.storefront/3bec1b2600c6e1302719c0a > 80a6606b6/Product/View/G615 > > To get the most out of a dual-axis drive and drive corrector, you really > need a telescope mounted at the same time. Thus, you may want to check > their telescope packages as well. They sell a few packages including > telescope and Sky View Deluxe mount, and the differential cost for the > telescope is pretty low -- for example, a 4.5" reflector on this particular > mount for a total cost of $299, not including motorized drive. Hope this > helps. > > Bill Peifer > Rochester, NY > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
