Monday, May 31, 2010

The iOptron SmartStar-G on Gitzo G106



On going to the Post Office to send my DMK 31AF03 to the US, I found that there is a very well stocked screw shop near my home. I bought a long M8 screw together with a few washers, and the iOptron is mounted to my Gitzo G106 successfully.

I placed my Ranger there, and it's a very stable setup. On focusing, the vibration would damp out at around 5 seconds, not bad. Slewing around is smooth and accurate, a good sign of excellent backlash compensation. It's cloudy outside so I couldn't really test it. I turned on the tracking and insert a high power eyepiece (185x), slew the scope to a terrestial target, watch it track. Tracking is pretty stable with some very minor vibration, I don't know whether it's induced by my eyes or by the tracking action itself. Focusing is easy since I've a NGF-CM, so focusing induce zero vibration to the setup.

I've yet to try it on solar imaging, but it looks promising right now.

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