Camera tripod for telescope?

Astraeus

Astraeus

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,063
Name
Ciaran
Edit My Images
Yes
Does it work?

I'm looking at buying a cheapish refractor telescope and some bargains can be had by buying the scope without a mount. I've got a very good (heavy!) Redsnapper tripod so I was wondering if there was a mount or head that would work to house the telescope on that.

Has anyone done that with a camera tripod, preferably with an alt-azimuth mount?
 
I use a camera tripod for a bird watching/spotting scope. If you mean an astronomical scope, I think I’d be looking for something more sturdy and with an equatorial mount.
 
I'm assuming you mean for astronomy not bird watching
If you're happy with an alt az and with it being fully manual ie no tracking, you may be able to fit the scope directly onto a decent 3 way head (not a ball head!). The dovetail bar I have is threaded for a standard tripod bush. However, bear in mind that with no tracking you'll have to shift the scope in both axes every few seconds and tripod heads for cameras are not designed to work in that way. If you want tracking, there are tracking heads to fit tripods but I'm not sure if they're all equatorial.
You don't say what size or brand of scope you're looking at but a 'cheapish refractor' might be rubbish. Astronomical observing is hard enough without fighting the kit. If however you just want to odd glance at the Moon to see if it's something you could get interested in then you've little to lose by putting a cheap scope on what you already have and upgrade when/if you feel the need,
 
Thanks very much both.

@Jannyfox, that's exactly my intention at this stage. I'm planning to pick up that 60mm Celestron that Astrobiscuit said was a steal at under £100 and see if the bug bites. Rather that than jump in at the deep end with a whopping great Dobsonian that ends up for sale before long!
 
Astraeus said:
Thanks very much both.

@Jannyfox, that's exactly my intention at this stage. I'm planning to pick up that 60mm Celestron that Astrobiscuit said was a steal at under £100 and see if the bug bites. Rather that than jump in at the deep end with a whopping great Dobsonian that ends up for sale before long!
Click to expand...
BTW, I’ve been toying with getting an astronomical telescope for ages, but have in the interim used our Opticron spotting scope to view the moon and planets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top