Wish I'd ignored that guy who said a star tracker was a waste of money

Some dude on a hiking forum told me last spring that I didn't need a star tracker for astro photos, said just use a tripod and stack exposures. I listened to him and spent 6 months getting frustrated with blurry 30 second shots at 200mm. Finally rented a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer from a shop in Portland for a weekend trip to the Oregon coast. First night out I got a single 3 minute exposure of the Andromeda Galaxy that looked better than anything I'd stacked for hours before. That guy probably takes photos of stars that just look like dots. Has anyone else wasted time listening to someone who clearly never tried the gear they were trashing?

3 comments

3 Comments

bennett.noah9d ago

Yeah the "just stack it" advice is what I used to buy into too. I thought star trackers were just overpriced toys for people who didn't know how to work around the limits. Then I borrowed a friend's iOptron for a night and got a single 4 minute shot of the North America Nebula that was way cleaner than anything I'd stacked from 200 frames. It's not even close. The stacking works fine for wide angle stuff but once you go past 50mm it's just a mess. I regret those months of fighting with software and bad results.

the_margaret4d ago

Get yourself a used Star Adventurer or iOptron SkyGuider Pro off Cloudy Nights classifieds. You can usually find one for around $250-300 which pays for itself in about 2 weeks of not hating your editing life lol. The trick is to practice polar alignment during the day so you're not fumbling around in the dark. Once you get that down, even a 135mm lens on a tracker will blow your mind compared to stacking 1000 short subs.

haydenbutler9d agoMost Upvoted

Buy that guy a beer and tell him you owe him for teaching you the LONG way around. I'm still salty about the months I wasted doing the "just stack it" method with my cheap tripod.