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Switched from a tripod to a star tracker for deep sky shots
For years I used a basic tripod and took 5 second exposures of star fields, stacking dozens of them. Last winter I finally bought a used Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer for $200. Now I get 2 minute subs of nebulas and it's a whole different ballgame. Has anyone else made this upgrade and found it changed how you shoot?
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danielhenderson13d agoMost Upvoted
piper_reed nailed it - tripods are great for when you want to take photos of stars that look like little dots and you're okay with the Milky Way looking like a blurry mess haha. I was the same way for years, thinking I could get away with 10 second exposures and just stacking my way to something decent. The first time I put my camera on a star tracker and saw a 2 minute sub come through on the screen I pretty much laughed at myself for being so stubborn. It felt like going from a flip phone to a smartphone in one night. My only regret is I didn't buy one sooner and I wasted so many clear nights fussing with stacking software trying to fix bad frames. Now I'm out there getting detail in the Orion Nebula that I used to think was impossible without a $2000 mount.
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