smith.ray•1mo agoProlific Poster

My new camera mount fought me for a whole night under the stars

I got this fancy equatorial mount last month to try for some deep sky shots. Last night I set it up in my backyard, spent 45 minutes just trying to get the polar alignment right because the little finder scope was fogging up. Then I realized I had the counterweight bar in backwards the whole time, which threw off the whole balance. What should have taken 20 minutes turned into a 3 hour battle before I even took one picture. Anyone have a simpler way to do polar alignment without losing your mind?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_nelson401mo ago

Wait, you had the bar in backwards the whole time? That's brutal.

spencer_chen61mo ago

Oh man, that is the worst feeling! I did that once on a project and only noticed after everything was painted. Felt like such a waste of time and effort. Total facepalm moment for sure. Really hope it's an easy fix for you.

victor_carr2519d ago

Man, three layers of paint before someone noticed? I'd say that's less of a facepalm and more of a full body ground slap. At least you didn't have to tear out drywall to get to it, so maybe there's a silver lining in that disaster somewhere. Spencer's right though, the second you see that tape line going the wrong way your whole day just tanks. Hopefully you can pop those bars out without messing up the paint too much.