So, I purchased an iOptron with Alt-Az mount. I unpackaged it tonight, read through the quick start guide, and assembled the device. Then, I mounted and balanced my Pentax K-3, with a Tamron Adaptall-2 60-300 lens. Then, I found true north, and adjusted the mount upward using the side, to reach 41 degrees (my latitude).
Then the frustration started.
I am unable to see any illumination through my polar alignment scope. I've adjusted the brightness using the directions, but to no avail. So, I downloaded both the iOptron Pro app and the Polar Scope Align Pro. Then I looked at them, and realized...I have no idea what they mean. I'm not sure, without spotting Polaris directly in my glass, how to align the device using these charts (for which, see attached).
So, I decided to set up the device towards Orion's belt, and try a 30s exposure at 60mm. Which, of course, I have star trails. The Quick Start guide seems pretty awful - probably because I'm new to astrophotography and it seems to do a terrible job of identifying various things like different knobs, etc. I cannot tell if the device is rotating at all, or where my dSLR should be, etc. I'm not even sure if I have to leave the device facing north, and move the camera (I don't have it on a ball head) in some other fashion.
Sigh. Any thoughts from iOptron Skyguider users?
Last edited by jawats; 02-23-2020 at 11:05 AM.
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