Vixen Polarie Star Tracker

Product Information

To change the settings, a communication terminal that can be connected to Wi-Fi, like smartphones, and application software are required. Shooting with a wide-photo lens is easy by just locating Polaris at the center of the sight tube finder's field of view. It is fitted into the accessory shoe on the POLARIE U. The standout feature on the Polarie U is the ability to connect your camera directly to it and then control the entire setup from the Polarie U app. It becomes so useful because long exposures of two minutes or more are necessary to capture enough light, color, and detail to properly reveal the Milky Way, as well as faint celestial sights such as star fields, galaxies, nebulae, and even gas clouds.

Fast and simple polar alignment is carried out using a sighting hole through the body of the mount, but much more accurate alignment can be achieved by using the supplied polarscope.Power Source: 4 pieces of AA batteries: Alkaline batteries, Ni-MH rechargeable or Ni-Cd rechargeable; USB Type-C external power supply batteries are available also. Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us.

The built-in rechargeable battery has a decent runtime (though you can also run it off a portable battery) and we enjoyed uninterrupted imaging. Results are very impressive, with good results of a selection of stars and galaxies, and the operation of the setup isn't too noisy. Operating Environment for Application Software: OS: Android 4.4 and over or iOS 9.9 and over; Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g; Data Encryption Method: WPA2-PSK There is also an excellent free smartphone app (Vixen PF-L Assist, available for iOS and Android) to make polar alignment really simple. xposure finishes. This is useful as a time-lapse rotator so you can create better quality images in every single shot in the day or night. Offering almost twice as much payload as its ‘little brother’, the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini, this Pro version also ramps up the battery life by using four AA batteries that last for 72 hours. That’s plenty of time for a field trip into remote areas while also being simple enough to swap out mid-shoot.On first impressions, the overall build is of very good quality, although the polarscope's illuminator could do with an upgrade. The scope's red light mode is effective in preserving night vision. The Vixen Polarie is easy to use and pretty easy to set up and roughly align. By that I mean good enough to get exposures of a minute or so. I found, though, that setting it up more accurately was a challenge. If you use a short focal length lens on your camera it will enable you to take remarkable wide field photos of the Milky Way and other targets. But it you use a longer lens or a small telescope, the alignment becomes more critical. It’s even more of a problem in the Southern Hemisphere, where we are. For the pointing accuracy to be correct, you must make sure that your location is set, and that the mount is polar aligned and balanced. The Star Adventurer GTi has a robust wedge base, that is suitable for mounting cameras with long telephoto lenses and compact telescopes.

Before I launched on the sequence of exposures, I did a few tests to see if the Polarie was working. This also helped me get the exposure right. I didn’t have high expectations due to the smoke haze. A further ball head will need to be attached to the top of the mount to enable the camera to be pointed. The maximum loading weight is 2.5kg/5.5 lbs (approx. 2.5kg/5.5 lbs at 10cm from the center of rotation) when it is used for taking wide-fielFor my experience, a 3-way tilt and pan head or a geared head is better than a ball head to mount the Polarie on the tripod, as you will have more control when polar aligning the mount. For the camera, a ball head is great. Using a 150mm lens on a cropped sensor DSLR camera we started to see star-trailing after 60 seconds, despite revisiting our polar alignment.