My $200 tracker mount died at Joshua Tree, here's what I did

I drove 3 hours to Joshua Tree last month for a clear night shoot, got everything aligned by 10 PM, and the mount just stopped tracking mid-exposure. The clutch had stripped out, no way to fix it in the dark with my headlamp and basic tools. I switched to single exposures on a fixed tripod, cranked the ISO to 3200, and took 2 second shots of the Milky Way core instead. Turned out great honestly, the star trails in the corners gave it a raw look I actually liked. Has anyone else had a gear failure and just improvised the whole session?

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parker_hall514d ago

The 80mm finder scope on my old EQ mount saved a whole night after the motors fried, don't sleep on those cheap backup scopes.