What is Reddit's opinion of Polar Finder?

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If you have an Android phone, you can use Polar Finder. Its only 99 cents. Its what I use with my iOptron SkyTracker.

Great! I have the same mount. You shouldn't have to drift align to get a good polar alignment. Here is what to do:

1. Use a compass (one on your phone is fine) to roughly point the mount north (the counterweight shaft will point to the north).

2. Level the mount. There is a bubble level on the mount. Ignore anyone who tells you this isn't important. Always level your mount before imaging.

3. Release the RA clutch and rotate in RA until looking down the bore hole on the front you can see that the polarscope isn't blocked. Lock the RA clutch.

4. Shift the mount around until you have Polaris in the field of the polarscope. You will know when you get Polaris in the field as it should be quite a bit brighter than anything else in your field of view.

5. Then I suggest using an app like PS Align Pro (iOS) or Polar Finder (android) to tell you where on the reticule circle to place Polaris. Use the altitude and azimuth knobs to get Polaris to the right spot. Your polar alignment should now be good enough for astrophotography, especially if you guide.

6. Release the RA clutch and rotate it back until the counterweight shaft is down. This is your generic "parked" position where the mount expects to start from.

Hope this helps. I've never liked drift alignment. If you feel really need super precise polar alignment, I recommend the QHY Polemaster, it's worth the price, because it just works and it's fast.

The height doesn't matter. Make sure you're checking the location of Polaris based on some app. I personally use Polar Finder on Android, as it has an overlay showing the SA's polar scope.

I usually set it at a comfortable height so I don't have to do too much contorting when I try to align. Lower is always better though.

With that lens I stop down to f2 to f2.5, you get a nice starburst affect thanks to the aperture blades at f2.5. For the tracking mount, I recommend and app called PolarFinder if you have android (it might also be on the apple store, not sure):

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.techhead.polarfinder&hl=en

The app lets you set the display to whatever tracking mount you have, it has the Skytracker on there. The polar scope is mirrored and the app takes that into account, for a long time I didn't have the app setup specifically for the Skytracker and I wasn't mirroring Polaris' location in my scope so I never could get longer than a couple minute exposures.

Make sure you remove the polar scope once you start shooting, a couple times I've let the camera run and absent mindedly left the scope it and the camera hit the scope. The worm gear actually stopped working after that happened, luckily it started again after I power cycled it a few times. The body design of the Skytracker is really really poor, it's another reason I got the Star Adventurer.

Wider angle lenses are much more forgiving with your polar alignment, so as long as you are close (like having Polaris in the ring in its approximate location) you should have no problem getting up to 5 minute exposures. With a good alignment I can get 15 minute exposures up to an 85mm lens.

Thank you very much!

Looks like PS Align Pro isn't available for Android. How's this look as an alternative? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.techhead.polarfinder&hl=en