Why I ditched autoguiding and went back to manual tracking

I spent 6 months using an autoguider setup for my deep sky shots, but I finally switched back to manual tracking with just my mount's polar alignment. It drove me crazy how much time I wasted setting up the guide scope, cables, and calibration every session. Last month I did 4 straight nights at a dark site in Oregon with no autoguider, and honestly my 90 second subs came out just as sharp. The key was spending 20 minutes on my polar alignment instead of rushing it like before. Has anyone else found that simpler gear actually gives you better results in the field?

2 comments

2 Comments

miam1111d ago

Oh man, I've been through this EXACT same struggle and it really does feel liberating to drop the extra gear. Spending that extra time on polar alignment makes such a huge difference, it’s honestly wild how overlooked that step is once you add guiding. I still use my autoguider sometimes from the backyard but for trips I'm seriously considering going full manual again after reading this.

umabailey11d ago

Had you already dialed in your polar alignment before trying the manual approach or did you figure that out as you went?