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The $300 tracking mount that made my photos worse, change my mind

Picked up a star tracker for my DSLR, thought it was the missing piece. Paid $300 for it, used it three times, now it sits in my closet. First night, polar alignment took an hour and my stars still trailed. Second night, battery died after 45 minutes in 40 degree weather. Third night, I got sharp subs but my framing was off, so the final image looked worse than my untracked shots. I know people swear by these things, and maybe I just got a bad unit or bad luck. But for beginners, is a tracker really worth the cash, or is it smarter to stick with wide field untracked? Anyone else drop serious money on gear that set them back?

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linda_reed1mo ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. I did the exact same thing, spent almost $400 on a tracker and honestly my untracked wide shots were way sharper. The polar alignment thing killed me too, I spent like two hours fiddling with a laser and a phone app and still got little comet tails on every star. And don't even get me started on battery life, my first session died in like half an hour and I was just standing there in the dark with a paperweight. I mean maybe it's just me, but I think for beginners especially, the whole setup curve is way steeper than people admit. I ended up selling mine and just doing untracked with a really wide lens, and my photos honestly looked better and I actually enjoyed the nights more.

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jenny_lane121mo ago

Ugh, same here @linda_reed, I ditched my tracker after one night and never looked back.

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