What Polaris can do for you?
Welcome to my review of the Benro Polaris, a motorized tripod head I backed about a year ago with hopes of replacing my telescope setup with just my DSLR and Lenses.
The Polaris is still in beta software but I am already convinced this product will be awesome when the software is finalized. Im happy with the results I was able to get on a winter night and cannot wait till summer astro nights again!
It can handle some deep space and some wide field astro and it is built really well. Benro did and is doing a great job with this product!
Keep up the great work, Benro, I cannot wait to see what software updates you are able to roll out!
atoll logiciel
Will this work well with my Nikon D3100 or will I need to bump up to the D7200 or higher. Which have Bluetooth better screen and processor.
Can you do accurate long-exposures with tracking? Is there an accuracy limit?
I got mine some days ago.
First test were not successfully done. Move the point of view to a position and tell the app to do a 4×4 set of shots. It starts always first to move about 70°, the shot in this wrong position.
No idea why.
The app is still partly in Chinese unfortunately
I have that shirt yo
Damn, retail $2500 here
The downside of being one of the first you have to put up with all the bugs! Just got mine and about to use it for the first time, wish me luck 🤞🏻
Hi! Is it possible to do a full tracket panorama of the milky way? Can you set the lenght of each shot (for example 2´ each) and config to do automatically two rows of star tracking with that config? thanks!
I'm a backer and waiting for my unit to come. Can't wait to play with it. The software will improve with time and I expect bugs.
IMHO, the KickStarter complaints stem from other projects and the total lack of accountability KS takes to those that take your money and run (little or no updates or plain scams). There is absolutely no recourse for us backers (and I do realize it is always a gamble). I've been burned three times by projects that never produce and do not update (gear tracking, battery and rear-side filter projects – all for photographers). I will no longer back any project from independent people… and only from known companies (like Benro, Peak Design, etc.).
Thanks for getting out this information. I too am waiting for my unit to ship. I am new to astrophotography and own a Sky Watcher pro pack. I have struggled with the polar alignment process and, although I have been able to get nearly 2 minutes exposures with no star trails, was excited about the Polaris’ ability to automate the polar alignment process. This would save me quite some time getting started. Can you comment about the polar alignment process? Is it automated or does it require visual identification of Polaris in the night sky and significant manual input to get started? If the latter then it would be disappointing since that was the impetus for my decision to back the project. Your comments are appreciated. Best regards from South Florida.
i am thinking about backing. i think they turned back on the go fund me or kickstarter backing option? or it is still available..?
Hello my astro kit is due tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing how long I can track starts without trailing
I think you want to love it too much. The hardware is solid, but the design has a lot of dumb details. The astro bracket blocks the LEDs. The knobs are essentially useless since you can't effectively move the head with them – and there's no clutch. There's no spirit level on the head. Software sucks. Documentation sucks. The astro folks took over the campaign and clearly that's your focus, but I want it primarily for wide field timelapse with motion. Don't thank Benro until they deliver. There have always been astro mounts you can use with a camera for deep sky. The Sky Watcher AZ-GTi, for example, which is an alt-az mount but can be used as an equatorial mount. My experience with my Polaris so far is that it can't find astronomical objects. Perhaps I'm not grasping their calibration routine, but goto doesn't point anywhere near the selected object…by several tens of degrees. I'm hoping the bugs will be ironed out and the software improved. I hate that so many functions require the camera to have a direct connection. There are better apps for camera control, and the interface on this one is very poor.
Thx for sharing man !!! Great photowall and nice 3D printer setup 😉
Thank's for the review. Since you already have your Polaris, I have a question. How fast it can rotate. Benro says that Polaris can track people/objects. Did you try it? Does it work? Is it fast enough to track e.g., animal (say to photograph deers remotely)?
Well done for getting this out fast Blaine. As a backer waiting for my number to come up, this is very encouraging.
Re your point about struggling with tracking on your Celestron scope, don’t forget that a 70-200 lens is going to be a lot more forgiving than the longer focal length of a ‘proper’ telescope. You didn’t say which celestron you have, but the focal length is likely to be upward of 500mm, possibly substantially more. I started shooting the night sky at the end of 2010, initially with camera lenses before migrating to telescopes onto motorised equatorial mounts being controlled from a laptop. It took time to learn & dial in new equipment as I built up my imaging rig over time. I don’t see Polaris as a replacement for my main imaging rig, but a partner to it. I’m likely to use Polaris along side my main imaging rig once that is up and running working through its automated imaging sequence through the night, that’s when I’ll use the Polaris to shoot less demanding, wider field stuff