Astrophotography made easy
The Skywatcher Star Adventurer makes astro photography easy. It fits to all standard photo tripods. The latitude is being adjusted comfortably with the polar wedge.
Star Adventurer´s motto: Astrophotography as easy as possible but with enough precision for pinpoint stars.
More information:
The user-friendly Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer provides various combinations to satisfy all you needs for astrophotography and time-lapse photography. It is a high precision, portable and stable celestial tracking platform for sidereal, solar and lunar tracking with automatic DSLR shutter release control. Moreover, it contains pre-programmed parameters assisting you to create interesting time-lapse videos with your DSLR.
The Star Adventurer can attach to any standard tripod via its 1/4" or 3/8" adaptors. The latitude can be set by either simply adjusting the tilt of your tripod head to match your latitude or more accurately by the Equatorial Wedge.
To fit a camera to the Star Adventurer, either a tripod Ball Head is required (not supplied) or the Dovetail L-Bracket. The Dovetail L-Bracket, used in conjunction with the counterweight shaft/counterweight also allows small telescopes (e.g. Skymax-90), with a 1/4"-20 tripod fitting, to be used with the Star Adventurer. A small telescope and camera (using a ball head, not supplied) can be mounted simultaneously on the Dovetail L-bracket. Using just the dovetail bar from the Dovetail L-Bracket, two cameras can be mounted at the same time using two tripod ball heads (not supplied).
Small telescopes for viewing also fit to the Star Adventurer, like the TS INED70. The combination is small and lightweight, making it perfect for travelling.
If you want to attach heavier accessories to the Star Adventurer, then we recommend the counterweight shaft and the counterweight. This keeps the Adventurer balanced and improves stability and tracking accuracy.
Priority of power supply:
When power is supplied via USB, then no current is drawn from the battery, so USB has priority over internal batteries with the Adventurer. This is electronically checked. By the way, we do not recommend rechargable batteries for internal power supply, as the mount is critical to undervoltage.
Further product features:
Multiple pre-programmed speeds for time lapse photography Tracking rate selectable between Sidereal, Solar and Lunar Built in polar scope (illuminator optional) DSLR interface for automatic electronic shutter control (Camera cable optional) Built-in auto-guiding interface for single-axis auto guiding External Mini USB power support Compatible with 3/8" and 1/4" camera tripod thread Tracking by accurate stepper motor
Practical tip - guiding with the Star Adventurer
The Star Adventurer provides an ST4 autoguider port. By checking and correcting the tracking, you can make significantly longer exposures and also work with longer focal distances. Now the exposure time only depends on the precision of the polar alignment. There is an elegant way for attaching a small guide scope to the Adventurer: Attach a ball head to the bottom side of the declination bracket where the counterweight shaft is screwed in. There, a 3/8" thread is at your disposal (see image). You attach the finder shoe TSSucherZ to the ball head. Now you can attach a mini guide scope to the finder shoe. Then you align the mini guide scope parallel to the main instrument or the telephoto lens by using the ball head. You can also attach a second camera instead of the guide scope. Then you can balance both instruments by sliding the bracket in the saddle.
You can find the necessary items in the accessory recommendations.
Mount Type: | Ultra compact equatorial tracking platform, single axis |
Connection at tripod side: | Photo thread 1/4" or 3/8" |
Connection at camera side: | Saddle plate Vixen style |
Motor Drive: | DC Servo |
Power Supply: | 4xAA battery |
Payload Capacity: | 5 kg (11 lb, with counterweight) |
Tracking Modes: | Sidereal, Solar or Lunar tracking rate for both Northern & Southern hemisphere. Time-lapse photography (12hr/4hr/2hr rev.) |
Auto-guiding interface: | built-in, ST4 |
Weight: | 1.2 kg |
Polar finder: | built-in |
Package dimensions: | 35 x 24 x 14 cm (LxWxH) |
Counterweight and counterweight shaft Polfinder with illuminator
DSLR image of Swan and Lyra with the Star Adventurer
© by Frank Köhler

Click into image for larger picture DSLR photograph of the Ring Nebula with Zoom lens and the Star AdventurerM57
October 8, 2018, UTC 21:42
Canon EOS 5D III
Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8 L
Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount
Exp. 5 s, 200 mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
Limiting stellar magnitude 12.5
"Just a short message to tell you that the mount I purchased few months ago at Teleskop-Service is just top. I?m very happy with the performance of this portable device."
... a satified customer
Manufacturer / Importeur: | Optical Vision Limited |
Street: | Duracher Straße 11 |
ZIP / City: | 87437 Kempten |
Country: | Germany |
Telefon number: | +49 831 697288210 |
Email: | accounts@opticalvision.co.uk |
Website: | www.opticalvision.co.uk |