After my first experiences with the Vixen GP 102M, I took a break from astronomy, mainly due to the telescope’s weight and the need to travel to dark sites—living in Rome, light pollution was a major challenge.
For several years, I stepped away from the hobby, though I kept reading astronomy magazines and following the latest telescope advancements. I noticed that newer models were becoming lighter and even computerized, like the incredible Meade ETX 90.
In 2004, I decided to get back into astronomy and purchased a Sky-Watcher Mak 90. Given its low price, I had modest expectations regarding performance, but its compact size and lightweight design made it perfect for use with a Manfrotto tripod—allowing for quick and easy setup.
I made some photo using afocal techniques with my digital camera (a Nikon Coolpix 5900) in particular of the Moon.
After a few years, I realized the need for a proper mount—something lightweight, and ideally, computerized.
At the time, Orion Telescopes (which no longer exists) offered a compact mount called the TeleTrack. It had a 4 kg payload capacity and featured full computerization, using the same controller as Sky-Watcher mounts.
I started to use the Mak 90 over this small mount in 2008 and it was very much easy and funny to search objects, but above all it was possible to move the instrument very easily on the field search for dark skies.
I also thought that it could be possible to take some photo even if in altazimuth configuration with very short exposures.
I then started to use my Canon D550 (it was on 2011) to take some photos with a Russian very old 135 mm.
My astrophoto journey was just started….