Monday, May 30, 2022

Acuter Maksy 60 & Celestron Nexyz


Acuter Maksy 60 & Celestron Nexyz

At first glance, and for the impatient, it would seem the Celestron Nexyz mobile phone mount was not going to work for the Acuter Maksy 60 telescope.

Above Photos: the best arrangement was found by rotating the 90-degree diagonal and tilting the mobile phone in its mount slightly to one side.

The ten ounces added significant weight to the light 1-lb Acuter Maksy 60 OTA and would appear to burden the tiny tripod. To make matters worse, the rack mechanism appeared to ram into the OTA when the phone was positioned back over and above the OTA to gain some semblance of balance. 

The Acuter has a permanent balance point over the tiny tripod and is not adjustable. In some positions, the weight of the mount and phone can tip over the telescope and tiny tripod.

Left & Above Left: Arrow marks the rack support that rams into the telescope's OTA preventing the attachment of the mobile phone holder. This happens when positioning the length of the mobile phone above and along the OTA when trying to achieve the best balance. 

However, all these points are fixable by positioning the mount and phone camera as seen in the photo at the top of this page.

Left: make sure the control knob does not ram into the Acuter Maksy 60 OTA optical tube assembly.

A small amount of experimenting and various adjustments by trial and error will bring the mobile phone and its mount to the correct position, with no tube interference and no telescope tippage. Top photos show one correct way to position the cell phone and mobile phone holder, for no tube interference and the best weight balancing. At left, the knob is ramming into the tube.

The Celestron NexYZ is well constructed, easy to use, and the cell phone clamp has a perfect amount of grip - not too heavy and not too loose. The grip does not press on the buttons at the side of the iPhone. The Celestron NexYZ has become the mobile phone holder for astro imaging, by choice. The holder currently sells for about $80.95. Note: the best balance position may vary depending on the telescope's orientation for the object which is being viewed.

“Unlike other adapters, the NexYZ features three directional knobs (X, Y and Z axes) that perfectly align your phone’s camera with the scope eyepiece in seconds. In addition, you can make tension adjustments to keep the phone firmly in place and, rather pleasingly, the clamp system allows the phone to be positioned to capture images in landscape mode as opposed to portrait, which is so often the hallmark of most smartphone images.” – from Expert Reviews, Birdwatch magazine, November 2018

“Fitting the phone to the adapter is simple and quick, and the phone is held securely in place – no need to worry about it dropping out as you move around. You then adjust the phone’s position using the X and Y axis knobs – this too is easy and relatively quick. Finally, the Z axis knob enables you to lower or raise the phone to eliminate vignetting.” – Matt Merritt, “Unlock your phone’s potential,” Gear Reviews, Birdwatching magazine, August 2018


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