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Alternative to Swarovski Balance Rail? (1 Viewer)

B

Baron Birder

Well-known member
I purchased a balance rail to use on my old grey Swarovski AT80 HD to counter the change in balance when I attach the swing away adapter and FUji 31D.

However you will see from the two photos attached that I cant move the scope very far along the rail because the shape of the housing gets in the way.

Are there any dgiscopers out there who have any suggestions as to alternatives or other Swarovski users who have solved this problem another way.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 

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Thanks for the idea. Regretably the pins on the balance rail are not long enough to go through a quick release plate and the tripod foot. It looks like its made with the pins already in, so I cant see any way to replace them.
 
Manfrotto make a universal sliding plate adapter (357) that would do the job, it should be ~£35 and has the advantage that it will work with any scope/tripod. Kowa also make such an item, but it costs a bit more at £47.
 
Postcardcv

Thanks for this. I see that Manfrotto also make a long version of this at £50. the 357plong. Would you advise getting the standard or paying the extra for the long version?
 
Baron Birder said:
Postcardcv

Thanks for this. I see that Manfrotto also make a long version of this at £50. the 357plong. Would you advise getting the standard or paying the extra for the long version?
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if the standard one didn't give you more than enough forward movement to get the set up balanced.
 
Thanks for the idea. Regretably the pins on the balance rail are not long enough to go through a quick release plate and the tripod foot. It looks like its made with the pins already in, so I cant see any way to replace them.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'pins', do you mean the 1/4" screw used to mount the scope?

I think you might have mis-understood my point. The idea is to mount the base unit of the quick release onto the swaro balance rail, then mount your quick release plate onto your scope. Then when you put the scope on top it will gain around 22mm in height. This looks to be enough to get your scope high enough not to foul the end of the balance rail plate.

The pics below show my set-up, using a slightly different manfrotto plate (older design of the one shown in my original link) attached to my scope. The base unit attaches to the sliding plate of my tripod head (different to yours, but the principal is the same).

Total cost £22
 

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Last edited:
Cheers again

:t: Steve
Thanks again and for the explanatory photos. I get what you mean now. I have decided to go with the M357 Universal sliding plate as suggested by Postcardcv it looks a little simpler.
 
Postcardcv

Sorry to be a doubter I have just read Steve Clifton comments #10. Just before I order it are you able to allay his fears that I might have the same problem again?

Thanks
 
You were so right!

SteveClifton said:
I hope it works for you. I get a horrible feeling it might create a similar problem to the one you already have-fingers crossed!
Click to expand...


Steve:-O

Welll being a cautious person by nature I took on board your thoughts and contacted Manfrotto's technical Dept. The Manager there confirmed that unfortunately their 357 plate would indeed suffer the same problem!

So am off out again today, armed with both a qiuck release plate for normal scoping, and the balance rail. As well as not giving the right balance point, it frquently works itself loose. So am armed with a small screwdriver in the hope that regualr tightening, a neccesary bore will help.

I shall give more thought to your suggestion but it does seem to add more weight and more surfaces to slip or loosen.

You never know I may be driven to buying a new scope!

However if there are any other swarovski owners with other solutions I would love to hear from them.

I have seen the new swarovski scope with its own adapter in action and that seems to eradicate the balance issue. But I hear it takes a lot of work to fit at the outset of the day.
 
I shall give more thought to your suggestion but it does seem to add more weight and more surfaces to slip or loosen.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I completely undertand what you mean about the extra weight, but in practice the 200-or so grams of the quick-release adapter make a very small difference to the total weight of my setup. To reduce the risk of the QR-adapter slipping or spinning, you might have noticed that I have added an extra bolt through the base plate. This did involve the hassle of drilling an extra hole and inserting a bolt when I originally attached it, but you only have to do it once-then it's right forever!

I plan to do something similar with my Manfrotto 128LP head-by attaching a 357 sliding adapter to address the same balance issue that you had when digiscoping. Again, I plan to use another 323 Quick release adapter permanently mounted onto the sliding plate to allow quick removal of the scope. I rarely carry the scope mounted on the tripod very far, preferring to remove it and carry it over my shoulder until it's needed. I find this works very well for me, and twisting of the scope is rarely an issue.

Your old style scope should give equally good views to the new model, assuming you use the new S-series eyepieces. Buying a new scope sounds a bit extreme-but if you have money burning a hole...

Steve
 
SteveClifton said:
Your old style scope should give equally good views to the new model, assuming you use the new S-series eyepieces. Buying a new scope sounds a bit extreme-but if you have money burning a hole...

Steve
Click to expand...

The eyepiece I have is the same old 20x60 it can with whern I bought it second hand. I dont know much about the new S series eyepieces. Can you elucidate a little?

I went out to Oare yesterday to digiscope and there were load of Waders. I found on the bottom of the balance rail a curious paper "washer " fitted under the main screw with a second hole. I am not mechanically minded but discovered that this fitted nicely over the smaller screw and when both are tightened made a significant improvement on the foot sliding around the plate!

I am very poor on DIY so for now I will refrain rom any drilling! I think they gave me 10% for my metalwork exams 35 years ago out of pity!
 
The eyepiece I have is the same old 20x60 it can with whern I bought it second hand. I dont know much about the new S series eyepieces. Can you elucidate a little?
Click to expand...

The s-series eyepieces are the ones designed for the latest model 80mm and 65mm scopes, however they should fit your older Swaro body. Many users who have bought these as an upgrade reckon they are generally better than the original eyepieces designed for your model. I presume they are sharper, wider etc, but I have no direct experience of the older ones so can't verify this.

There are several reports on this forum of users who use the new eyepieces on their older scope bodies, who say that the improvement is such that there is little or no difference in performance between them and a new scope/new eyepiece combination(maybe a slight difference in colour cast), hence why spend hundreds on upgrading to a new scope?

One thing to bear in mind though, is that the very first examples of the AT80 body (perhaps 15-20 years old) used a different bayonet fitting for the eyepieces-and consequently won't accept the very latest eyepieces.

You'd need to check this first (call Swaro customer service with the serial number) to be sure yours is not one of these.

Hope that helps, Steve.
 
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