Astroview EQ

Hello to all. I would klike to know if anyone has any experience using Orion's Astroview EQ mount for astrophotography. I would like to see if this mount is capable of tracking for 30 seconds max using a small refractor and a modified web cam. Any comments are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ric

I have an Orion EQ-3 mount that I have used for some short exposure astrophotography and have done some longer (5+ minute) guided photography.

I use it with a cooled CCD camera similar to a ST-237 and a 130mm F5 Newtonian.

Somewhere on www.astrosurf.com, there is a page where someone has measured the Periodic error of many mounts. Of the Chinese mounts, the particular EQ-3 was the best and actually better than some of the vixen mounts.

My experiences:

The tripod is a definite weak point. Vibration city. However I found a tripod from a Super Polaris and that has cleared things up nicely.

So for what I do, it works. Sometimes the PE ruins a shot but if everything is right I can get a decent shot.

Heres a link to a photo of M42 I took with my Small Newt and EQ-3:

http://www.astromart.com/common/image_popup.asp?image=/images/forums/233000-233999/233625.jpg

Jon