So stoked that you are doing a full course on star tracker, filters, editing and capturing! I can't wait!

Really enjoy the info you present but when you talk about new equipment I end up spending more money and then my wife has to spend more money on her sewing/quilting hobby. Everyone is happy so can’t complain. Looking forward to a course on nighttime photography

Just got my MSM, perfect timing! Thanks! 🙂👏🏻⭐️

I've always enjoyed your content even though I sold off my Nikon gear and have gone medium format. You're a real asset who knows his craft and has great teaching skills.

Thank you Hudson! I have been looking forward to your second review of of MSM. Your first review was the reason why I decided to order it for astrophotography. Can't wait to receive mine in the mail and can't wait to get out to use with my Z6ii and 20mm f/1.8 S. Would love to see you do an Office Hours astrophotography session sometime.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for that! Noted...

Love the MSM Star Tracker. Probably going to Joshua Tree in a few weeks and will certainly be bringing it along.

Again a great Video BZ just before the March 13 week of astro MW, Go out Mon to Sat to get a crescent moon below the MW. Nice you covered filters for all makes and manufacture. Just a note for Sony and Sigma Nikon or Leica but for the new 1224 f/2.8 and old f/4 Haida Rear Lens ND Filter Kit that also you can get the Haida HD4647 Rear Lens Clear-Night Filter way better than big filters. Next can you cover the multi row pano assembly on top a reason for using a 20mm or 24mm due to distortion of UW's. Also mention one reason for the tracking is for stacking long exposures for less noise also heads up us with the Zand V mounts had iron not Steel mounting screws $5 on Amazon. Can not wait to see your MW shots in Oregon area, praying for good weather, we who can not travel yet need a dream for a travel spot- the desert in not the only place.

Thanks Hudson. I received my MSM recently. The latest MSM version has upgraded the laser but MSN does not provide spare battery or recharger for this version yet. I contacted MSM about spare battery and recharger and also provided some battery and charger info from Amazon that I had scoped out. They confirmed that their engineers are looking to spec in a battery and charger to make available on their web site. MSM also verified the battery and charger info I supplied. I also purchased these items via Amazon. I can confirm that the batteries diameter fit and electric specs work. The charger also works quite well. I hope you don't mind, but here are the links. Battery PN ICR 14250 300mAh 3.7V Amazon $8.29 (qty2) and Charger PN Olight UC Universal Magnetic USB Charger Amazon $9.99 (w/battery case).

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ed. Super helpful!

I find the clip in filters don’t work with wide angle lenses. They shift the focus enough that the lens now focuses on stars with it set far inward of infinity. The lens now no longer performs as it should for aberration correction and stars at the corners become horribly elongated. Filters in front of a lens don’t shift focus, but filters between the lens and sensor always will. The thinner the filter the less the focus shift. The KASE filters might be thinner than the astronomy clips-ins I’ve used. Those work fine for telephotos and telescopes but not with wide angle lenses with their very wide and short light cones. Try the clips ins with a critical star test on the 14mm lens compared to a front mounted filter. I think the latter will always give better results. And likely a much more uniform colour across the frame. The bandwidth of a clip in filter can shift from centre to edge due to the different angle the light has to take over the width of the filter, producing a colour gradient across the frame. And yep, I agree on the Z plates. They are all the rage but they are bouncy. Keep the mechanisms to a minimum. The one I bought, however, will be good for taking panoramas using a tracker, as you can then pan parallel to the horizon easily. I look forward to seeing more nightscape videos! Clear skies!

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Fascinating. I'll have a really close side by side look.

First thanks for the video and second using the Acratech pan head also helps to find the North Star. If you first set the angle of your pan head to your latitude it helps give you a starting point for the angle of the North Star.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

True that. Thanks Carl.

This is a great video. Clearly shows how to setup the MSM. Referred to it frequently as I set mine up -and thanks for the link and discount! Do you ever use an app like PhotoPills to align when Polaris is not visible?

Inspiring! Filming the Milky Way has scared me. I can’t wait to take a class with you. I hope and your family are soon vaccinated.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Ah, thanks Eric. My wife is fully. She's a physician. I am on the list and waiting for my slot.

@ericcutler5463

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto Good to hear my friend. I want to take a class with you this year.

In order to use a laser on your ioptron, try shooting your laser through the polar scope. This brings you close and then fine adjust via the polar scope. This is even sufficient enough for wide angle. I use it this way on my Star adventurer. Give it a try :-)

Great info particularly on the LP filters. How useful do you think they can be if you are in an area where you have predominantly pollution due to the new led lights?

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

They really predominantly cut sodium vapor's spectrum. The old fashioned street and barn lights more found in rural areas or places that haven't prioritized energy efficiency.

Great video. Thanks. I was wondering if you ever use video mode when focusing. It seems a lot cleaner at high iso than photo mode, and with high iso, the noise can look stars which makes focus a little trickier.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

No, I really haven't had a problem focusing stars with the Z cameras. After years of DSLR work... It feels like cheating. :) with the ii's the low light AF-S AF really can nail bright stars. Witg the originals, a planet will work. AF-S AF is so much more accurate with these Z cameras than the DSLRs were capable of.

I recently subscribed to your channel and have found it very useful, great work. I have a MSM and am wondering how to do a Milkyway panorama using it, do you have a video showing how to do this? Because using the setup you have on this video, it's hard to just rotate the camera so it stays level, is there an extra bracket you can use to get the camera level to do a panoramic without the camera moving either in an ark or just wonky because it's on a ballhead which you can't keep level when moving the camera. Many thanks. Ryan.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

The best way with the star tracker to do a pano will be to add a panning clamp between the head and camera. Use the camera's level overlay view when composing, the tracker takes you out of level with each shot, stop it, relevel with the base pan, pan for the pano using the upper panning clamp, start the tracker again and shoot. Repeat for each shot. Having a degree gauge on the panning clamp to see in red light and knowing your lens will be essential. The RRS one I link here really is the best: www.hudsonhenry.com/ats-list/#pano

Hey Henry, does this have enough muscle to handle the z9?

Hudson, assume you realign the star tracker with the laser if it has been switched off between aligning the laser and then using the tracker? Another great informative video by the way!!

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Nope. Only if you move the tripod or pan and tilt head beneath. It's all about aligning it's center of rotation on Polaris. switching it on has it rotate perfectly around that star without moving off. Alignment is unaffected by switching off and on.

Great video Hudson, as always. I don’t care if you’re talking about something I don’t really do (like in this case star track) but I always watch your videos because I know that I’m going to learn tons and you do it in such an easy-going-entertaining way it’s a pleasure. I do have a question though, although is on a different topic. Not so long ago you talked about a Leofoto light tripod set-up (LS-284CEX) with an Acratech head and I’ve been looking into that because my current set-up actually needs updating but on my research I found something by Leofoto that looks very good, it would be cheaper than your proposed kit, and it would also allow me to get the camera higher but I wanted to hear your opinion in the matter if that’s ok. The kit I found is the Leofoto Ranger LS-324C + Ballhead LH-40, I don’t know if you have experience with this but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much, greetings from Scotland!

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

I have a 324c. It's great like all the rangers. I'm not as huge a fan of the heads and clamps they do. I know they're cheaper, but I think Leofoto really started innovating and going all out on quality and real innovation with the legs. The heads and clamps should follow I hope. I've told them as much. Right now they're just not in the same class as the legs and a bit derivative of others for me.

@elmachomen

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto Thank you so much for your reply, that's really helpful. So then would you recommend that I get just the legs from the 324C and then a different head? Like I was saying before, I checked the LS-284CEX set of legs but they only reach 1.46m in height so I wanted something with a bit more reach in that sense, that's why I was considering the 324C since it gets to 1.7m in height.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Have you had a look at my links page? Www.hudsonhenry.com/atslinks

@elmachomen

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto Yeah, it's on my favourites hahaha, thanks for your help really. I can't wait to see what you share next on Approaching the Scene, keep up the good work! :)

Hi Hudson, any thoughts on the Benro Polaris ..... that is being devoloped ... it looks that will do the alignment by it's self... :-)

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

I get asked about that all the time. I really don't see that coming near to replacing either of my heads as a day to day tool. The alignment with Move Shoot Move is not hard. You do it a couple of times and it takes about 20 seconds or so. I'm willing to bet I could beat a Polaris user with the laser. I haven't tried it, but I'm skeptical about it the same way I was about Peak Design's tripod and that Arsenal dohicky. Lots and lots of effort marketing, but it just won't replace top quality, solid gear and a good brain running the setup. :-)

Very helpful! Do you think it's important to have a pan tilt head under the MSM or can I get a second ballhead?

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

I really can't imagine using a ballhead for anything but a slanted mount like the MSM, but in this case yes, I absolutely think a good pan and tilt or fluid head will make your life much simpler with the MSM. It will do that for every type of photography you practice in actuality though. I honestly can't imaging going back to a ball head. :-)

@JeffWiswell

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto great to know and thanks for the reply! I'll be ordering one tonight

Thank you so much Hudson for this video! My concern is if in the case of using Z6 or Z50 with a 70-200 2.8, does it holds the weight?

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

The Z mount is much more burly than the F mount . MUCH more. That said any of the 2.8s I've mentioned come with a tripod foot and rotating collar so the lens actually mounts and the camera hangs off it. :-)

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Oh wait, do you mean the move shoot move? No I'd point you to the iOptron sky guider pro for that. It's bigger, heavier and much harder to align, yet more precise. Move shoot move is a wide angle tool for now. I'm giving them input on a design for bigger lenses with an easier, yet more accurate alignment setup, but that's a way off.

@borocotochacha

3 жыл бұрын

Yes @@HudsonHenryPhoto, I meant the MS. Thanks for sharing knowledge!

Thanks Hudson >> What Star do you Align if you Live in S Africa - S Hemishere > Like I do ..Just ordered my 20mm f1.8 S to go with my Z7 as my 14-30 F4 is too slow for Astro. Do you recommend the Acratech Ball head over and above the Kirk BH 1 which I have had for years > I use NISI Natural Square Glass Night Filter

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Peter. The Kirk will also work. Yes I prefer the GXP, but the Kirk is a fine ball too. :) I have yet to do the southern alignment, but here is a good guide to what you're looking for. It's tougher, but you can do it. I can't wait to get down there to try myself. :) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_pole

@paulmorrall5719

3 жыл бұрын

There is no single star for the SH. You will need to use a polar scope rather than a laser (illegal here in Australia) and use the four Octans stars clear mapped for you in the polar scope. Depending on the bottle rating of the sky they can be difficult to locate at first.

With the "internal" Kase Night Filter, if you happen to forget that you have it mounted, how much impact will it have if you start shooting during the day? Will it simply give a weird colour cast or will there be more complex issues to deal with? Or, ideally will it have little to no effect in daylight?

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

It has a wee magenta blue cast. Uniform and correctable, but I'd avoid it.

@R.Hogarth

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto thanks. Normally I wouldn't deliberately leave it in, but I have been known to be forgetful at times and I would hate to lose an entire day worth of images because I had a "senior moment".

@barryobrien1890

3 жыл бұрын

I have seen reports that the focus can be a little soft at the edges with wide angle lenses and the internal filter. Not sure if this is true for Kase on the Nikon z. May be worth adding a reminder clip tag to the strap when installing so you don't forget

Good stuff Hudson. I only have a Z7, but if I also had a Z6, I'd always use my Z7 for nightscapes regardless of ISO. if you shoot both cameras at ISO 3200 then output the Z7 to match the Z6 max resolution, you will not notice any noise difference. But...as you know, the Z6 cannot easily or cleanly go larger to match the Z7 resolution. So, why use a Z6 for nightscapes when you can get the same "low noise" image with a Z7? To me, the Z7 gives more options, ( of course, this assumes you dont crop).

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

It may seem like that should be the case. I thought it might be true back when I first got the two cameras, but it REALLY doesn't play out like that in practice. The thing about the z6 sensor is that it suppresses noise so much more than the Z7, especially as you really ramp up. If all you do is Instagram and 5x7s then sure, you'll never know, but then you don't need 46MP anyway if that's all you do. To really get rid of the z7/D850 noise to print even a 16X20, you'll sacrifice a lot of sharpness and detail. I'll get better big prints every time from the cleaner high ISO z6 files, even if they are uprezzed. You have to think about how much more noise is created as the gain is turned up on a densely packed sensor full of smaller pixels (photoreceptors). How small the pixels are and how close together they are on the same size of silicone is directly related to noise performance. I try and keep my Z7 at 1600 or less. I let the Z6 regularly run to 20,000. That's why the D5 is 20mp and why Sony's A7s series sticks with 12MP. It helps them stay low light champions. High iso and high resolution are a poor match. It gets better with each generation, but the 24MP sensor will start churning out more enlargeable images at higher iso thresholds than 46MP every time. Bigger, cleaner pixels.

@RyanLunaPhotography

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto Thanks for the clarification. I saw a vid that claimed downsizing would basically yield the same "noise" all other things being equal.

The Move Shoot Move manual, what there is of it, shows the unit mounted horizontally and a ballhead on top. You have set it up to mount vertically. It seems the horizontal mount would make for less flexing on the tripod. I'm sure you've probably got a good reason why you do it this way. What is it?

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

That's showing a time lapse motion mode I would never use or recommend. The only way to use it for star rotation work is tilted the way I show. :) you can get an approximate tilt angle for your lower pan-tilt head by setting it at your location's degree of latitude. Both of the heads I showcase and recommend could hold that setup at any angle with my 500 on a pro dslr without slipping, but the msm is far too light duty for that. It's a wide angle landscape photography oriented tracker.

@rjones2994

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto Thanks for clarifying the MSM's application. I have been following the MSM users on Facebook and it appears a lot of them are trying to use the device as a deep space tracker and are frustrated by their lack of success; mounting humongous zooms, etc.

Hudson, what about interfering with airlines flying in the night with the laser? That could be extremely dangerous or did I miss something

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

It's pretty easy to see airplanes at night and avoid them. I'd never point it anywhere near. You only need to light it for 5 - 10 seconds to get aligned. Thankfully the skies aren't that full of planes that you can't avoid that. :-) Milky Way shooting would be useless if that was the case. I should note, it's not recommended to keep the laser on more than 30s as it can overheat.

@gregs2466

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto thanks and I was pretty sure you would do the right thing. Just hope everyone does it too. Love your posts and videos. Will admit I have not gotten interested in office hours so far. I wrap my tripod legs because of your input!

I use the Ioptron Sky Guider Pro

@HudsonHenryPhoto

6 ай бұрын

I have one of those too. It sits on the shelf mostly after getting the MSM. Setup and transport is so easy and for wide angle work, it's all you need. :-) The Sky Guider is awesome too though. If I use it now, I shoot the MSM's lazer through the retical so I can more easily get close to Polaris for alignment before looking through it.

@RonComstock

6 ай бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto I use the iOptron for more DSO and longer lenses because of its payload capacity of 11lbs. MSM does have an adaptor for the laser pointer that attaches to the polar scope on the iOptron which can speed up aligning for milky way type shots and wide lenses. And there is also an adaptor for my angel finder that allows attachment to polar scope that make using the polar scope for critical alignment much better. Just like having skies for sky replacement I shoot night skies in wide to have them for the same on night images when I go out to do just DSO.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

6 ай бұрын

Makes sense. I really have no interest in dso aside from looking at what web and hubble see. I don't go over 50 for what I'm passionate about. I want the Earth in it. For doing that in remote places with a pack and being nimble enough for multiple scenes in a night, MSM is unbeatable. I really only use the iOptron for my kids telescope now. :)

@RonComstock

6 ай бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto exactly, I would buy one should I be going to some far exotic location because the milky way would be different viewed there. I have a celestron 4se that is 6lbs and also mounts on the iOpton that I use as a 1300 mm lens for DSO. I'm in East TN and have a bortle 3 sky so i can do a lot from the back yard. I will be using it to track the sun for the eclipse in Apr. in the path of totality.

In Canada, it's not legal to point a laser into the sky if the power of the laser is >1mW. Particularly if you live near a city or are close to an airport. Just be careful and check your local laws.

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

I'm pretty aware at night if a plane is in the vicinity of Polaris. It takes about 15-20 seconds to align and there are plenty of gaps between planes. I think the key is to be intelligent about it.

Thanks Hudson! Great video. Ordered the Move Shoot Move last week. I can’t wait for Milky Way season. I’m using darksitefinder.com to locate ideal areas around me and fortunately I live pretty close to a dark spot. I’m particularly trying to find a farm, or vantage point to the north end of the dark spot, so I’ll have the least possible light pollution when I frame up the core in the southern sky. Hopefully I can find a nice rancher who will grant me permission to just head out when the conditions are right. So pumped!

@HudsonHenryPhoto

3 жыл бұрын

I can't wait to get back out lightpainting again with you man. That was such fun in Moab!

@jasonward2617

3 жыл бұрын

@@HudsonHenryPhoto I know! Crazy busy year. I’m not giving up on something in late summer or fall, but I’ll have to wait and see if I get an opportunity to travel. Someday hopefully soon, if not then a little later but gotta make it happen!