I know it's been two years since you recorded this but you're a life saver! I just got the Z8 You are my definite favorite person to work along with.. You explain and speak so well. Astro is my passion and I hope you keep putting up more information for the Z8! and night photography tips. Thank you so much for your work.

I've been using that "Remember last focus setting" feature with my Z cameras, and didn't know (with that option OFF) that the camera automatically went to infinity focus. So easy! Thank you!

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

No problem Mike!

You can add to your second tip - Use manual focus, but activate the focus peeking on level 3 and red, use the viewfinder rather than the live view, then as you mentioned, zoom with the + button on a super bright star, and rack focus to get the most precise red dot.

Yea! Just sub Finally Nikon Z tips and tricks… I am planning on starting soon with some Astro photo

Thank you sir!! Very helpful.

@willchaneyphoto

29 күн бұрын

You are welcome!

Great info! Thank you 😀

Thanks Will, Will use that trick at my next night shoot!

Thank you for this video.

I love to learn something new every day, thank you.

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

My pleasure!

Thanks Will!

Great tip thanks.

Very useful tip. Thank you.

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped!

Thanks for the tips, haven't tried stars with my Z6II yet...this summer is the plan! :)

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

You’ll be hooked! If you can get out this weekend or next to a dark sky the moon won’t be in your way if you go after sunset.

When focusing on Jupiter, if you can see the moons, it's in focus. Also, faint stars. You can also get a Bahtinov mask to sit on front of the lens - when viewing a bright star, this produces a diffraction pattern you can use to set focus.

Nice job!!!

@willchaneyphoto

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

Thanks Will! I will have to try it the next time I am doing astrophotography.

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

Let me know how it goes! I recently shot on a Z7II and it worked great with that one too.

@jesusserrano7463

7 ай бұрын

@@willchaneyphotoI’m using a Nikon z30 but I can’t take pictures to the moon. They look super ugly

@willchaneyphoto

7 ай бұрын

@@jesusserrano7463 are they out of focus? Feel free to dm me on on IG and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s going wrong

Very useful! I have struggled to do that with my Z6ii. Please clarify my understanding. 1. Switch on my Z6ii in Auto (with save last focus off). 2. Switch to M mode. 3. Aim at the star I want to photo (no need to focus as it is already on infinity). Correct? Thanks. The stars in the galaxy will thank you for sharing this simple trick so that more people can enjoy astro photo!

simple lol thanks

Hey Will, thanks for this video. I have the Nikon Nikkor 20mm 1.8 S for my Z7 and I cannot get it to infinity focus on the stars. I have made sure that the remember last focus position setting is set to off. No matter what I do, my stars are out of focus, and need a lot of adjustment to get into focus manually. I've followed your steps to the T. Any other ideas? I just got this lens so it's brand new. I wonder if I have a bad copy? It takes good, sharp images otherwise. Thanks, Aaron.

"Save focus position > OFF". I actually knew this. While this worked the first five times I turned on the camera, it doesn’t work anymore. Tips? I’m pretty sure I didn’t touch any settings that would override this.

Thank you for the information. I didn’t know what last focus option is and that it should be off and that the Z camera with the Z lens automatically goes to infinity this is great for astro!!! BTW any advise on the Z9 in the astro space?

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

The z9 should take great astro shots. It’s got some cool low light focus features. If all goes as planned, I’ll have a detailed review of it up by the end of April. I’ll have my hands on one the first two weeks of April to take out shooting!

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

Anything in particular you want to know about it?

@luciamaresca3693

2 жыл бұрын

@@willchaneyphoto Thank you

Thanks for this interesting video Will. Your picture of Orion Nebula at 4'40" is really gorgeous...!!! Could you please give me your setup? I've tried the same with a Nikkor AF-S 200-500 and a Z7II but the result is not so good. I know that the Z6 is better in low light, but your result is way better from mine...

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

I have a sigma 150-600mm, an iOptron Skyguider Pro tracker, and a Z6. That's what I used for those photos. I shot around 100 frames or more, 10 darks, 10 flats, and 10 bias. I'm lucky that I live just outside a large metro area so my skies are slightly darker, although still pretty bright. For the editing technique, I followed along with Astrobackyards beginner tutorial kzread.info/dash/bejne/Z3ub1NeTXZTggZM.html Hope that helps! Sorry it's taken me a bit to reply.

stars are not sharp at infinity but at a point right before infinity. use a bahtinov mask with a tele

@davidletz9123

3 ай бұрын

Agreed. I tested this ad-nauseum on my Z6ii, and the stars, although round, were not quite in focus. I had to tweak the focus manually just a tad to get sharp focus.

How do you capture using the 150-600mm lens ? I means tracked using any tracker. Shot is really amazing. I have Z6 and started exploring but wanted to using this lens for taking deep sky shots.

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

Yea, it’s tracked. I use a iOptron Sky Guider pro with lots of frames stacked. It’s about the max weight you can put on that tracker.

Is this the same for the kit lens that come with my Nikon Z6 mark 2

I wounded after you freeze the focus in manual… Did you check with a Bahtinov mask?

I noticed with Z glass, it is very hard to see the stars in the live view while composing your image, however, with adapted F glass, this is completely different although same settings. Any idea on this?

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

I'll have to pay attention to that next time I go out. If anything I've probably noticed they are hard to see, but when I've zoomed in on the live display more seem to pop-up. Even just zooming in one or two clicks on the zoom buttons. What I normally do for composing is shoot at the highest ISO and take like a 1 or 2 second shot. I'll get the couple of bright stars that I can see on the live view about where I think I need them. I'll do that until I get the comp I want and then adjust to the settings I need for the actual photos.

@gooddad11

Ай бұрын

The starview on the Z8/Z9 is amazing.

I've seen some mention on KZread and FB groups about an issue with noise or clutter on the LCD in low light such as shooting the Milky Way. Have you noticed this issue ?

does this apply to z5o as well?

Hi, I use Z7 II, in darkness the screen is very noisy not as yours in the video. Do I need to setup the screen?thanks

@willchaneyphoto

Жыл бұрын

It’s kind of hard to say why. It could be a by product of me shooting the video with another camera that wasn’t the best? Maybe it wasn’t showing all of the noise. Because I can definitely say my display can get pretty noisy in low light scenarios. It could also be that those shots were taken in some heavier light pollution than the darker skies we usually shoot the Milky Way under. The only other thing I can think of is that was on a Z6 which does slightly better in low light, but when I used a Z7 II back in April I didn’t notice any difference on the displays. Wish I could be of more help!!

@Wyn758

Жыл бұрын

@@willchaneyphoto thanks for your reply. I've already sorted out this issue by custom setting d9.

This easiest way doesn't work for me. I tried it in daylight, focusing on a distant tower, and the autofocus was always better than the default focus when the Z8 turns on. I have the focus-remember feature turned off, and I'm using the 14-30 F4 Z lens. To be sure, the focus for a wide shot of the stars is probably adequate either way, but I also found that the depth of field is smaller with the turn-on focus, which is to say foreground elements are in better focus when autofocus is used on the distant tower.

Can you do the same with the Z5?

@ericredelman2568

5 ай бұрын

Yes, but to be fair all you do is spin the focus ring and it will hit infinity and show the symbol. This is a neat trick though

In autofocus my picture didn't capture anything but darkness using my Z5 with 24-70 mm z lens

@willchaneyphoto

Жыл бұрын

What settings did you use? Exposure, aperture, and ISO?

Was this new to you?

@wolfgangwhyte5571

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, dude - I did not know that :) Subscribed!

@jamesdonald2240

2 жыл бұрын

That will save some time. Thanks!

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

@@wolfgangwhyte5571 appreciate it!

@willchaneyphoto

2 жыл бұрын

@@jamesdonald2240 no problem!

@NikCan66

2 жыл бұрын

Excellent information

Not all Z Cameras I guess, it's not on my Z50

@klee9016

7 ай бұрын

I'm trying to figure this out on my new Z30 as I want to shoot the full moon tonight. I bought the 50-250 lens and I'm trying to figure out the proper calibration for this infinity mode. According to author the camera is already in Infinity normally. BTW, while many have complained about the flippy screen that other Z's then the 30 and fc have, I have just discovered the benefit. I suppose I could stand in front of the with the flippy screen flipped but that seems quite impractical.

Easiest way to focus, buy a Canon R5

Sorry to disagree with this clever statement which it is Partially true... Yes the lens automatically goes to the middle of the infinity mark of the lens but this is NOT the point for Star Focusing as when I focus with the Z9 and the Z105 or the Z14-24, I haven't try my Z24-70, WITH the LONELY SPECK focusing filter, Sharpstar2 (Google it), I need to turn the lens abit to the left of the Infinity center to achieve fine focus...

@dominiclester3232

Жыл бұрын

Er, ignoring this menu setting are you saying perfectly focussed stars happen when the central spike is not at dead centre? Just out of interest; I have several Bahtinov masks.

@JimHarris-fc3ty

Жыл бұрын

This has been my experience too. Turning the camera on does indeed focus at infinity, but it's not a perfect focus. The infinity focus is noticeably better with slight additional manual focusing, which to me obviates the value of this easy approach to focus on stars. Maybe tuning the lens focus at infinity could correct this? Haven't tried that.