Wow, nice price on these! I have a Frankenstein version of this that offers the same functionality, but it's a lot more bulky/heavy.

Well done Alyn, master astro photographer, and now an inventor. Good luck with it all. 🤘🏼👍🏻

Just ordered one. Looks very well thought and built, and coming from Alyn, a teacher of many of us, will surely be very useful. Thank you Alyn.

Interesting idea, and nice to see some good engineering Alyn.

This is really neat and I'll probably order them tonight! One feature I'd like to see addressed in V2 would be a "storage" port for the 3/8 inch thread adapter - just a thread in the plate itself that you could screw in that adapter so you don't lose it in your pockets/camera bags constantly.

@AlynWallace

3 жыл бұрын

Great idea thanks!

This is awesome! I was thinking using two ball heads to fix this problem 🤣 but this is a lot more lightweight and practical 😁 Just order the V and Z and can't wait to try them 🤩

Already ordered mine 🙌🏻 Great idea to fill the tracker ballache issue I always have when aiming up. Might start using the tracker all the time now... Cheers Alyn, stay safe 👍🏻

wow, this is amazing! you the man. thanks Alyn

Wonderful production! It really takes into account the design of each detail along with the real use on field. Really impressed since it's so minimal but efficient. I might use it one day, thanks for the effort Alyn

awesome design...and just what a photographer would need...Thanks Alyn

These will be useful for macro photography too!

Wow Alyn, this could be revolutionary!

Fantastic video, Alyn! And these platforms just may be what we all need. Congratulations! 👏🏻

Congrats. Very satisfying to design exactly what you need and see it come to fruition.

Good stuff, just what I needed. Just placed my order.

Amazing work, Alyn! I have just ordered the V. Have a great day!

Excellent collaboration Alyn, you used your background engineer knowledge work with company you admire and help them to improve their product what shown how much you love of what you do and how better it could be for everyone ; )

@anitarussum4590

3 жыл бұрын

right! i love how he comes up with these ideas and acts on it. the engineers brain is always turned on:)

Congrats on the new product. Must be exciting. Just ordered the Z one. Thanks.

Thank you Alyn and MSM for your efforts in helping Astro Photography move forward with such a great yet seemingly so simple idea. 🙌🏼

Excellent Alyn had mine delivered before Christmas superb bit of kit 👍

Roll on the end of Lockdown! Cant wait to try my Z platform out - huge thanks as always Alyn

Looking forward to mine coming Alyn, ordered on Thursday 😀

Bought the Z, realized how good it is, ordered a second one. ;) Very high quality. I didn't expect this to be honest. Good work to you and your team.

Thanks Alyn, I would like to see this kit in action in the field as well. Hope to see your video about this soon. Cheers

As soon as I saw them on at the MSM site I ordered them. I have the V as the wedge and the Z on the rotator with a panning base instead of a ball head, which keeps the gear a little closer to the exact center of the rotator, reducing the moment of inertia significantly. The Z + panning base is only a little less than the 450 gram ball head I prefer, but again, the camera sits a little closer to the rotating base, which is important. I may replace that with a small leveling base to make quick Milky Way panoramas a little faster workflow. Anyway, thanks so much Alyn for your great idea and kudos to MSM for adopting it because the execution is so well thought out. It's such a great implementation. Clear skies in 2021!

Something I really needed. Thank you.

Got mine! Just need the clear skies now 👍🏻

Mine came today thank you and I like the AW logo on it too. Nice touch

Great solution to a annoying problem! Great work Alyn et al ! Wes, Liverpool, UK.

Great idea Alyn, have put in my order for a Z.

Very smart design Alyn! Great product. I have ordered 2 Z!

Really good gear Alyn 👏👍

Just ordered both. Great idea and just what’s needed. 👍

So nice to see a company take ideas directly from photographers 👍

Great explanations, something I was waiting for. My platform is already on the way 🤓

Nice one Alyn, just ordered a Z to use with my MVM if I can actually ever get out to use it! Good luck with the sales mate 👍🏻 All the best Ryan Raymond.

Ordered the Z version Alyn. Looks like a great bit of kit that has been designed someone who knows what’s needed. 👍

Nice Overview of The Star Tracker Alyn👍🔭

Thanks Alyn. My family got me the MSM tracker last Christmas and haven't had a chance to use it yet. Going up to the Big Bear Lake, CA near me to try Milky Way during the new moon in a few weeks. I ordered the Z & V pack with your discount and get free shipping so worth a shot for more options as I pretty much will be fumbling around figuring things out. Wish me luck.

Brilliant!! Ordered Mine

Excellent design Alyn. Going to order the Z now 🙂 Cheers

I bought the z platform and is great. From the hinges, levers, adapters & levels this product is genius!

Looks very helpful. Couldn't decide so I ordered both.

Just ordered one. This is something that I was looking for.

Very good design. Thumbs up!

it looks like great! i have just ordered both V and Z!

I just got my Z mount the other day, Great idea and well made

Great explanation, now I know what to order. Great implementation and great video. Thank You!!

You are amazing!!! MSM is on my list ....thank you!!!

Just received my two Z mounts. Planning to use one on my macro mounting setup to give camera tilt without the height gain that a ball head would require. If I may Alyn...one small correction. They are indeed a friction based system. The mounts do not "lock" when tightened, but the leverage from the thumb lever seems to allow enough torque on the nut to create good holding strength in the hinge.

Thank you Alyn

Niiice!! Mine will arrive next week, along with the MSM tracker!! 🤩🤩

Super cool!

@ariantoby7359

2 жыл бұрын

InstaBlaster.

Placed an order for one... help make using mounted binoculars a bit more balanced when observing near the zenith!

Just got mine yesterday. I think it’ll quickly become a valuable asset in my astrophotography arsenal. My only suggestion would be a thin rubber/neoprene type pad where it attaches to my sky guider pro. The 3/8” screw thread bottoms out before the MSMZ plate actually come into contact with the sky guider pro mount plate. Nice work overall Alyn and a reasonable price too.

Love it, order placed!

Super useful Alyn ... cheers neighbour

Excellent idea - gonna get one or both of these... nice one

Just ordered 2 x Z platforms, one for son and one for me. Awesome thanks

Genius, well done 🤘🏻

Just what I've been looking for and a reasonable price(one of each for less than £52 delivered). Hope they're as sturdy as the look, thanks Alyn!

Just ordered one because i need something compact and light for the MSM alignment. I planned to use a video head but i realized there's too much stuff in my backpack. And this Z mount is way cheaper than an equatorial head so... cannot wait to test it!

I had this very same issue last year, what a game changer piece of equipment, I'll definitely be buying this! Edit: Just pre-ordered mine!

That looks great! I have a MiniTrack LX3 and I have problems pointing my camera to certain regions in the sky, so this might be the solution. I thought it was probably too expensive for my tight budget, but I went to the product page anyways and wow, I could get both for the price limit I set myself! Can't wait for them to arrive, but I'm "afraid" they arrive long before the next clear sky...

@sabrinam.8387

3 жыл бұрын

Still waiting for my order to be shipped. Got a tracking number last week and it's still not shipped. Quite disappointing. I trust you so I'm sure I'll get them one day, but it's frustrating when you get an email saying it's on it's way when it's not...

Just order Z bracket👌 I hope it will have enough payload for my panorama setup. Now i am using Sirui L20s, for leveling my pano setup above tracker, but it is a bit heavy and big. Good work💪

Glad someone finally realized there is a problem and designed a commercially available solution. I had to design and have one made from metal myself.

Love this stuff Alyn! Ordering mine now 😁 Diolch yn fawr

Brilliant idea!! Well done son.

Z platform is fantastic, you can save some weight by replacing your Ballhead and L Bracket and still be able to put your camera in a vertical orientation. Also, you can use it as a panoramic head for a single row pano with no parallax effect!

And here I expected to see it priced at $200 like a RRS bracket would be. I'm so impressed that you all market this at a reasonable price for what it is!

@AlynWallace

3 жыл бұрын

Making astrophotography easier and more accessible comes before profit. Glad you think the price is reasonable :)

I am always looking to be able to do more with my camera support. One thing that’s always been a challenge is getting a camera really low to the ground while still having full control. Even low profile ball heads aren’t really low, but a V platform is.

Can’t wait to get my Z platform... this solves so many problems.

Take my money, just take it all... I'm ordering all the things!

That is amazing, Alyn!! I’ll definitely be getting one of each. I reached out to MSM about solutions for allowing us to photograph in vertical/portrait mode without the camera slipping out of tightness - do these address that challenge?

I bought the V and Z platform, I like it, very sturdy, light weight and easy to lock. However for Polar alignment and lock it precisely with the laser or the scope is a not that easy. Don't get me wrong, you can still do it, but I think a tilt & pan head would be better suited. I ordered the one from MSM. But still I have great uses for V and Z. They are well made.

Can't wait to get my Z.

Thanks alyn, small little question, when you have the Platform leveled, do you still need to level your tripod?

There is also another location for arcaswiss plate on MSM. Solves that problem partially.

Hi Alyn, I bought both the V and Z platforms on preorder. They make the move shoot move so much easier. One question on Panorama’s - would you do a video on doing one using these as I’m still not sure if I should correct for the rotation after a tracked shot before rotating slightly?

@AlynWallace

3 жыл бұрын

It's on my list to do in the next 1-2 months

Alyn this looks great. I am using a star adventurer 2i and a manfrotto x pro ball head. Would this work with this or is it only compatible with the MSM tracker? Ps which indexing rotator do you use to simplify overlaps in the dark?

Nice job. Just ordered one because it's cheaper for me to buy than to make it. FYI the large thread is pronounced three eighths not three over eight.

Ordered a V platform ! Perfect to replace a syrp tilt platform which is sooo expensive.

THANKYOU...

I have been searching for something like this. Perfect! How do I then connect the Z tracker to my camera with a L bracket?

I wish I had seen the V mount used as a equatorial wedge before I bought the second ballhead for the same purpose. That cuts down on my weight and packing issues even more, not to mention a most stable platform. Oh well, I guess I just have an extra ballhead to put on a spare tripod.

Well well well, guess I'm gonna be watching this tonight!

Thanks Alyn! I have purchased other Zmounts that use allen key to tighten and it doesn't hold strong enough, allen key no good, maybe Alyn is the key, LOL. Just ordered this from MSM with preorder discount, any idea when they will begin shipping these?

Thanks so much for this Alyn, just order the Z Platform. Have tried other Z mounts just like you pointed out, have always been puzzled by the absence of a straight forward and robust locking system. Interesting to see it used as an equatorial mount, how easy do you find it to acquire alignment with this versus something like the Benro 3 geared head?

@AlynWallace

3 жыл бұрын

Alignment with the geared head will be easier and more precise but with a steady hand the V and Z are great

love innovation, freedom

BRILLIANT 👍🏻

Hi mate. I am considering this for use in Australia for astrophotography. I am comparing against the much more expensive ioptron skyguider pro with ipolar. My main concern is getting accurate polar alignment. Do you think with the phone mount for msm that you can get accurate alignment here is the Southern Hemisphere or do I need to spend more and get the ipolar?

So do you do the polar alignment through the camera, not using a laser pointer?

These basically replace a ball head below and above the MSM tracker, Right!!! I have two Z arriving. Can you do a video with a tripod (no ball head) with a leveling center post (faster leveling) with a arca swiss plate then a Z or V plate then the MSM tracker then a Z or V plate but then for multi level panos the L frame pano assembly. I currently just use a fluid head with center leveling and do a 180 deg two level, using a 20mm just 5 shots across and 2 horizontal and 5s a shot maybe a minute total. Yes the stars move (or earth) like the moon and sun their diameters every +/- two minutes. The galactic center season starts here at the 30 deg Feb 11th for a cold early morning so daytime practice is on going. With all you use when out, you are a mule for sure, congrats on the inventions and sales. May travel this year be easier!!!!

instead of a wedge i would go for a z platform i suppose. seems like a cool solution as a ball head as well👍

Excellent

Do you recommend a V & Z or two Zs? Also, is the ball head necessary if using Z platform?

Hello Alyn, this might be a dumb question, so apologies! You are talking about correcting the rotation of the v/z mount when it reaches a certain point. I presume you only do that when you have stopped shooting a particular sequence, as if you move it back to centre, you would be changing your composition. Thank you

@AlynWallace

2 жыл бұрын

When doing a panorama you change your composition every shot. After a while, the rotation from the star tracker causes the platform to no longer be level with the horizon so you can easily reposition it so that it stays level

@JulianDay483

2 жыл бұрын

@@AlynWallace Thank you very much, I was not thinking of it in the context of a panorama! Hopefully, I will get to try the move shoot move soon. I have had it for 5 days, and not a clear night sky yet!!

What happened to that space station flying over the moon shot? I can't find it anymore...

Tried to set up my camera for the first time on the MSM and immediately found an issue in having the camera be level espectially if pointing N... Wish I had seen these plates when I initially ordered the MSM ordered 1 of each and can't wait to test em out. It will be so nice to have a star tracker that I don't have to counter weight. I love my iOptron but it's such a pain to lug into landscape photo locations with its counter weight and all

How you do tighten this to the MSM without turning the whole motor assembly , just got mine and I want it snug and tight but it wants to turn the whole device around