This is how I started out with astrophotography: the previous MSM, a full frame DSLR and a manual focus Zeiss 100mm f2 lens. Great fun! But then I wanted more, especially deep sky objects. M42, no problem, M31 already a bit trickier, M45 went well. Hey, let’s try a 200mm lens! That didn’t work out well. I spent quite a bit of loc-tite but the MSM just could not hold it. And finding objects that are not visible to the eye is really challenging. I used a method from Nico Carver with printing out star charts and using those to find objects (‘at the next bright star go slightly to the left’), but after half a year I bought myself a go-to mount as I spent too much time searching instead of photographing. I still have the MSM and use it sometimes for really wide field shots or with meteor showers. But it was a great and relatively cheap entry into this wonderful hobby.
Yeah it’s definitely not a long-term or full-time solution if you want to explore deep space Astro photography but if you want to check it out or use it as a secondary set up it’s not a bad little gadget. it allows you to take it places you can’t take a full go to mount, but can still bring your camera and tripod
This is great! I didn't even get through the entire video before I went ahead and bought one. I had literally been looking for a small secondary tracking mount earlier today. Thanks for this!
Haha glad to hear. Hopefully you found the link in the description to make it easier. If you do watch the whole thing, I find a couple of their other products helpful specifically the sharpening mask they make for lenses and they have a ball head for polar alignment I’d like to try.
This looks like it would be a great little tracker to take on those non-astro related trips along with a DSLR/mirror less camera and small tripod just in case you get the chance to image the night sky for a few hours.
I have Gen 2 version of the original Move-Shoot-Move tracker and I love it to bits for what it is. A small, portable, lightweight tracker that is ridiculously quick and easy to set up. I use it primarily for nightscapes with a DSLR and a 16-35mm lens. I get 90-120s easily that wide. Wouldn't use it for anything longer than 100/135mm, but that's not really what the tracker is primarily designed for either.
Yeah, I’m sure there are people that are getting more than I was. That’s why I said I think you can go longer than 30 seconds at 135 if you really optimized but with a nice tripod and a good polar alignment it’s a nice little piece of pocket sized gear. I had more fun than I thought I would and I’ll definitely take it with me on my first dark sky visit of the year!
This is so cool! I have a few wide angle and zoom lenses - what a neat idea for a portable set up. Thanks for more great content on both high end and less expensive equipment.
Great video! I'm trying to see if these guys willi sponsor an episode of the show as i'd like to review one of these. I've been chasing "the easiest ultra portable" tracker for as long as i've been in to AP. I've got a skyguider pro and a SA GTI, i'm not a big fan of the skyguider pro (probably should play with it more..just hate the way the counter weights work. maybe i'll set it up to use like this instead) and my GTI is used with the 135 setup. I would love something like this for widefield MW shots. I wonder if it could hold my R5 and RF L 2.8 24-70....hmmm. Oh and by the way, it's "stopping down" a lens when you go from 2.8 to 3.5, for example. Great way to sharpen up stars for sure!
@@TheAstrocast i’m sure they will. They just sent me some more accessories. I need to film part two but wanted to do it from a dark skies site. I brought it all to Mexico where I was the last couple weeks, but couldn’t convince anybody to skip a nice meal and night nightlife to go sit in the middle of nowhere with me 😂. I will say overall, it’s pretty limited in terms of what it can do. You definitely need a sturdy tripod and ideally very little wind but if you don’t have super high expectations and take it for what it is, it’s a nice add-on if you have a camera and lens laying around for a dark sky trip
@@darkrangersinc can't wait to at least give it a shot. I just love the quirkyness of these kinds of setups and it's fun to challenge yourself and see how nice of a shot you can get. I definitely would have skipped that meal, but I'm on the east coast!
Hi, I am very new to "star tracker" astro photography but I bought the Nomad in February this year. We had the worst weather possible for several months (here in the UK) but recently I got some fairly good shots with an 8mm Samyang on my Fuji X-T5. (I like manual focus lenses for astro work) but last night, just for fun I used my 100-400 @400mm on the Andromeda galaxy ISO 4000, 25 seconds at f8! with absolutely no star trail (more luck than judgement) but I really needed a darker sky to make it stand out more as the moon was just a bit too bright, but it can be done.
@@richardlawrence5683 if you have the dedication and patience you can make it happen. El Niño has made it worse than normal in the U.S. I don’t know its effects abroad but it’ll get better. If you do get really addicted to it, you can always look at putting a rig in a remote observatory. It was never something I considered until recently but once you start to think about it, it makes the most sense.
Join our growing Community for additional help and support including 1 on 1 time if needed! www.patreon.com/DarkRangersInc? Support the channel and a company that supports astrophotography for all gear related purchases Agena Astro has the best prices and fastest (free) shipping times ! agenaastro.com/?rfsn=7545037.59bc8b
@@StuartAnderton that’s impressive! I’ve since added a couple more of their accessories and want to put out a second episode here, and then not too distant future and was able to get better results. The phone polar alignment was solid but most importantly their brackets and rotational accessories are much more solid than simple ball heads, and their wedge to adjust for easily PA was nice and all of the accessories are pretty cheap. Their ultra fine Bhat. mask works great too even at wide angle
This is how I started out with astrophotography: the previous MSM, a full frame DSLR and a manual focus Zeiss 100mm f2 lens. Great fun! But then I wanted more, especially deep sky objects. M42, no problem, M31 already a bit trickier, M45 went well.
Hey, let’s try a 200mm lens! That didn’t work out well. I spent quite a bit of loc-tite but the MSM just could not hold it.
And finding objects that are not visible to the eye is really challenging. I used a method from Nico Carver with printing out star charts and using those to find objects (‘at the next bright star go slightly to the left’), but after half a year I bought myself a go-to mount as I spent too much time searching instead of photographing.
I still have the MSM and use it sometimes for really wide field shots or with meteor showers. But it was a great and relatively cheap entry into this wonderful hobby.
Yeah it’s definitely not a long-term or full-time solution if you want to explore deep space Astro photography but if you want to check it out or use it as a secondary set up it’s not a bad little gadget. it allows you to take it places you can’t take a full go to mount, but can still bring your camera and tripod
So very cool, thanks for doing these, your the online king of astrophotography now.
Haha maybe one day glad it’s helpful :)
This is great! I didn't even get through the entire video before I went ahead and bought one. I had literally been looking for a small secondary tracking mount earlier today. Thanks for this!
Haha glad to hear. Hopefully you found the link in the description to make it easier. If you do watch the whole thing, I find a couple of their other products helpful specifically the sharpening mask they make for lenses and they have a ball head for polar alignment I’d like to try.
@@darkrangersinc I did indeed use the link. I also went back later and finished watching the video. 🙂
Thanks again!
Brill - thanks. A lot to be said for such a wide-field view - and adding a narrowband filter can give amazing results!
This looks like it would be a great little tracker to take on those non-astro related trips along with a DSLR/mirror less camera and small tripod just in case you get the chance to image the night sky for a few hours.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking for a trip that you normally couldn’t bring anything. Be able to sneak one of these in your suitcase and head out
Nice review and change of pace from the full on rigs Ryan 👏🏻👏🏻🔭🌌
Thank you I thought it would be cool to mix it up! The next rig will be on the opposite end of the spectrum that’s for sure lol
I have Gen 2 version of the original Move-Shoot-Move tracker and I love it to bits for what it is. A small, portable, lightweight tracker that is ridiculously quick and easy to set up. I use it primarily for nightscapes with a DSLR and a 16-35mm lens. I get 90-120s easily that wide.
Wouldn't use it for anything longer than 100/135mm, but that's not really what the tracker is primarily designed for either.
Yeah, I’m sure there are people that are getting more than I was. That’s why I said I think you can go longer than 30 seconds at 135 if you really optimized but with a nice tripod and a good polar alignment it’s a nice little piece of pocket sized gear. I had more fun than I thought I would and I’ll definitely take it with me on my first dark sky visit of the year!
This is so cool! I have a few wide angle and zoom lenses - what a neat idea for a portable set up. Thanks for more great content on both high end and less expensive equipment.
Great video! I'm trying to see if these guys willi sponsor an episode of the show as i'd like to review one of these. I've been chasing "the easiest ultra portable" tracker for as long as i've been in to AP. I've got a skyguider pro and a SA GTI, i'm not a big fan of the skyguider pro (probably should play with it more..just hate the way the counter weights work. maybe i'll set it up to use like this instead) and my GTI is used with the 135 setup. I would love something like this for widefield MW shots. I wonder if it could hold my R5 and RF L 2.8 24-70....hmmm. Oh and by the way, it's "stopping down" a lens when you go from 2.8 to 3.5, for example. Great way to sharpen up stars for sure!
@@TheAstrocast i’m sure they will. They just sent me some more accessories. I need to film part two but wanted to do it from a dark skies site. I brought it all to Mexico where I was the last couple weeks, but couldn’t convince anybody to skip a nice meal and night nightlife to go sit in the middle of nowhere with me 😂.
I will say overall, it’s pretty limited in terms of what it can do. You definitely need a sturdy tripod and ideally very little wind but if you don’t have super high expectations and take it for what it is, it’s a nice add-on if you have a camera and lens laying around for a dark sky trip
@@darkrangersinc can't wait to at least give it a shot. I just love the quirkyness of these kinds of setups and it's fun to challenge yourself and see how nice of a shot you can get. I definitely would have skipped that meal, but I'm on the east coast!
Hi, I am very new to "star tracker" astro photography but I bought the Nomad in February this year. We had the worst weather possible for several months (here in the UK) but recently I got some fairly good shots with an 8mm Samyang on my Fuji X-T5. (I like manual focus lenses for astro work) but last night, just for fun I used my 100-400 @400mm on the Andromeda galaxy ISO 4000, 25 seconds at f8! with absolutely no star trail (more luck than judgement) but I really needed a darker sky to make it stand out more as the moon was just a bit too bright, but it can be done.
@@richardlawrence5683 if you have the dedication and patience you can make it happen. El Niño has made it worse than normal in the U.S. I don’t know its effects abroad but it’ll get better. If you do get really addicted to it, you can always look at putting a rig in a remote observatory. It was never something I considered until recently but once you start to think about it, it makes the most sense.
for this setup with roken 135, do you think it is possbile to go beyond 30 seconds exposure, say 1 minute or even longer?
this is something for me!
It’s definitely a good little piece of kit
If you use a VERTECFOTO GH-V5 geared head instead of a ball head, it will be much more fast and accurate framing
Join our growing Community for additional help and support including 1 on 1 time if needed!
www.patreon.com/DarkRangersInc?
Support the channel and a company that supports astrophotography for all gear related purchases Agena Astro has the best prices and fastest (free) shipping times !
agenaastro.com/?rfsn=7545037.59bc8b
Interesting.
Consistent
I got decent results at 200mm 20s (on grass!)
@@StuartAnderton that’s impressive! I’ve since added a couple more of their accessories and want to put out a second episode here, and then not too distant future and was able to get better results. The phone polar alignment was solid but most importantly their brackets and rotational accessories are much more solid than simple ball heads, and their wedge to adjust for easily PA was nice and all of the accessories are pretty cheap. Their ultra fine Bhat. mask works great too even at wide angle
@@darkrangersinc Yeah I have the wedge. Definitely helps. Waiting for brackets to arrive.