Thanks again. I've shot many Pano over the years but never with a tracker. I have a shinny new tracker now and your advice is so helpful. I'm hoping to give it a try in about two weeks.
Jesus John only your second video and I'm hooked! Some great advice and delivered in a great way. I'm looking forward to future uploads and learning more. Best of luck with the channel.
Well after viewing and searching all over youtube, you have the best explanation of how to use a tracker for the Milky Way Pano. I've watched numerous videos and NOBODY explains the fact that you need to re-adjust the camera before moving to the next section of the Milky Way. Great job and clear skies.......
Thanks so much for sharing. I already have Alyn Wallace's Z and V brackets (thankfully I bought two Z's last summer). I also shoot with a Star Adventurer tracker and am looking forward to giving this a try at the end of the month when I have two nights under a Bortle 2 sky (I live in a Bortle 6). Clear skies!
Came straight from the MSM Facebook group post and it was worth it. You sure have a sub from me. Waiting for more uploads and the opportunity to learn more. Thanks.
Great video my friend. I just did my first pano last night of the Milky way. That was alot of fun. Today your talking about tracking pianos. You just blew my mind, your photo are total major league. The one that has Orion and Milky Way in the same photo. Amazing. Keep doing what your doing your channel will friggin go Super Nova.
This is a great video! I definitely have been wanting to change my setup but my only concern is the v platform attached to the ballhead attachment. I get I could polar align then attach the rest above like you do here but, I don't want to risk knocking off my alignment and then not knowing until after I photograph if I have a good alignment. I'd rather be able to see through the polar scope to double check after I have my camera attached. Of course this would only be a concern for me when shooting with a 50mm where it counts a little more than lets say a 14mm.
Hi John, awesome video. First question, do you turn the tracker off each time you level for the next shot? Secondly, what clamp is that you use to secure the camera? Thanks
Hey John, nice video, it is really interesting seeing someone put a video together that is almost exactly the same as the process I figured out myself. I always had a problem with olde cheaper z brackets and have just solved the problem the same way with the MSM v and z brackets purchased a couple of months ago. Just waiting for Milky Way season to get underway here in Canada!
Amazing video. Thanks so much John for sharing. I was struggling to find good advice on how to shoot tracked panos but you've absolutely nailed it. Agree too that for panos ballheads seem like a nightmare of imprecision. I've just bought another z bracket so that I can have a similar setup to what you've got. I also have a nodal slide rail and wonder whether that will be useful or not? (I'm still waiting for my gear to arrive in the post and to get a chance to put it to the test).
Hi John, thanks for the precious advices! I didn't understand one thing: should I reset the position of the camera and set it on level after every shot for a multi row panorama like you are doing in a single row?
Excellent video, thanks for such a clear explanation. I already have a V bracket, do you think I can combine V + Z or would you believe Z + Z is better?
Great video Mate! Was wondering how to do Panos with a tracker like that! Was the foreground also a pano? Do you incorporate the foreground in the pano shooting process or just blend it separately in post?
This is the best video to show how to use the Z brackets. Now I get it. This looks far superior to using a ball head on top of the Z bracket. Your keeping the center of gravity over the middle of the tracker with this method. When I'm shooting with my ball head on top of the Z bracket and shooting to the east or west I have too much weight off center which is pulling against the tracker.
Rewatching this vid again & again trying to prep for the upcoming season…can I ask, what arca Swiss adaptor plate do u use between the z-bracket & the l-bracket of ur camera. It looks very solid & sturdy & everything I’ve purchased thus far just makes me nervous because it’s always coming loose….this is an awesome vid & would love more like this to better understand in the field how to do tracked panos 👍
In the UK, we get max 2 hours of mw, I used to do r to l and bk to the start, but they often didn't match, so I find zigzag helps me keep it overlapped enough. If I'm doing stack track I do 3 images approx 1 min each, and if using a longer focal length like a 35 mm, it takes much longer because of the overlap, so will probably only manage one composition single or possibly a double row pano in on night...... And that depends on if my intervalometers play ball, or go off on their own agenda
It must be hard living there with the limited night, the way I do my panos works for where I live but it totally makes sense to mix it up to suit the location. I too only normally get one image per night doing big panos at longer focal lengths... the price we pay
Hi John, Love your video mate! .. One of the best videos to show how to do tracked panos .. Needed a link to purchase that z platform (the same exact model in your video) if you don't mind .. I'm in Sydney NSW
Great video. Thanks for sharing these tips, which most of the time are not clarified by astrophotographers. Do you intend to test the Benro Polaris? A hug from Brazil.
Great video and super informative mate keep it up, would love to get some info on what gear you use just to have a look around at what may or may not work for myself cheers 👍🤙🏼
Hi John, nice meeting you at Catho last night. That is one great instructional video I'll go back to again and again. Hope you got something nice at Catho 😁
Thanks for this video and the previous one. I was shooting stacked panoramas last year and want to try tracked panos this year. Regarding your comments on where to begin: in the Northern hemisphere the MW is low and horizontal at the beginning of the core season so do you recommend I begin shooting at the top right (East) panel? Cheers
@@johnrutterphotography I’m in Thailand John. The western side of the MW rises up and the eastern end stays planted. Normally I start top left and zig zag but I won’t zig zag next time. Coordinates of my next shoot are these: 15.8000999, 105.3945819. Cheers for your help mate!
I had a look at the movement if I was shooting it, I would start top left (north east) so your not chasing the core. the milkyway will rise as you shoot down
@@johnrutterphotography cheers. That’s what I usually do but zigzag. I’ll do it the way you suggest next time and shoot each row from the left. Cheers again 🍻
Thanks for the video, well done. I have a question with 3,4 min exposures and iso around 800, have you shot at lower than F2.8, like 1.4-2.0, keen on your thoughts when tracked? Cheer
Hey Alan, I haven't shot wide open, as one of the benefits of tracking is having the ability to stop the lens down to improve its performance. I won't shoot wider than 2.8
Hi! Great tutorial! Thank you for providing! I have a question though.. Do you shoot multiple exposures for the same frame with a tracker, or just one? Does it help stacking tracked images even shot at low iso? Can you get more detail with multiple exposures stacked? Thanks again! :)
Hi mate, I only take one image per frame, of course it's possible to stack multiple frames per panel, but when shooting 3 minute exposures and needing 50+ images you can see that it would take a really really long time if stacking per frame, and I have found 1x3 minute exposures per panel better than 3x1 minute exposures stackes
Just 3 videos but I'm totally hooked on your channel John! Quick question; when you show how you level your setup after each shot, you move the Star-tracker clutch and relevel from there. Do you turn the tracker off every time you want to relevel? Also, later in the video you show how you can use the base Z bracket sideways to level your camera. Is there any reason to level using the tracker instead of the Z bracket? Thanks mate and keep more videos like this coming please!
You can either loosen the clutch and level with the tracker, or of you have a Z bracket you can use that too. I would just say if you use the clutch, don't tighten it up so much that you struggle to undo it, that's a sure wat to knock your mount off alignment.
@@johnrutterphotography That's one of the reasons why I was asking. I haven't tried the 2 Z brackets method but, on paper it'd make more sense to me to relevel directly from the Z bracket. That way you don't have to turn the tracker off or risk throwing off your polar alignment when you need to level. Did you find any advantage of adjusting the level loosening the clutch?
Apart from your awesome video. I have problem with my L Bracket comes loose (unscrewed) while my camera is tracking star on Protrait orientation. Could you tell me what is the model of your L bracket you are using in combination with star tracker? Thanks
Nice presentation for shooting MW panos! I am using 2L brackets with pano head under camera for leveling and rotator heads with degrees index for rotating camera left-right, up-down...in this way i am much faster and dont need to contantly look on my lcd for good overlaping...Also found that my setup is more stable then with MSM z bracket...i only have one question for you. Do you relevel your tracker after each exposure, or do you leave tracker and camera untuched...because, lately i do not relevel tracker ( if i am shooting without stacking multiple-exposure ) and in this way i capture still night sky image. What is your way? Thank you, and keep uploading video, nice start!🤟✨
Aloha John......thanks for an informative video. I've ordered the Z and V plates and been waiting a few weeks.....still waiting. What star tracker are you using? Mahalo and Aloha.
Hey John, thank you so much for the info! I need to level up the camera after very shot! (sound dumb isn't it? I am pretty new to the tracker 'MSM' please excuse me.)
One more question. I just bought to Z brackets but then realized I don;'t have any way to attach my camera's L-bracket. What is the area-type clamp you have mounted on top of your upper Z bracket? Without that I must use a Ball hard, which I don't want to do. Thanks.
Would you recommend doing a 4-5 shot pano with a 20mm or 24mm of the sky and then switching lenses to do another 4 shot pano of the ground with a 14mm, and then combining both those panoramas? Or would that be too complicated to do?
You can definitely do that, I have done that before to speed up the time it takes to do the foreground, you will just have ro get the scale right in photoshop so they match back up
When you level back up your camera after tracking one after another , How you know your camera is back levelled? Use the levelling line built in the camera? Thanks
Hi John . I wanna star shooting panaramas with the tracker but theres is one thing that I still dont understand. I have to set de camera in a horizontal position shoot and track and then re frame every single shot?
@@johnrutterphotography perfect. Thanks. So shoot, releve in the horizontal plane and keep ok shooting. Now the other question is, it's better estar from right to left? Thinking in the case that the western part of the sky goes down earlier. Am I right?. Thanks again budy.
It wasn’t clear but I presume you are also shooting a separate panorama of the ground with the tracker turned off to prevent the ground from blurring, then layering and masking it in later. Look forward to seeing your processing tutorial. Cheers, from Canada.
Sorry for the confusion, but that's correct, I include lots of foreground in the tracked sky shots so I can line up the untracked foreground and mask it in.
Hi can you show me the links of your material to attach the machine to the tracker? I use the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mini, a sigma 14mm f1.8 art and a canon EOS R &, my equipment is heavy
As soon as you mentioned 4,5,6 houes , I had to pause the vid & check Photo Pills for my area. Ithought it was about 3- 3 -1/2 hrs the MW would be showing. It is about 5 hrs. Great . Gives lots to think about. I'm going to watch your editing vid but, am guessing it takes a while to blend all the images. Hope my computer doesn't sieze up on me.
@@johnrutterphotography Near the new moon this month & last month on the days a I had available to do so was cloudy & rainy. I never shot the MW before. Expecting rainy off & on T-storms for the next 3 days starting tomorrow. See what the sky looks like tonight. The only place maybe dark enough near me is abaout2hrs south from where I live. Happy shooting.
Hi John, I just come back to see this video again. “As the camera has moved due to the tracker , we can level it back up “ How often do we have the level the camera back up while we are shooting? Every single shot? Or Once a row ? Thanks
Hey mate, every few minutes I re level. So if I'm shooting 3 minute exposures I re level after each frame, if I were shooting 1 minute exposures I'd re level after 3 or 4 images
When we pan up or down for pano , we just do the oppisite direction of thr Milky Way. For example, Milky way is rising up , so we can start pan down from the top of the sky to the bottom, That means we gonna get at least more than 50% overlap, which is not a problem when stitching , Am I right? Just for you to clarify my thoght Cheers
When I start a new row, I refer to the first image from the previous row and get a 50% overlap using a bright star or part of the milkyway for reference
You say you're using "two Z Brackets" but it looks like you have a V bracket connected to the tracker, then a Z bracket connected to the V bracket with the camera attached to the Z bracket? Am I seeing that correctly?
Couldn't you just create a mosaic to be your panorama, and have it all controlled by NINA framing assistant or ASIAIR etc. That way its all automatic, just like doing deep sky?
The issue you run into is plate solving such a wide field of view, I've found anything wider than 85mm won't plate solve so it can't be done like deep sky
I don't understand, if you align the tracker with the North, in this Z-shaped shoe you will have the machine towards the North too, so how do you turn the machine to start making the milky way panorama? I would be grateful if you could tell me the links for me to buy your material, Z bracket and which shoe to put on top that you use? How do you put the Z shoe on the skywatcher? any piece?
The z bracket swivels so you can shoot any direction, I got it off the move shoot move website. It attaches to the tracker with the ball head adapter that comes with the skywatcher
Awesome video and wonderful results! I do have a question, what kind of hardware are you using in your PC? Ram, CPU, GPU and disks? My images are getting into the few GIG size and my machine dies!! LOL Any advice would be great! Thanks again and keep 'em coming!