John, thanks for a great review. I just got my system as a gift from my kids and can't wait to try it out. You provided some excellent hints and suggestions - the loc tight!!!! I wanted to share is that I have emailed MSM a couple of times with questions and their customer service was amazing - answered within 12 hours with great detail and once even a photo!!!!!
Your review of the MSM is spot on as I have experienced the same challenges. Mounting your gear on it has to be dead center or on the tighten side of the thread. The wedge is also a must have with a rotating base for fine adjustments. I'm in the northern hemisphere so using the laser pointer for polar alignment has been easy. It's a great lightweight tool for basic Milky Way photos and time-lapse panos. Looking forward to more images from you using the MSM. Thanks for another informative video. Mahalo and Aloha.
That's a great balanced review John. I think a lot of people buy this tracker based on price and portability .... but as you well know, that's only part of the total picture. Usability becomes so important when using tracking mounts. Also payload is something a lot of people underestimate. Good stuff mate.
Thanks John, great review. I got a MSM for Christmas and have been playing around with it in the back yard getting ready for the Milky way season, if the clouds ever clear! Was initially having trouble with polar alignment but have a perspex mount now for the phone. It is working better than the MSM one. Loc tight is a good suggestion. Will buy some!
Hi John, great review. I bought one of these last year and initially was a bit frustrated with it, especially polar aligning and with mounting my R5 and some of the heavier zoom (like my 15- 35 2.8). However once I had worked out a lot of the quirks and teamed if with my RP (nice and small) and a 35 ml prime I found it was a great option. Could just shove it in the bag and set it up anywhere I hiked to. Got great use out of it in the Flinders ranges last year. Won't replace my Ioptron tracker, but a great mobile option and worth a look (as long as you invest a bit of time and get some loctite, :-) )
Thankyou John for your video and comments.Being new to Astrophotography have ordered and awaiting delivery of my MSM tracker.Will arm myself with Loctite ahead of any problems.John
Great Review John. Purchased the MSM a few months back. Bit of a rush order as I got the laser pointer, when I should have ordered the phone polar addons. Still can't believe how small it is. As you said the biggest flaw is the ball mount kept coming off with heavy payloads. Got the MSM so I could do panoramas whist my Star-adventurer could track DSO all night on its own. But I always give up on the MSM and run right back to the SA. Still need more practice. Might try the glue method you mentioned. Would be keen to see images youve taken from the MSM.
Thanks mate, the image I showed in the video was captured using the MSM. Which is ova on my insta. It's been really windy lately so I have been using the old TANK aka star adventurer,
John loved your review concise and easy to understand. I've been contemplating a fix to the way things can so easily unscrew by installing a pin onto star tracker. Seems to me drilling a hole where the rotator threads meet the larger plate is ideal. A pin in that position would lock the plate to the rotating shift. The purpose of the pin is to lock the bracket holding the camera in place without the need to use locktite or some wrench and exert extra force to tighten things down.. I'm pondering how many pin holes would be minimal on the bracket to compensate for the new position of the pin as the rotator turns the pin to a new position.I've used an improvised "L" aluminum bracket but like how the "Z" bracket works and may get that. Hope in communicating my ideal clearly to make sense here. One goal for me is to make all of this work well enough to mount the new Mak 90 telescope with a Nikon Z6 safely (and with minimal stress on the MSM Tracker. The payload is within the 3 kg capacity at 2.7kg so I'm not certain how well this will work out. : )
Thanks mate, a pin that locks could work, it's just a bit disappointing that you buy a mount that you have to modify to work well, the easiest option for a setup with a small scope is to go a star adventurer mount, but if your set on the MSM, they have a Facebook group with all sorts of fixes for common issues.
Great and Honest Review! Never put a pano rig on the top Z mount, TOO High. When using the phone mount for polar aligning take your phone protector off, it may have magnetic particles in it also use Photopills Spot Stars to calibrate your phone with the moon in VR mode - I never knew why all my other apps were off. I also have a stepper attached to the top of the Z mount but have a parallax slider on top and use the Z mount up and down adjustment for multi rows. The use of non permanent loctite great. Also use Arca Swiss mounts on bottom of bottom V mount to mount any tripod. Put on glow in dark tape to the levers I found to be great I saw somewhere. Lastly pack a pair of pliers to tighten and loosen levers and wide tip stubby screwdriver. What is not anywhere is Long Exposure panos how to's also the math - If you have to or not have to use the NFT accurate SS and then count all full stops to 1 min or more or just start at 30 sec and count full stops. Do you leave it on top while doing the entire 200 + degree pano is done say start from one side as it rotates to the other side as you pan right to left.
Right on, John. I too had the z plate spin and unscrew from the MSM several times. It seemed like I was wasting time trying to get the panorama shots before clouds came. So I took the MSM off to get some shots. I agree: design flaw. I'll try lock tight in a couple weeks.
Thank you for your review. I just received my MSM and found your discussion about the screw helpful. I’m curious whether you used the “permanent” Loctite or the removable version?
Good review John I’ve had mine approaching a year now and I got it for hiking. Quick question John for panoramas you obviously have the Z plate level but when you move your ballhead by 30% for overlap do you re-level the Z plate as obviously it will have moved from the horizontal?
....Good review Thankyou for taking the time.I think the advertising to the msm is a total come in spinner this easy...but its not...when i rcvd mine i took one look at it and said nup...not for me...too complex,too fiddly,buy this & buy that to go with it...there is too many variables with this device that will go wrong which is what you have confirmed with me....i think the user experience...is not really all that good.Sent mine back & will invest in something that takes a little more than 3kgs and wont fall off.
I dont know if you carry a notebook with you. If you do, I recommend to get an asi120 and sharpcap for exemple. Polar aligment with high accuracy in a minute.
The biggest issue is the thread that goes into the unit coming undone, you can use loctite to fix it, I'm not sure what hemisphere your in but polar alignment can be a pain without the wedge base for it.
Thanks for the video my friend. I want to ask you a few questions and make a request: did you sell your other tracker? Are you just using a move shoot move tracker now? Finally, if you have any new experiences about move shoot move, we would be pleased if you could share them with us.
Its small, but not lighter or cheaper than other famous tracker.. if you count an equatorial wedge and polar scope is above 1kg.. just like skytracker.. and skytracker have scope built in and wedge included. M.s.m full kit - that provide stuff other tracker have included - cost 380$ plus sending... The battery last just for 1 hour at 0°celsius.. the ball head - or wath else - it has to be screwed on rotator itself - while other have a ferrule - and strive directly on internal gears.
Its not a great product. I've had mine since release and never got the Southern Hemisphere phone mount. Made my own, which msm don't like because it's way cheaper than their inaccurate one.
