Its always good to be in nature under the stars Kim. Good report and intersting story, well told. Thanks and stay healty ;-) You could also use a blur filter to pump up the stars.....best regards Jörg
Hi Kim. Fun to watch your journey in astrophotography. Some thoughts from someone who is a bit over a year into a similar journey. First, the best solution I know of to deal with lens condensation is a lens heater. They are very inexpensive and easy to use: several available on Amazon. Second, I think I heard you link the benefits of stacking to dark skies and hence higher ISO and noise. A related benefit of stacking is the ability to use much shorter exposure times, and so avoid or reduce the star trails that blur the stars. Finally, I've learned that in recent years there has been a lot of new thinking on many of the key technical issues. Many popular books, blogs, and RUclips tutorials from just a couple of years ago no longer represent best practice. The most useful up-to-date guide I have come across so far is "Night Sky Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results" by Adam Woodworth (2021). Hope this helps. Good luck with your journey.
another cracking video Kim , you certainly like your astrophotography , keep at it great work, dont know if you know about the hand warmer tip ,got some hand warmers fro the local garden centre cheap ones £3 for 3 wrap them one around your lens in a sock to stop the misting up on cold nights
Kim, I was out four nights ago going after M42. I use a 70 - 300mm lens. Everything was going well, then the mozzies turned up!. The filter looks good. Thanks once again for your great images.👏🇳🇿
Nice little episode. I really like the way that you are solving the problem of creating episodes in low light and I'm learning quite a bit by watching your lighting techneque outside in the dark. Along with your NiSi filter, similar results can be achieved with a Tiffin Pro Mist filter which also creates a halation effect on bright lights. Recently I've been experimenting with uploading 1080p and 4k episodes to RUclips, and I've discovered something you may be interested in. For some reason RUclips codecs favour 4k Footage and give it better bitrate compression compared to 1080p bitrate compression. Even creating a 1080p project, upscaling it to 4k before rendering and sending to RUclips gives me better image quality than simply feeding a 1080p project into the RUclips mince machine. Not necessarily beter content, on my part, just better visual quality. 🤣
@@kimgrantphotography It may be worth a bit of googling this subject as it seems that RUclips uses better codecs/compression rates which favour 4k over 1080p. It does not matter if you render h.264 or h.265 and upload because RUclips decides how to compress your episodes for people to watch. You also inspired me to create and upload my first propper Star Trail episode as well. 😀 Cheers
For condensation on lenses/filters....when I get close to the camera I simply hold my breath while making changes....turning/stepping away to breath fully.
Hi Kim lovely video very enjoyable and informative just imagine shooting the night sky over one of your favourite lighthouses I hope you do many thanks kim
I've seen these filters and thought about trying one. But then I watched a RUclips video on how to softfocus in luminar ai. Boom job done. This is the cheap fix and you can mask in just the stars and leave the foreground alone. As for the fogging of the filter. You were out at around the dew point in temperature. If you want to deal with this use a lens warmer. Cheap and they work well. No use for the filter though. You did good though and you have started your astro journey. You are getting hooked lol. Welcome to the club of late night light catchers. Take care Kim. See you next time.
Thanks Simon. A lens warmer is on my list to get. The great thing about this nisi filter is it only works in the sky as it's graduated (I foro to mention this). Means the foreground is untouched which is great
As you say a difficult test due to the bright Moon, look forward to seeing how it performs with a new Moon 🤔 would think the results will be even better. I’m no expert in Astrophotography but I am planning a Milky Way shot this year and from my research you need a new Moon (5% or less) and preferably below the horizon to really get the stars to pop. I have 4 possible dates this year when everything should be perfect for the shot I am planning 🤞Wishing you clear skies on your Astrophotography journey Kim, I’m watching with interest 👍
Hi, quick question. In the images at 06:45 and 07:10 was there any front lighting used? Great video and right up my street - would love to get out and try shots like these.
So the brighter a star is the bigger this filter will make it appear. And it would often be impossible to accurately reproduce the effect in post, because many of the individual stars will be blown out highlights, so the camera doesn't record much info about their relative brightnesses.
Brilliant loving that your driving into night time photography. Best investment I made was a power bank and a lens heater dirt cheep on amazon think mines coco brand . After having an hour worth of shots ruined by condensation it was a must also reduces the risk of moisture getting into your lens . I got my 1st proper shot I'm happy with of Orion last night taken with my Z6 and the 24-200 Z mount lens .
Hi Kim I bought the Kase magnetic pro filter kit at a cost £270.00 and they get knocked off the lens yet the pros never mention this in there reviews the glass is good but I lost the magnetic cap the first time I used it Kase offered a discount on a replacement . I saw on RUclips a photographer had three stacked filters that got knocked off and end up in rock pool he climbed down and got them back just before a wave came in and covered the rock pool lucky guy. I am sorry Kim but why do you think they give them to you for free they did,nt offer to give me a free £25.00 cap did they
Kim as a photographer I am fed up with companies like Kase giving away hundreds of filter sets to photographers and then getting great reviews .So I have a question did Nisi give you the filter?
This wasn't a review video Barry. I'm a NiSi brand ambassador so I did get the filter for free but I asked for it because I wanted it following using Andrews star soft filter the week before. I wasn't asked to review it or make this video about it. This was genuinely me trying it out and seeing if I wanted to use it for future shoots.
Really liked the stars with the bare branches, beautiful images.
Awesome! I love star photography! Thanks so much!
Very nice Kim, great to see your passion for all forms of photography.
Its always good to be in nature under the stars Kim. Good report and intersting story, well told. Thanks and stay healty ;-) You could also use a blur filter to pump up the stars.....best regards Jörg
Loving your astrophotography content Kim. I hope you continue to do many more with such great advice.
Thanks, Kim, for sharing another super video with some really useful guidance and interesting insights into Astro photography.
Only just discovered your channel and its great. I love being out under the stars. Beautiful
Brilliant! Thank you and welcome to the journey 😃
Brilliant video Kim, thank you
Hi Kim. Fun to watch your journey in astrophotography. Some thoughts from someone who is a bit over a year into a similar journey. First, the best solution I know of to deal with lens condensation is a lens heater. They are very inexpensive and easy to use: several available on Amazon. Second, I think I heard you link the benefits of stacking to dark skies and hence higher ISO and noise. A related benefit of stacking is the ability to use much shorter exposure times, and so avoid or reduce the star trails that blur the stars. Finally, I've learned that in recent years there has been a lot of new thinking on many of the key technical issues. Many popular books, blogs, and RUclips tutorials from just a couple of years ago no longer represent best practice. The most useful up-to-date guide I have come across so far is "Night Sky Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results" by Adam Woodworth (2021). Hope this helps. Good luck with your journey.
Thank you for this advice Warrick. Much appreciated ☺️
Nice one, Kim! We've had some beautiful clear nights recently... but at -25c, my fingers say "no!"...lol
another cracking video Kim , you certainly like your astrophotography , keep at it great work, dont know if you know about the hand warmer tip ,got some hand warmers fro the local garden centre cheap ones £3 for 3 wrap them one around your lens in a sock to stop the misting up on cold nights
Kim, I was out four nights ago going after M42. I use a 70 - 300mm lens. Everything was going well, then the mozzies turned up!. The filter looks good. Thanks once again for your great images.👏🇳🇿
This is great. Love the effect it gives. Does the filter come with the adapter to attach to the lens? I’ve never used square filters before.
No you need to buy a filter holder too. Great thing is once you have one though, you can get a range of filters for different things to use in it ☺️
Wow, I like very much this video and I like that you show this filter to us. Is very interesting this filter and your effect. Thank you
Nice little episode. I really like the way that you are solving the problem of creating episodes in low light and I'm learning quite a bit by watching your lighting techneque outside in the dark.
Along with your NiSi filter, similar results can be achieved with a Tiffin Pro Mist filter which also creates a halation effect on bright lights.
Recently I've been experimenting with uploading 1080p and 4k episodes to RUclips, and I've discovered something you may be interested in. For some reason RUclips codecs favour 4k Footage and give it better bitrate compression compared to 1080p bitrate compression. Even creating a 1080p project, upscaling it to 4k before rendering and sending to RUclips gives me better image quality than simply feeding a 1080p project into the RUclips mince machine. Not necessarily beter content, on my part, just better visual quality. 🤣
Interesting Frank. I will need to look into this myself. Thanks for sharing.
@@kimgrantphotography It may be worth a bit of googling this subject as it seems that RUclips uses better codecs/compression rates which favour 4k over 1080p. It does not matter if you render h.264 or h.265 and upload because RUclips decides how to compress your episodes for people to watch.
You also inspired me to create and upload my first propper Star Trail episode as well. 😀
Cheers
Nice work, very inspiring!
Keep it up 👍
For condensation on lenses/filters....when I get close to the camera I simply hold my breath while making changes....turning/stepping away to breath fully.
👍💜👍💜📷📷📷 great photos .....I am looking forward to getting my new camera soon and learning ...many thanks for the video👍👍
Hi Kim lovely video very enjoyable and informative just imagine shooting the night sky over one of your favourite lighthouses I hope you do many thanks kim
That would be amazing Brain. Will do that sometime!
I've seen these filters and thought about trying one. But then I watched a RUclips video on how to softfocus in luminar ai. Boom job done. This is the cheap fix and you can mask in just the stars and leave the foreground alone. As for the fogging of the filter. You were out at around the dew point in temperature. If you want to deal with this use a lens warmer. Cheap and they work well. No use for the filter though. You did good though and you have started your astro journey. You are getting hooked lol. Welcome to the club of late night light catchers. Take care Kim. See you next time.
Thanks Simon. A lens warmer is on my list to get. The great thing about this nisi filter is it only works in the sky as it's graduated (I foro to mention this). Means the foreground is untouched which is great
As you say a difficult test due to the bright Moon, look forward to seeing how it performs with a new Moon 🤔 would think the results will be even better. I’m no expert in Astrophotography but I am planning a Milky Way shot this year and from my research you need a new Moon (5% or less) and preferably below the horizon to really get the stars to pop. I have 4 possible dates this year when everything should be perfect for the shot I am planning 🤞Wishing you clear skies on your Astrophotography journey Kim, I’m watching with interest 👍
Thank you. I'm looking forward to trying it in moonless or new moon skies. All the best with capturing the milky way 🤞🏻
Hi, quick question. In the images at 06:45 and 07:10 was there any front lighting used? Great video and right up my street - would love to get out and try shots like these.
No lights Antony. All light came from the moon. Enjoy 🌟
Thank you.👍📷😎
So the brighter a star is the bigger this filter will make it appear. And it would often be impossible to accurately reproduce the effect in post, because many of the individual stars will be blown out highlights, so the camera doesn't record much info about their relative brightnesses.
Nice film. But I have one question. The flashing light from the camera will not affect the filter?
Hi Wim - which flashing light are you referring to? I never use my cameras flash
@@kimgrantphotography light at 7.45 in the film. I saw.
Great, Kim. Where exactly did you take your pictures? Guess, I know this bridge, can't remember where it was.
It's just outside Mintlaw
@@kimgrantphotography Thanks Kim!
maybe you should use an IR/UV-cut - filter for Astrophotographie , then you have "sharper" stars in the sky
Brilliant loving that your driving into night time photography. Best investment I made was a power bank and a lens heater dirt cheep on amazon think mines coco brand . After having an hour worth of shots ruined by condensation it was a must also reduces the risk of moisture getting into your lens . I got my 1st proper shot I'm happy with of Orion last night taken with my Z6 and the 24-200 Z mount lens .
Thanks for the advice Tanya. I will certainly consider buying one 😊
Hi Kim I bought the Kase magnetic pro filter kit at a cost £270.00 and they get knocked off the lens yet the pros never mention this in there reviews the glass is good but I lost the magnetic cap the first time I used it Kase offered a discount on a replacement . I saw on RUclips a photographer had three stacked filters that got knocked off and end up in rock pool he climbed down and got them back just before a wave came in and covered the rock pool lucky guy. I am sorry Kim but why do you think they give them to you for free they did,nt offer to give me a free £25.00 cap did they
You need a lens warmer 😉
Kim as a photographer I am fed up with companies like Kase giving away hundreds of filter sets to photographers and then getting great reviews .So I have a question did Nisi give you the filter?
This wasn't a review video Barry. I'm a NiSi brand ambassador so I did get the filter for free but I asked for it because I wanted it following using Andrews star soft filter the week before. I wasn't asked to review it or make this video about it. This was genuinely me trying it out and seeing if I wanted to use it for future shoots.