4 steps to improve your tracked milkyway panoramas
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- The gear I use to make Tracked Milkyway Panoramas Easy
pano head, amzn.to/3gLN7HC
ball head, amzn.to/3rMnuwA
2 way head, amzn.to/3sDrIWE
tracker, amzn.to/3BkZwf1
trpod, amzn.to/3oUTc9e
I recently did a workshop in the field with John using this simple tracker setup and it works really well and is accurate and repeatable. My only addition to this set up is a Feisol PB-90 rotating base mounted on the top plate of my tripod. Great workshop and comes highly recommended by me. 😁👍👌
Cheers geoff! Great point with the rotating base if you can't swivel the tripod 👍
So is that a pano levelling base Geoff?
@@carlreid4161 Geoff's tripod does not swivel so he has put a simple rotating base under the tracker (not a leveling base) so he can pan the tracker around to make polar alignment easier.
Great video as always John. It's interesting how our gear evolves as we go through the never ending journey of shooting these types of images. All the best mate.
Cheers Richard, my setup is definitely not permanent and im always trying to find better and easier ways to do things.
Thanks John for your video. Very useful for me that I'm starting in this world. Greetings from Sestao in Spain.
Welcome mate, I'm glad you got something out of it
Thank you John, great video, now that the Sydney clouds are abating and the core is starting to rise I’ll start heading out 👍
Sounds good Paul! 👍
Very helpful John! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I've already learned so much watching your videos! Keep on the good work!
Thanks for the support Marin. 👍
Great video on the tracked panoramas setup! I use something similar with an L-bracket and 2 nodal slides and it works wonders, solid as a rock! Looking forward to seeing more adventures and great images in the field mate ;)
Cheers Dan, I would be interested to see your setup. And am hanging to see some content from your recent trip.
I was out in my Bortle 9 backyard just doing some testing and used this method of 2 ball heads. Works great and provides a really sturdy mounting platform. I started with the Z bracket and it is a pain to use anymore. Unless I use a pair of pliers to tighten the little knobs on the Z bracket it keeps moving around and slipping down from being level. It has turned out to be a waste of money.
Awesome setup! That Pano head looks very handy!
Thanks Andrew, it definitely makes things easier.
Great video. Helping me sort out which of my parts to use for tracker setup. Two suggestions; add a set of links for those of us using US Amazon. I can find the components on Amazon here but they're not connected to your links there. And give a few more well-lit seconds of your whole setup for those of us who need a visual to understand your setup. I'm enjoying your choice of opening music. Keep it up!
Thanks Donald, I appreciate the feedback and take it on board 👍
Never heard of an indexing panorama head! Will look it up
Definitely worth the investment for the ease of use and accurate overlap.
Great vid man, that two way head looks worth while getting cheers 🍻
Cheers mate, I have found it to work really well.
This is awesome John. Just what I was looking for. I'm planning a visit to Guilderton lighthouse to try my luck with a MW arch.
Awesome mate. 👌 good luck and clear skies
Great setup tips John. I recently got a tilt head for my monopod that has a very slim indexing part built into the top. I think the model is the leofoto VH-20. Immediately thought it'd be great for Panos.
Sounds like it could work perfectly.
Great explanation mate, I’ll give this set up a crack next time in out 👌
Cheers mate 👍
Cool :) This is my current setup from bottom to top:
1. Sirui N2204X tripod
2. MENGS DY-60A leveling base
3. iOptron Sky Guider Pro with included wedge
4. Benro B1 ball head + arca swiss type plate
5. Nodal Ninja RD10 rotator
6. Leofoto VH-30R video two-way head (adapted with M6 to 3/8 UNC adapter screw onto the rotator)
I'm on northern hemisphere, the only thing I have with this is that when doing a pano i need to ensure that the tracker is initially set to a position before "12 o'clock" and does not exceed this while shooting as otherwise the ball head may unscrew from the tracker due to the heavy weight and long leverage. Before that position the weight will lock all screws counter clockwise so no issue, but as soon it would be on the other side of the tracker things reverse. Any ideas how to solve this?
What I do different is that I always leave the tracker on during the complete pano and I make one additional shot each panel with a Kase Dream-Star filter.
Sounds like a good setup. I always leave the dec bracket at 12 o'clock and after each shot level it back up so there is never any weight either way.
Those trackers really have a lot to be desired, although the price is generally right. If you plan on doing a lot of tracking, i would recommend a ZWO AM-3. Not only is this a precision tracker, but easily can add a guide scope, has precision controls, GOTO capability, and more. And its only double the cost of a the junk posted in this video. These inexpensive trackers really don't work that well especially at longer focal lengths.
The AM-3 is really small, but polar alignment can be made near perfect versus guessing with these cheap trackers.
For deep space, more precision mounts will always be better with guiding and go to etc no doubt,
But for nightscape images more precision and more technically advanced mounts make it harder so all mounts have their uses
Thanks for the gear vid mate….would love to see an in the field vid on “how to” although I can already tell how hard that might be to shoot ;) loving the regular vids mate 👍
Thanks mate, it definitely would be challenging to shoot. It's a very in depth process
@@johnrutterphotography I can only imagine if hard & complex the process would be…very daunted to even give it a crack - I’m sure u’ve had many frustrating moments perfecting ur process…
Thanks for all the great videos! Just FYI, as of this post, all of your linked products are "currently unavailable"...maybe that's because your advice is so good :)
Maybe consider linking alternatives for those of us in the USA?
Haha thanks for the heads up. Selling like hotcakes 🥞
Hi! Your videos are fantastic and very helpful as I’m into exactly the same kind of photography as you are. Just one quick note: the links to the parts you’re using aren’t useful anymore as the products are not available anymore. So I have to keep looking for something similar as you have, as it looks really promising! Let me ask you also, your Ha modified camera - is it possible to use it for normal daytime photography without any filters? (I know the full spectrum modified camera needs filters to be used for normal photography)
All the best, Peter.
Hey Peter, sorry about the links, il see what I can do.
You can use a modified camera in the daytime without filters by simply setting a custom white balance, the only down side is you do get some red fringing and flares from bright light sources, it's always best to have 2 cameras, one modified just for astro and one for regular stuff to guarantee best quality
Hi John, love your work. I'm looking at buying a iOptron SkyGuider but I'm unsure whether to get the iPolar or the precision polar scope. Not sure which way to go as I hear polar alignment is quite difficult here in the southern hemisphere. I live in Perth, Western Australia. Thanks in advance and keep up the fantastic videos.
Me personally, I wouldn't get any computer aided alignment. It's just to much to set up and polar alignment is no big deal once you know how to do it
One thing I would like to listen to your opinion is regarding the psoition of the bracket and camera for different sky objects. I think depending upon the position of the sky object the performance of the tracker is not constant. I think it is more an issue tome since I use a lot telefoto and refractors for deep sky
This setup is specific to panoramas at medium focal lengths, for long lenses and telescopes I would setup totally different,
Great video. links no longer work tho. keen on getting the pano head and the two way head
Sorry about the links. Any 2 way head and indexing panorama will work.
Really like this set up luckly I had all the gear and just reconfigured my set up.
Is there any issues using the level function in the camera to level image as you sweep across the panorama?
Thanks for sharing great video
Great stuff Ren, I never use any digital method for leveling or aligning, but it may work, it's definitely worth a shot
Hi John, I really like your work and these youtube videos are excellent ! One thing I was worried about is...what about getting the camera-lens nodal point (no parallax point) lined up when doing your panoramas ? Or does not matter at all for the result. Many thanks, Bill
Hey Bill, I have never worried about parallax, and havnt had any issues with stitching.
Another great video. Do you do any balancing with the counterweight or do you simply start shooting?
I do no balance at all, I simply use it to weigh the whole rig down for wind protection. As the dec bracket is always vertical there is no strain on the gears.
@@johnrutterphotography awesome, gotta test it next time or when I will have problems with the wind.
Hey John. Thank you: this will really assist with alignment: my ones last season suffered from huge distortion & I was unable to completely remove this in LR/PS, even with a huge time investment! Can I ask what tripod you use that has the rotating base to spare purchasing a Feisol PO-90. Thanks again Mate:)
Your welcome mate, I added my tripod to the description, although any tripod that has a rotating centre shift will do
John I have basically duplicated your tripod , tracker , fittest rotation indexing mount for a tracked pano . I’ll be shooting to the east for when the Milkyway comes off the eastern horizon early morning trying to achieve the arch . My question is do you shoot from left to right or right to left or does it matter ?
Jerry
There are alot of factors to consider, the 2 big ones are focal length and exposure time, if your shooting wide eg20mm it doesn't really matter, I'm currently working on a video that covers this in depth.
Can I please confirm I understand the use of each of the different components as follows ;
1) Ball head - to re-level camera between each image due to tracker rotation
2) Indexing Rotator - horizontal panorama rotation
3) 2 way head - initial vertical axis positioning and also subsequent vertical adjustments for multi row panos
Don't you still have the flopping around issue when you use the ball head to re-level? Or is this less of a problem due to the small movement required. Cheers 👍
Hey Greg, that's all correct. When re levelling with the ball head, we do not undo the main ball head part, just the "rotation " part of the ball head.this means everything stays where it is except the rotation.
Great vlog John now time to look at those affiliate links haha! For full frame if you’re shooting mid range focal length do you use a zoom or a prime lens and if so what length, also with the indexer do you overlap and if so by how much ?
Thanks mate, I always shoot prime lenses, and most of my panos are shot at 35mm and 50mm. I always overlap 50% to guarantee perfect stitching and the indexing head means I get a perfect overlap every shot.
@@johnrutterphotography thanks for the reply John.
John, in general, what are the ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings you use? cheers
My go to settings are iso 640, f2.8 180 sec. But I do have very dark skies, these settings may not work for everyone
@@johnrutterphotography thanks John, will give this a try on the weekend
This looks a bit top heavy now 😳? I take it this set up will only work for shorter light weight lenses?
This is setup for medium focal length panoramas, not telephoto lenses
@@johnrutterphotography okay I thought you might of been
Hi, How do you Polar align in the Southern Hemishpere?
You will need to use the polar scope and find sigma octans in the sky and align to that.
@@johnrutterphotography Thanks, my MSM came with the laser, not the polar scope, so it isn't working well for me. Best wishes
I don't understand why the plate on the first tripod head, the one that supports the indexed rotator, doesn't tilt as a consequence of the tracker rotating during each frame. Doesn't this require the head to be re-levelled after each frame?
Simply undo the clutch on the mount and re level
@@johnrutterphotography OK, thank you. I was hoping there was some magical way to avoid this!
@@johnrutterphotography Doesn't re-levelling after each frame risk introducing errors?
lol, stopped watching when he said 60-70 tracked images (four hours). I'm lucky here in the north of England if I can get the core for 20 minutes cloud free at 0400hrs