Introduction
Have you been thinking about getting into astrophotography but feel discouraged or overwhelmed by all the types of telescopes, mounts, cameras, not to mention the steep learning curve and all the costs?
You may already have a telescope but sometimes feel like you want to skip the process of getting the telescope ready for photography and just want to grab your camera and a tripod and head out to a really dark place to take pictures of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
If you feel struck by the above description, I think you should continue reading my test of the Nomad Star Tracker from MoveShootMove.
Now you might be wondering what a star tracker is? Well, a star tracker is a device that rotates your camera at the same speed as the Earth rotates. You may have already tried taking a long exposure picture of the starry sky and realized that the stars don’t look like stars at all anymore, but rather streaks. Since the star tracker rotates, just like the Earth, this means that you can take long exposure pictures without the stars turning into streaks. This in turn means that you can collect multiple long exposures, add them together, and get an image with significantly more detail than you can get without a star tracker.
Star trackers in general, but perhaps the MSM Nomad specifically, are designed to make this process as simple and portable as possible, perfect for photographers who want to get better results in the night sky without having to carry around bulky equipment or deal with steep learning curves.
Without a star tracker, you are usually limited to a few seconds before star trails become visible. With a tracker, you can often expose for several minutes, depending on your focal length, and it is the Nomad’s performance in this regard that the test focuses primarily on.
If you prefer a video review of this product, you will find a link to Youtube at the bottom of the article.
Accessories and options
There are several different packages and a wide range of accessories available if you look at the MoveShootMove website. I chose a basic package, adapted for my region (when it comes to laser pointer regulations). This package includes the Nomad Star Tracker, V-mount and phone holder.
The star tracker weighs 430g, has a USB-C port for charging the internal battery or connecting an external battery, and has a button to turn the star tracker on in north or south orientation. The phone holder weighs 160g and the V-mount weighs 175g.
The V-mount is used to align your ball head and camera after polar alignment to eliminate awkward angles. It can give you greater freedom to point the camera in different positions, more easily center the weight of the system over the star tracker, easily rotate the ball head and camera, and also act as an equatorial wedge between the tripod and star tracker.
When it comes to polar alignment, most people choose the laser pointer, but in some countries (like Sweden) this is not allowed. To remedy this, there is a phone mount adapter that allows you to securely attach your phone to the star tracker and then use an app on your phone to make a polar alignment. After that, it is optional if you want to use the polar scope for a more precise alignment, but it is also an additional accessory.
In addition to this, you will need a tripod to mount everything on, a ball head for your camera and something to put between the tripod and the star tracker that allows you to adjust the angle or tilt of the star tracker based on your geographical position in relation to the Earth’s axis of rotation and the celestial pole. The most optimal is a Polar Wedge, but an additional ball head or V-mount will also work.
Setup
I chose one of my existing tripods, the Innorel RT80C, which can handle equipment up to 20 kg. I then mounted a polar wedge from iOptron on the tripod, as I believe it is the best option for optimal pole alignment. You can of course use a ball head instead, but with one it becomes more difficult to obtain a good pole alignment as you need to loosen the ball to adjust instead of being able to fine-tune with knobs. In theory, you could also use a V-mount, but it offers even worse adjustment options and even though it can handle weights up to 3.5 kg according to the paper, it does not feel like a stable solution.
The polar wedge I use has a vixen mount and therefore I have mounted a vixen plate on the underside of the star tracker. I then put the star tracker in place and screwed the vixen mount on. On top of the star tracker I then placed the V-mount using the mount that comes with the star tracker. Finally, I mounted the ball head on top of the V-mount and it is worth noting that you may need an adapter for the ball head to fit, however, one is included with the mount and often with the ball head as well.
Once everything was in place, it was just a matter of attaching the camera to the ball head with a quick release from arca swiss.
On the back of the star tracker, I attached the phone holder with the accompanying bracket. The bracket should rest on the top and side of the star tracker and then be secured with a screw.
Polar Alignment
For the star tracker to work, it needs a polar alignment, that is, an adjustment so that the star tracker is in line with the Earth’s rotation axis. As mentioned, you can do this with a laser pointer, a polar scope or with a special holder and a phone with an app. In my case, I plan to use the phone holder and a phone and then test two identical apps. In my test, I used a phone with Android, and it may be that the selection of apps is different on the iPhone.
The first one I tried was Polar Aligner Pro where you could mount the phone horizontally in the phone holder, that is, with the screen facing you. I found the app to be a bit unreliable, but this may also have been due to interference from electronic equipment, where the crosshairs jumped back and forth a bit and it was difficult to find an optimal polar alignment.
The second app I tried was Photopills where you mounted the phone vertically in the phone holder, with the screen facing the Earth’s rotation axis. The app’s AR function felt much more stable and accurate, although there was some lag in the movement of the crosshairs when adjusting. The downside to this app is the fact that you have to kneel down and then look up at the phone to make adjustments.
Both apps cost money, but it’s a small amount. I also want to emphasize the importance of setting up the mount stably and firmly and making sure that it is level and as well directed as possible towards the north (or south if you live there). If you have a polar wedge like my model, it can’t be adjusted as much as you want and it’s no fun to start over from scratch if it turns out that you can’t adjust enough and need to move the tripod. If you have a base plate or a polar wedge that can rotate, you don’t have to worry about this.
Results
I have been a bit unlucky with the weather up here at 63 degrees north and have therefore not managed to collect enough data to make a finished image at the moment. The tests of the MSM Nomad Tracker have focused on verifying its usability and its ability to track the stars well at different exposure times.
In my test, I first mounted the product with the appropriate accessories, performed a polar adjustment and then took three images with different exposure times. I used a Sony a7iv with a Sony FE16mm f/1.8 G lens. The test images reveal a very good result at 30 seconds, 60 seconds and 120 seconds where it is basically impossible to distinguish the quality of the stars at the different exposure times. I would say that they are round and nice right through and no indication that they are starting to become streaks.
Conclusion
I want to start by saying that I think anyone interested in astrophotography, regardless of whether they have a high-end mount and telescope, should have this little gadget in their camera bag. It’s perfect for those times when you just want to grab a light stand, your camera, and your star tracker and head out to a dark spot to take pictures of the Milky Way.
It feels very solidly built, there are plenty of accessories to customize it to your needs, and it’s not particularly difficult to get a good enough polar alignment. There’s just a single button that you turn in one of two positions, north or south, depending on where you are on the planet. The battery in the unit lasted me through my tests, I didn’t need to charge it at all, but you can of course plug in an external battery if you need to.
I got excellent results in my tests up to two-minute exposures, but I should add that my equipment weighed about 1.5 kg and my focal length was 16mm. If you are using heavier equipment and or have a lens with a longer focal length, the results may be different.