First Impressions This is a very small, lightweight, and portable star tracker. It's so portable that I can even fit it inside my pocket! For those of you who already have a star tracker, like the Star Adventurer, you are probably tired of lugging that thing around! The Star Adventurer itself weighs over 2lbs, and that's not including the latitude...

Quick Recap - Electromagnetic Spectrum Before we begin, I wanted to make sure we are all on the same page. The electromagnetic spectrum is a large range of wavelengths, including Ultra-Violet, Infrared, Visible Light, X-Ray, and more! Our eyes and cameras are only capable of detecting a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This narrow ran...

What is an Auto-Guider? Last Updated: April 26, 2020 An auto-guider is a small camera that sends commands to your star tracker, drastically increasing the tracking accuracy! In order to use the auto-guider, you'll also need a guide scope. This guide scope is just a small lens that allows the auto-guider camera to see the stars. Once you have an a...

Which Star Tracker Should I Get? Last Updated: May 19, 2021 If you are looking to buy your first star tracker, or maybe upgrade your existing one, you have a lot of options! These include the iOptron SkyTracker Pro, iOptron SkyGuider Pro, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini, Vixen Polarie, and MoveShootMove. All of these...

iOptron SkyGuider Pro Review Last Updated: April 26, 2020 The SkyGuider Pro is an excellent star tracker, and it features a number of improvements over the SkyTracker Pro. In this review, I'll explain the most important aspects of the SkyGuider Pro, like the counterweight system, polar alignment, build quality, and if it's worth the price. Before...

Recently, I discovered a weird 'glitch' caused by Long Exposure Noise Reduction on the Nikon D750. Note, this only applies to astrophotographers and night photographers taking images with stars in them. If your image does not have stars, you shouldn't notice any problems. When LENR is enabled, the processing causes stars to lose their true colors...

This morning I had the opportunity to test out the new Sigma 14-24mm! For this test, I drove down to the local "dark" sky park in Ohio and took some test shots. As you will see, it's virtually impossible to find a truly dark sky here in Northeast Ohio... Just 2 more weeks and I'll be back under an actual dark sky - in the Utah desert! *If you woul...

A star tracker is the most effective way to capture higher-quality nightscapes and astro images! With a star tracker, you will no longer be limited by the earth's rotation. These devices allow you to shoot much longer exposures, even up to 5 minutes, without star trails! The SkyTracker Pro was my very first star tracker purchase. Since July 2017, I...

I've gotten a number of questions on what gear I use, so I thought I'd share my favorite camera equipment! As a traveling nature photographer, I need to have the right gear for the job. That includes a great backpack, diverse lenses, a rugged camera, quality filters, and reliable camera insurance! Camera Body First up is the Nikon D750. I've had...

A New Beginning I've now spent 6 months living on the road. I love having the absolute freedom to go where I want, for as long as I want, with nothing holding me back. It's how I am able to do my best work. With my time in Colorado nearing an end, and my journey into Utah rapidly approaching, I was actually getting bored and lonely. It didn't help...

Steamboat Springs By mid-September I arrived in Steamboat Springs, a beautiful mountain town in northern Colorado. I had heard wonderful things about this spot from many people so I was excited to finally explore the nearby aspen forests! As usual, I stopped at the library to download my maps, scout out the surrounding area, and fill up my water. A...

The Mindshift rotation180 Professional is Mindshift's premier backpack. This pack has been specially designed for nature photographers who spend much of their time hiking and exploring. It features a rotating beltpack that provides quick access to your camera and lenses, as well as a larger interior compartment than can quickly be accessed without...

Tired of grainy Milky Way photos? Don't want to spend $2,000 on a new wide angle lens? A star tracker is the easiest, and most cost effective way to capture higher quality nightscapes! Star trackers move the camera at the same speed as the stars, allowing you to take much longer photos without any star trails. The key to this process is an accurate...

For the past three months I've been on the road exploring some of the most beautiful places in America. From the Wind River Range to see the Great American Eclipse, to Maroon Bells for the first snowfall of the season, to the Pacific Coast! Surprisingly, one of my most used lenses is the Tamron 150-600mm. Many would consider this a wildlife lens, b...

When many new photographers get their first DSLR, they tend to shoot in JPEG only. Shooting in JPEG is an easy way to go, but you lose a lot of control over your final image. RAW allows complete control over your images! A RAW file is an unprocessed image, like a digital negative. In the film days, a negative contained all the information to make...