Thanks to Mr.Steven who kept pushing us on this, also thanks to Stephen Dyer, he suggested this mount from last year.
Finally, it's ready!
If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, this phone mount is a must-have.
Please feel free to contact us anytime, any questions.
Cheers,
John
2020.08.01
Why do I need it?
Actually, there are many cases when laser pointers or polar scopes are not possible in field, so polar alignment with phone apps is quite convenient from this aspect and a phone mount is in need then.
Here are some common situations when you would like to use it:
in countries like Australia and Switzerland where laser pointers are mostly banned
when buildings, mountains, etc. blocking the sky ahead of you that you could not point to Polaris
in locations such as airports and observatories where laser pointers are not allowed
For polar alignment with phones, the Phone Mount is adjustable, easy to use, and light-weight, with the phone-holder part free to rotate.
free to rotate the phone-holder part
extendable grip enabling to adjust the phone-holder part for your phone size
soft padding to securely holds your device
fit for both 3/8"-16 and 1/4"-20 screws
Specifications:
Wide compatibility: 60mm-93mm, 2.36”-3.66”
Arca-Swiss compatible: Yes
Max load: 2kg
Item weight: 0.352lbs(0.16kg)
Material: aluminum alloy
How to mount it?
For NOMAD,
Please choose the option of phone mount + phone mount adapter, then you can use this phone mount on NOMAD.
This option is for preorder, it should be ready around 15th Dec.
1) Please remove the red cap on the backside of NOMAD first
2) Attach the phone mount adapter to the backside of NOMAD by the red cap
3) Slide the phone mount into the phone mount holder part and tighten it by the nylon screw
4) Attach your phone to the Phone mount holder, align the edges of phone to the edges of NOMAD
5) Use apps like Stellarium or Photopills to find the alignment target Polaris/ NCP Northern Hemisphere or SCP for the Southern Hemisphere.
6) Follow the arrow guide of the app then adjust the setup for polar alignment
For MSM tracker:
Please use the 3/8 screw coming with the tracker to attach the phone mount to the bubble level side.
The Daytime Polar Alignment tool is a solid piece of hardware. My intended use was daytime polar alignment with my SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i. I was able to mount it to the 3/8" ball head adaptor for the Star Adventurer. Mounting and using it with my iPhone 14 Pro was easy. However, the disadvantage when using the tool is that the metal tool skews the compass alignment by several degrees away from magnetic north. Thus the four stars. The true north setting on the iPhone does not work. Not sure why it's even an option. I'll use the tool as a phone mount for videos, timelapses, and panarams.
R
R. A. (Vancouver, CA)
Very easy to set up.
Have not had a chance to try this outside yet but doing a trial setup was straight forward. It just screws in on the underside of the MSM. Put the phone in and PhotoPills works perfectly to align. It should allow tracking when polaris is not visible. Even if it was, I’m interested to see if it’s accurate enough to allow more fine alignment with the polar scope instead of using the laser for rough alignment (use can be very limited by local regulations). So far it’s exactly what’s advertised.
T
Tim Farmer (St Louis, US)
Great solution for tracking the Total Solar Eclipse in May
I was looking for a way to track the sun during the up coming total eclipse in May. Hard to do polar alignment in the day and I really want to track the sun and have my camera set up to shoot every minute or so. This is going to leave me free to run a second camera for foreground and other shots. Tested this with my NOMADe and it was easy. I have also been out at night with trees blocking my northern view, SOLUTION!!! I will still use scope when possible, but it's great to have a backup. Keep the cool gear coming MSM!
A
Andre Joanisse (Sydney, AU)
Phone Mount works very nicely
Being in the southern hemisphere, using the phone mount is critical for polar alignment. Once I got my Nomade, I needed to find a solution for a phone mount and it wasn’t available at the time. MSM eventually made one, nice and compact and works very well.
N
Neville Lewis (Gig Harbor, US)
Phone mount limited
This phone mount fits to the MSM Nomad quite nicely. However, the Arca Swiss, mounting clamp really only fits the MSM phone holder and nothing else. The screw holder bump inhibits anything else from being placed here. Also, I need to say that the screw itself was absent in the delivery
J
Jeff L (North Hollywood, US)
Great addition
Haven’t used it yet but I will be going to the Southern Hemisphere pretty soon and look forward to trying it
I
Ila Barnes (Brooklyn, US)
Not yet...
I would love to review it but I have yet to use it. I will be going to Alaska soon, so when I return.
C
Cornelia O. (Starnberg, DE)
Polar Alignment - the easy way
With this alignment it is far easier to find the polar star on the night sky, and in case the use of a laser is questionable, that's the way to go for polar alignment
M
Mark Smith (Burlington, CA)
Great Value
This is a nice rigid phone mount. I have used it with my MSM rotator with great success. One downside was trying to find fasteners which would allow me to attach it to the rotator. What I found was acceptable but not good. MSM should either add them to the mount [which I would have paid extra for] or offer them as an optional addon.
B
Barry Wetherilt (London, GB)
Brilliant bracket
I thought I'd just add my technique for aligning as some people have problems getting the phone lined up with the MSM. First I mount the MSM on a tripod and make sure it is level (I use the side mount method and a leveller to make this easy). Then using a bubble level app I get the phone perpendicular to the MSM on the bracket. I then use the Daytime/No Polarscope Align function in PS Align Pro to align the MSM with the Pole star (Sth or Nth as appropriate). A great piece of kit!