Phone Mount for Polar Alignment & Milkyway Photography
- Free worldwide shipping above $39
- In stock, ready to ship
HANDLE TIME
All orders will be scheduled for shipment in 1 to 3 business days, excluding holidays.
COUNTRIES
We ship worldwide.
WAREHOUSES
Currently, we have 4 warehouses.
🇺🇸 US warehouse, for our US users, parcel usually arrives in 1-7 days.
🇪🇺 EU warehouse, for most EU countries, parcel usually arrives in 1-7 days.
🇦🇺 AU warehouse, for our Australia and New Zealand users, parcel usually arrives around 1-7 days.
🇨🇳 CN warehouse, for all countries, parcel arrives in 4-7 or 8-20 days, please check below for details.
Hi friends,
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
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”
Max load: 2kg
Item weight: 0.352lbs(0.16kg)
Material: aluminum alloy
How to mount it?
Please use the 3/8 screw coming with the tracker to attach the phone mount to the bubble level side.
How to do polar alignment with phones?
Please directly check the video guide here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ycn7IuChTIWYfyvZxAaVLttTkx5GaibM/view?usp=sharing
- Set up well your Rotator and camera.
- Mount the Phone Mount to the Rotator, your phone to the Phone Mount.
-
Open a planetarium app and go to its AR feature, look for North/South Pole(depends on the hemisphere you're in) with the app.
There you go, ready to shoot!
Customer Reviews
Very nice and solid, however, aligning it parallel/perpendicular to the MSM is quite difficult if not impossible.
Polar Alignement with the laser pointer has been something of a challenge due to a visual impairment so I had basically given up on getting decent pictures that matched my imagination. The phone holder has fixed that for sure, even if getting the position for PhotoPils to work properly is a bit fiddly.
If I was being picky I would have preferred just the two phone positions, end on and “flat” to North since these are the only two alignments that really make sense with the apps, but that is a very minor quibble.
Special shout out to Hanna from Customer Support who was very patient with keeping me up to date on expected shipping.
I'm probably in the minority here as I don't currently own a MSM start tracker rotator. A very nice Fornax tracker was gifted to me and I've had problems aligning.it with the polarscope provided. I made a crude device to use my phone with it and it worked reasonably well, but was bulky. When I saw MSM's phone mount alignment tool advertised I decided to take a chance and buy it but thought it would need modifications to use on my non-MSM rotator, but as it turned out, it works like a champ. I also ordered a head torch and a couple of lens warmers that look nice, but I haven't used them yet (It's been really cold out here in Wyoming). I did have a few problems with the shipping as I received a shipment order that tracked the package as far as Salt Lake City and there it sat for a number of weeks so I contacted MSM and received a nice reply from Hanna who then tried to help locate and get the package moving. Unfortunately, the package was lost, but through Hanna, MSM promptly packaged and sent a duplicate order which arrived in good condition. I appreciate the service provided. I would recommend Move-Shoot-Move.
I've found the phone Mount easy to use and extremely helpful. It exceeds my expectations.
I bought this as a gift for a friend. Very compact and solid indeed. I did test it before giving it to my friend. I really liked the cellphone attachment. With the Photo Pils app, I was able to quickly polar align without having to have Polaris in view.
https://sandiway.arizona.edu/msm/
This is a great entry-level star tracker that even experienced users will enjoy having, because it's small enough you can take it with you when you wouldn't consider a larger alternative. It performs well, although it takes some practice to set it up correctly and to polar align it. Highly recommended for people new to astrophotography who want to try star tracking.
Phone Mount for Polar Alignment & Milkyway Photography
It it weren't for 'autofocus' and LED screen magnification, my photography hobby/career would be in real trouble. I'm not blind, but I have visual impairment due to macular degeneration and viewing things through a view finder or telescope is challenging. Now, thanks to iPhone polar alignment with PhotoPills, I can actually do some astrophotography of the Milky Way. Using the bracket to attach my iPhone to the MoveShootMove rotator, I can polar align on the phone screen, even if I can't see Polaris due to clouds, trees, houses, mountains, or bad eyes.
On three different attempts I've been able to get good enough polar alignment to shoot using a 20mm lens with exposures of 1-2 minutes to get nice pinpoint stars. I have not tried longer lenses yet or longer exposure times, so I can't speak to ultimate limitations, but for me, it's been wonderful.
I actually bought the polarscope and laser pointer along with the iPhone bracket so I have all the options, but it's possible I'll never even bother with those other two methods, at least not for Milky Way and big sky photography.
Muy buena la compra, me sorprendió los buenos resultados que he obtenido con la MSM. Totalmente recomendable
So I have spent ages faffing around with the laser, trying to get it calibrated properly only to find on the cold winter nights it's deader than tank tops before I've been able to finish setting up. 'Try the polarscope' I thought, only to find that it isn't that easy to find Polaris under a Bortle 7 sky, and it's awkward to peer through, although the right-angled attachment makes this easier - but if you have trees or buildings in the way it becomes impossible. Step forward the mobile phone holder - it's easy to ensure it's parallel with the MSM, and with an AI app like Photopills the alignment is really straightforward, even if Polaris cannot be seen. I watched some of the videos on YouTube and was set up within a few minutes. It's also great for finding the various celestial targets - again with Photopills (other AI apps are available!!!). The holder is well-constructed and very easy to attach parallel to the MSM, and if you're in the southern hemisphere the phone holder is utterly essential.
I'm now just debating whether to give the MAK telescope a go...