Large portions of this drive are on BLM land outside the National Park

@@NicholasJensenPhotography Thanks for this information. Best Wishes

Thank you Peter!

To photograph the night sky, one should use the live view screen on the back of their camera to zoom in on a bright star or planet. The lens should be set to manual focus and then adjusted to make the object they are focusing on appear as small as possible. Make sure the lens or camera stays set to manual focus and then take care not to change it. The focus should generally be at the marked infinity point on the focusing scale of then lens. I go through this on another one of the videos on my channel about photographing the night sky in Rocky Mountain National Park.

@@NicholasJensenPhotographyI’ll take a look at that video too, however I meant how do you get the foreground sharp also ?

When focusing to infinity with a wide angle lens (which is what is usually used for astrophotography), you'll usually have enough depth of field even at a wide aperture to have a reasonably sharp foreground in a single shot. With that being said, since I'm using a star tracker more often now I'll take one photo for the sky and then one for the foreground with a smaller aperture right before or after. I'll merge those two together in processing and everything looks even better.

@@NicholasJensenPhotography great thanks for that Nicholas - so for example if I’m using a 200mm then it’s 2 shots and the foreground is done before/after. That makes sense, Thanks.

In my opinion May is the perfect time to visit the desert parks of Utah. Enjoy it!

It's a beautiful park, definitely worth the journey

Thank you so much 😊

Great Monday!@@NicholasJensenPhotography

It's definitely worth the trip! Don't miss my Episode 1 video for experiences in the rest of the park.

They're always a great experience

Ha… there’s always that one person.

Thank you Lorrie! May is typically the best time for flowers in the Utah desert, this was the very end of May last year.

@@NicholasJensenPhotography I went to Zion & Bryce in June once. Unbearably hot. Lovely parks, but could not enjoy them.

May is always a good time to be in the Utah desert

I don't know the geology of that specific area well enough to answer that Maryanne. it's definitely interesting though.

Thank you Loral! It's definitely an amazing place.

I'm guesstimating it would be about 20 miles.

One more quick question about the 20 miles to and from the Bentonite Hills.. I've got a full sized Silverado 4x4 without the ability to air down for washboard ect.. I will have my mother in law in the vehicle... Will she be complaining for an eternity about a super rough ride or not too bad???. 😂 Last question I promise.. TIA

That probably changes a lot depending on what the recent weather has been like. It wasn't too washboarded when I was there, but your experience may vary.

Thanks, happy to share the experience! Episode 2 has been released now, so visit my channel to watch that one as well.

It definitely is a unique place

Thanks Rob!

It’s a grand adventure, and I think staying at the campground half way through is the best way to do it. Happy to share the memories!

Happy to share the experience

I will say it this way….. 4WD high clearance is recommended. In typical conditions like you see in this video, you probably won’t run into a situation where high clearance is really needed. However, the route does cross a number of washes and dry creek beds that if they were flowing, or if they had been recently eroded by a flash flood, could create clearance issues. Not to mention the river crossing that would become problematic at greater water depths. I would always advise to check in at the main visitor center in the park to see what the current conditions are and make your decisions from there.

Glad you’re enjoying yours!

Thank you Monica! I would say they enjoy these trips most of the time. 😏

Only while I’m being filmed 😉

Meh. I think you should let some ocd things go.

@@user-zc8mk7mm7w Ah, another person who can't go into the wilderness without music blasting in his ears.

Thank you Laura!

Thanks Valorie! Glad you enjoyed it.

All drone footage was filmed on BLM land, where it is completely legal.

A significant portion of that loop is not within the park boundaries.

ok karen

Learn something before commenting lol.. the Bentonite Hills drone section was amazing and outside of the park...

FAA licenses for drone flying isnt that hard. Nor is being a steward.

Definitely worth the trip. I wish I could have done more night sky there, a return to the area will be in my future someday.

Thank you Lelija! Happy to share the experience, it was an enjoyable one.

Thank you Lelija! Watch for the next episode coming soon.

Merry Christmas to all of you

It’s been a journey, but mine is finally coming in this week. Looking forward to it!

Mine is finally on its way. Looking forward to it!

Your use case I guess is different from mine, but that hardly makes what I do “limited”. I always carry a second battery for every camera I own, it’s just good practice, and buying the grip for the Z8 really just means you should have bought the Z9 to start with. I haven’t seen any complaints out there about the thermal management, and it’s way to early to make any commentary on the reliability of the camera. I believe it will hold up quite well over time, just as the Z9 has. Some people do need a Z9, I just don’t see myself as one of them.

@@NicholasJensenPhotography Being that you titled this video "landscape and astrophotography" and you articulate further on these use cases in the video, I would say probably your use cases are very limited. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself. You do what you.

​@@NicholasJensenPhotographyi haven't even seen a Z8 in person, much less use one- but apparently the Z8 thermal issues are all related to video (based on the reviews I've seen). The Z8 was a rumor when i got my Z9 10/22, but i probably would have get the Z8 today as i don't do video and i sometimes find myself wishing the Z9 was smaller. BTW, nice astro shots!

That one was taken with my Tamron 35mm f/1.8 F mount lens, using the FTZII adapter. The sequence with Longs Peak was taken with the Z 14-24 f/2.8, the Tamron 35 again, and the Z 50mm f/1.2. The final one with the barn was taken with the Sigma 14-24 f/2.8 Art lens in F mount, again using the FTZII adapter.

I imagine it would be a great replacement to the Z7, but I haven’t spent time with it yet to give a more detailed review.

Did you upgrade? If so, what do you think? If you still have the Z7II- I'd think the Z8 would only be worth upgrading if you need better FPS and AF.

Thank you!

Sanjoy, I'd be happy to have you join me on one of my workshops this year! Choose the perfect one and sign up at www.nicholasjensenphotography.com/classes-tours

Thank you! It was a great time out in the mountains, looking forward to sharing more video at a future time.

Thank you Debi! I’m putting together the workshop schedule for this year this weekend, so watch for that soon.

Thank you!

Thank you!