Hi All, I’m a relative newby also. I live outside of Kingman. I’d like to join
in the discussion as well, if that’s ok. I’m planning to attend the AAMM also,
my third time. This year i just plan on playing with my “new” AP setup ironing
bugs out. Setup is AP400 mount, Stellarvue SVQ100 scope, Canon DSLR, and misc.
bits and pieces.
Hope to meet you guys in 2 weeks!
ChrisP
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 17, 2019, at 3:52 PM, Jim Sellers <jsellersaz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Mike
My name is Jim Sellers (EVAC member since Jan 2018). I am a newbie as far as
Astro photography and would like to join your discussion if you don’t mind.
I too admire Bernard’s images and that’s what inspires me to try to get the
best possible images I can from my roughly ~$5k investment in equipment.
Celestron AVX mount, 9.25” Celestron OTA, Canon T7i dslr and Explore
Scientific ED127mm cf refractor. My biggest change at the moment is learning
to auto guide my AVX mount to enable longer image exposures of DSO’S.
I am recently retired and can now invest in much more time pursuing this fun
hobby from my light polluted backyard sky in Chandler. I am planning to
attend the Messier Marathon this month. If your going maybe we’ll get a
chance to meet and share some of our experiences.
Jim
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 17, 2019, at 3:27 PM, Diane Hakala <diane.hakala8033@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:--
Hahaha! Thanks Mike
Diane
On Mar 17, 2019, at 3:25 PM, Michael McDonald <mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If you look at my Crescent “Nebula” images from last June when I really
started, you’ll see just how bad I really am! There are only two images so
far that I consider “nice”. But I feel I’m ever so slightly better today
than back then. Although I forgot to check my focus again last night before
starting the imaging run! So I still make that mistake! But I did catch it
after the first image came in.
And focusing turns out to be a lot harder than everyone makes it sound:
"Well, just minimize the FWHM. It’s that simple.” What they don’t tell you
is the reading will bounce around from 0.3 (a sharp star) to 2.2 (a donut)
from frame to frame. And every time you touch the focus knob jitters the
whole thing! So you kind of end up telling yourself this set of random
numbers feels a little lower on average than the previous set of random
numbers so I must have turned the knob in the right direction. Hopefully!
Anyway, my point is there’s a lot of assumed knowledge in the literature
and the forums. So please don’t feel you’re interrupting to ask questions,
to rant about what went wrong last night, or to share your successes and
failures. I probably don’t know the answer to most of your questions but
I’ll share what I think might be happening.
Besides, this forum seems to be mostly me ranting about what went wrong the
night before and Bernard posting beautiful images to keep us motivated. And
until they all vote to kick me out for boring them, I’m going to keep
talking about my journey.
Mike McDonald
mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Mar 17, 2019, at 2:31 PM, Diane Hakala <diane.hakala8033@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Ok Mike! Thanks for the encouragement. But I’m way behind. I just got an
RI2 for video to get my feet wet and learn some concepts. I just don’t
want to interrupt. Just know that I’m lurking and loving all your pics and
information!
Diane
On Mar 17, 2019, at 2:19 PM, Michael McDonald <mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
No! Don’t go away! Us newbies need to stick together! :-)
I’ve only be doing this astrophotography thing for 7-8 months now. This
month’s Messier Marathon will be my second time I’ve taken my rig out of
the backyard! The first time was last October for the All Arizona Star
Party. I got nothing out of my telescope on that trip due to one blunder
after another on my part. I did get one image of the Pleiades taken with
my Canon DSLR and a 200mm lens on a StarAdventurer “mount”. It actually
has a bit of blue nebulosity in it, a first for me! I considered the trip
a resounding success! Astrophotography is teaching me to count my “wins”
wherever and however I can! :-)
You can see just how new I am by looking at my (bad!) images here:
http://www.mikemac.com/Astrophotos/ ;<http://www.mikemac.com/Astrophotos/>
Mike McDonald
mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Mar 17, 2019, at 1:28 PM, Diane Hakala <diane.hakala8033@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Bernard,
You don’t know me. I’m in the Phoenix Astro Society, and am just
investigating astrophotography. I just wanted to say thanks; this is
very helpful information. I’ll go away now :-)
Diane
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