Re: [APML] Total Investment in Equipment

[Glenn Shaw <gshaw@alaska.net>]

Dear List:

Here I am again, writing another responder to people asking how much
this hobby is likely to cost?

Some years ago I got crabby at my Doctor for sending me a $600 bill for
annual medical check up. He said, why the hell should you complain about
a cost round about what you'de pay to get your car winterized?".

I responded that even in Manhatten you could take a car to a garage and
get it winterized for this amount and in fact I had earlier that day
bought a gallon of antifreeze and done the job myself for 5 bucks. I
also said that if "people grew peaches at the efficiency the medical
profession operates, you would have to pay several thousand dollars for
a peach". I now, with greater wisdom know that that was a mistake: it
would be several tens of thousands of dollars for a peach!!!

And though I'm wising off and oversimplifying things in the paragraphs
above, I do well remember running around HOllywood in my early days as a
Hughes Fellow, trying to get a 4x5 inch graphic back for my emerging
astrocamera and getting referred to movie outfits. I ran into a lot of
mostly Jewish guys who were operating these small to large operations
affiliated with the movie industry and boy oh boy were these guys
helpful to me. They saw I was a young, inexperienced enthusiastic guy
wanting to get my hobby going and these guys plus the technicians that
worked at Mt Palomar helped me out, gave me things, and encouraged me.

I always liked Hollywood ever since, though I think the movies are meant
nowdays for the lowest classes.

glenn shaw

Alan Voetsch wrote:

> > So, how much do you have invested in your
> > astrophotography equipment?
>
> Hey Glenn,
>
> A quick work through shows somewhere between 8-10
> thousand dollars worth of equipment in my possesion
> right now. Sold some non-useful stuff on astromart in
> the summer. That cost includes a 12" LX200, TV-85 with
> an EM-1 mount, Taurus T III, 201 XT autoguider, 2 OM-1
> camera bodies with a few short lenses, Losmandy
> dovetail plate for piggyback work and a few other odds
> and ends.
>
> This does not include the computer we bought for image
> processing that we use for everything else because we
> are still too stupid to figure it out. I did buy a
> SS4000 that 5 other guys in our local club chipped in
> on. Cost to me was $150 including the SCSI card. That
> could probably fit into the above figure without
> inflating it.
>
> The future, you may ask. In the future I intend to
> acquire the world's largest RC scope, a monster Tak
> APO, and an ST-18 camera with 20K pixels on a side.
> These things however will take a little time. :-) AND
> A LOT OF BUCKS...
>
> Alan
>
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