Re: [APML] Astrophotography 2004 - Price Shock Horror

[Chris Schur <comets133@yahoo.com>]

Richard, thats what I keep telling my wife - I dont
drive a porsche, or have a huge boat payment.  So far
its worked...

Chris
--- Richard Crisp <rdcrisp@earthlink.net> wrote:
> why should it be different than motorsports,
> watersports (sailing or power
> boat racing), bass fishing or any other gear
> intensive hobby?
> 
> That's not to say I like the trend, but it just
> looks like that's the way it
> is if you want to be at the top. It just costs money
> for the equipment and
> then there's the time angle too.
> 
> Heck even bicycle riders and runners get all hung up
> in the gear too. $500
> for a pair of sneakers, $5K for a bicycle that is 1
> pound lighter than the
> other ones etc etc. How many people can spend the
> time to do the practice
> necessary to be competitive in the Tour De France
> for example? Either you
> have to be sponsored, rich or be willing to be a
> single pauper to devote the
> time necessary to excel.
> 
> Of course if you don't care about being at the
> leading edge, avoid using the
> Internet to see what others are doing, or are very
> good at rolling your own
> gear, then maybe a shoestring budget can yield
> pleasing results.
> 
> I am a busy guy with my work so I don't have the
> time necessary to build
> much of my gear outside of simple "plumbing"
> adaptors. But you can build
> excellent mounts (did you see that beauty Brian Lula
> made?), excellent
> scopes, adaptive optics (the AO7 was a home-brew
> originally) and cameras
> (can you say cookbook). It is just a time versus
> money tradeoff.
> 
> Sensors are hard though: but most manufacturers will
> sell you an
> "engineering grade" sensor at a much reduced price.
> For many of us an
> engineering grade sensor is quite adequate,
> particularly if it is big
> enough...
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chris Schur" <comets133@yahoo.com>
> To: <astro-photo@seds.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 1:35 PM
> Subject: [APML] Astrophotography 2004 - Price Shock
> Horror
> 
> 
> > Hi all,
> >
> > The all too depressing financial reality set in
> for me
> > this weekend at the RTMC from the current trends I
> am
> > seeing in the amateur skyshooters options.  A
> decade
> > ago, you could take a home made mounting, a less
> than
> > a hundred dollar 35m SLR, and a 3 buk roll of film
> and
> > with a lot of care and patience, get stunning
> images
> > that could rank up there with the best
> > astrophotograhers, and get those images published
> in
> > the magazines.
> > Now all of that has changed.  Exept for mine, all
> of
> > the talks this year were centered on digital or
> CCD
> > imageing.  Must-have gear includes the $4000 to
> $8000
> > ccd cameras, a new $12K mount because that mount
> that
> > worked so well with film isnt good enough anymore,
> and
> > of course a complete digital darkroom wtih the
> > software alone costing more than the 35mm SLR was.
> > Dont get me wrong, I do like to see the hobby
> > advancing, but to now the playing field is no
> longer
> > level - highly skilled astrophotographers can no
> > longer compete on the world playing field without
> > being very well to do financially as well.  This
> was
> > painfully apparent when most of the old time
> friends,
> > which were the best of the best film photographers
> > only what seems a short while ago simply can no
> longer
> > afford a fraction of the gear needed to show off
> thier
> > SKILLS.
> >
> > The trend that seems to be geling is that most
> imagers
> > of today must be both competent in both making
> money
> > as well as have the rudiments of sky shooting
> skills.
> >
> > I love change, but is this really fair?
> >
> > Any comments ?
> >
> >
> >
> >
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