Re: [APML] Astrophotography 2004 - Price Shock Horror

[georgea@cam.org]

How about getting down to magnitude 15 in real time with a video camera on a 
16" newt. Better yet, the newt is loacted in a shopping center parking lot in 
downtown Ottawa Canada.
OK, the resolution does not match with the latest generation (or even last 
generation) of astro cams.
But for around $1000 canadian pesos it does acomplish a fair bit.
http://mallincam.tripod.com/videoccd/id4.html
I have no affiliation with Rock other than I met him once while deep sky 
observing from a dark site.

George Anderson
Montreal Canada



Quoting glenn shaw <glennshaw@alaska.net>:

> This argument that prices in our hobby have increased is both and not true. 
> For example, I was able to buy a war surplus Aero Ektar from C&H surplus in 
> Pasadena for $25 (f2.8, 7 inch focal length, quite good optics, Tessar 
> design) and build myself an adequate system to photograph the stars and 
> galaxies in 1964 for nothing more than a poor starving student's wage 
> income. It did, however, take considerable creativity and work.
> 
> I'm sure its just the same way now, except the possibilities are much 
> greater for a creative person.
> 
> However, its surely true that there are more high end manufacturer's 
> building more high end products, this being possible because of the 
> generally excellent economy and style of living that we have in this 
> country. It therefore can be very frustrating for a guy who wants a Posche 
> to be frustrated because of his lack of the $60k or so that it takes. 
> However, there are plenty of opportunities if you are willing to cludge a 
> little and not insist on designer products.
> 
> I know darn well that one can buy an excellent Newtonian and a good used 
> mount and get set up with a CCD consumer grade camera, used, by expending 
> no more than probably $1k.
> 
> Glenn Shaw
> 
> At 04:39 AM 6/3/04, you wrote:
> >On Wed, 2 Jun 2004, Chris Schur wrote:
> >
> > > [...]
> > > 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.
> >
> >Chris,
> >
> >I have similar feelings from time to time - however, there are many niches
> >in astrophotography where one can obtain unusual results without making
> >huge investments. 20 years ago, we saw good astrophotos in small, monthly
> >doses in the well-known astronomy magazines. Today, we see a stream of
> >high-quality images each time we check our email. Using high-end equipment
> >is one way of producing pictures that stand out from the rest - but not
> >the only one.
> >
> >I have to admit that I did start CCD imaging last year, but I tried to
> >minimize equipment cost by using as much of my old equipment as possible.
> >My Minolta lenses work very nicely with the SXV-H9 (and due to the
> >smaller chip size I can even shoot at a faster f-stop: 50 mm @ f/2.4 gives
> >pinpoint stars on CCD, but shows severely elongated stars in the
> >corners of a 35 mm film image). Besides, I continue to shoot on film
> >(sometimes in combination with CCD-Halpha).
> >
> >As for software cost, there are a lot of free alternatives. True, the
> >learning curve of packages like IRAF, MIDAS, Gimp, etc. may be steeper,
> >but it saves you $$ that can be spent on new hardware.
> >
> >
> >Clear skies,
> >
> >Axel
> >
> >--
> >Axel Mellinger  <http://canopus.physik.uni-potsdam.de/~axm/astrophot.html>
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/astro-photo
> 
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> 



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