Astrophotography Article

[Mike Farley]

Sorry, guys, it's on Lula.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/techn ... teps.shtml

[Paul Heester]

I skimmed the contents but his costs seem astronomical (pun intended). He is using a $6000 lens on a $8500 medium format camera using a $3000 rig!!!!!!!!!

Whilst I do appreciate the night sky from a photography point of view I prefer some earth-bound foreground interest, which can be achieved MUCH cheaper.

[Mike Farley]

I only posted because I know that there are a few people in the club with an interest in the subject. Not knowing too much about it myself, I thought that there might be some learnings. Reichmann is using the Pentax 645z because he has one and likes it, but I would be most surprised if other cameras could not be used. Also, he thought about the $6,000 lens, but opted for something different, bought secondhand on eBay for half that amount. That leaves the tracking device, but presumably there are cheaper options - hand guiding even, and various other bits of hardware. The software he mentions seems reasonably priced.

I do agree that photographing just the heavens will not be for everyone, but those who do enjoy the activity will probably have at least some of the kit already.

[davidc]

You can do it an absolute ton cheaper than what he's proposing. Madness.

[Mike Farley]

You can do it an absolute ton cheaper than what he's proposing. Madness.

Tax deductable, presumably.