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Hello from Lisbon, Portugal

Zylkan

By Zylkan
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Zylkan

Zylkan

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Hello my friends,

Just a beginner when it comes to photography in general and astrophotography in particular.

My budget is normally very limited but my drive and passion for this is growing and I'll do what I can to respond to my urges :p Being a recent father doesn't help either when it comes to free time as I'm sure many of you know.

I have a Nikon D5200 body (unmodded) and I invested in a few old school manual focus lenses since getting new glass would literally take me forever. I have:

Samyang 14mm F2.8,

Nikon 50mm F1.8 AI,

Jupiter 37A 135mm F3.5,

Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 200mm F4 (which I have yet to find a way to use on a Nikon body with infinity focus... or maybe I'll just switch to Canon some day!)

Tair 3A 300mm F4.5 which will require a full re-grease service and cleaning

I started playing around at night shooting some landscape astrophotography with the Samyang and I got hooked... When / if budget permits, my next steps will be to buy a decent tripod and a tracking mount. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to have a dedicated body so I can mod it.

Anyway I'm eager to learn and surround myself with like-minded people

Cheers!

José

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Jose and welcome to SGL, with all your photographic gear, looks like you will be going down the Astrotrack route for a tracking device. If you are into DIY, you could look up Dave Trotts "Barn Door" mount project, of which there are now many variations, some that will track for quite long periods. Very useful when finances are tight and you are a bit handy with tools :)

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Zylkan

Zylkan

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Hi Jose and welcome to SGL, with all your photographic gear, looks like you will be going down the Astrotrack route for a tracking device. If you are into DIY, you could look up Dave Trotts "Barn Door" mount project, of which there are now many variations, some that will track for quite long periods. Very useful when finances are tight and you are a bit handy with tools :)

Hi John thanks for the welcome and for the barn door tip. I've looked into a few designs before although I never actually tried building one. The Dave Trotts' designs do seem quite promising I should say.

I've been going crazy trying to decide what will be my next move gear wise and will be creating a new thread with a few questions when time permits. Astrotrac seems a no-brainer really although I admit the Star Adventurer and its lower price definitely got my attention.

However, I actually do need a decent tripod first and foremost. That's why I haven't started a new thread yet - I don't even know what to ask yet!! :p

Cheers,

José

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Welcome, José. You live in my favourite city! In fact my wife and I have just booked a flight out there for our summer holiday. You should be able to get to dark skies fairly easily, I guess.

Olly (Englishman living in France.)

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Zylkan

Zylkan

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Thanks guys!

Olly that's great! I hope you have a great time!

I do have the privilege to stay at a fairly good place on most weekends at my wife's family place, just one hour drive from Lisbon (to the North). My last session was in a cold cold night last December. I may post some pics later on.

However, whenever I have the chance there are at least two places here I most definitely need to go for some serious attempts at photographing the starry skies. One of those I never actually been before - shame on me - and from what I've learned it should be fairly well known by many among you - The Alqueva region

http://www.darkskyalqueva.com/

"Alqueva is the first site in the world to receive the “Starlight Tourism Destination” certification. This certification, awarded by the Starlight Foundation is supported by UNESCO, UNWTO and IAC. Starlight destinations are visitable places characterized by excellent quality for the contemplation of starry skies, and the practice of tourist activities based on this resource."

So yeah, this summer I'll try to visit the town of Monsaraz, almost at the Spanish border in the Alqueva region and see what I manage to pull off over there

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