PorkyB

Bromsgrove Astro have a dark site, only 30 minutes from South Birmingham. They meet 1st and 3rd Monday each month.

I've always had good results from http://dscolourlabs.co.uk/ They're cheap too, £1.15 for 16x12. It took a bit of experimenting to get the image brightness right. I found the prints a bit dark so now I make the images a bit brighter for printing.

Last school year I did talks for 9 year olds and 5 year olds. I took a telescope and lots of photos. The children had clearly been well prepared by their teachers and knew a lot before I spoke to them. Most of the time was taken up with a Q&A session. The older children asked a huge variety of questions, from "have you ever seen a UFO?" to "Do any of the exoplanets found by Kepler have a breathable atmosphere?" (yes, really!). The younger children mostly wanted to know what the sun and planets are made of. It was a hugely enjoyable experience and I have been invited back to do the same this year.

There's a list on the front page of the Bromsgrove AS website (about a third of the way down the page). Not surprisingly it is tailored for central England. There is no distinction between easy / difficult or visual / imaging targets, but it's a starting point. http://www.broms-astro.co.uk/

W&W Astro are on ebay as "Dewheater". They sell dew heater bands and cables. I have bought several heater bands from them. All have arrived quickly, worked perfectly and are very competitively priced. My latest purchase is a heater to wrap around the secondary mirror of my Newtonian scopes - it works a treat. It's good to see a small supplier entering the market and doing such a good job.

Cricket bag and a couple of cheap pillows - just right for my 130PDS. I used to use a hockey kit bag for my bins, small scope and tripod.

All sold

I could post the eyepiece set at extra cost. I think the size and weight of the HEQ5 would make it uneconomic to post.

ED80 sold. HEQ5 Pro and eyepiece set still available

Skywatcher ED80 DS Pro (dual speed focuser), comes in original metal travel case with the following accessories: 50mm finderscope, 28mm (2”) LES Skywatcher eyepiece, 2” Di-Electric Star Diagonal. Telescope is in excellent condition. All accessories in excellent condition. Travelcase does have some marks and scuffs as would be expected from use. £300 Skywatcher Synscan HEQ5 Pro. Excellent condition, with Maplin’s shockproof, waterproof case. Original tripod £550 Celestron Eye Piece and Filter Kit. Eyepeices and filters in good condition. Travelcase does have marks and scuffs as would be expected from use. £45 Collection only from Birmingham. For the speediest response, please email lsearsthomas@gmail.com

I had a bit of a change of plan and ended up buying the Maxvision 16mm and 24mm. I thought the exit pupil of the larger EPs would be too much for my 50+ year old eyes. I am very happy with them, they are my most used eyepieces. I recommend them to anyone, the views are lovely and crisp.

For prints I use http://dscolourlabs.co.uk/ Print prices are cheap enough that you can afford to experiment a bit. I find their Pro service the best (that's where they don't do any adjustments). Make your images quite a bit brighter than you would for display on screen as they always come out darker than you expect. Quality is good and I have had orders back in less than 24 hours(order at lunch time and they arrive in next morning's post). For calendars I use http://www.saxoprint.co.uk/ Don't be fooled by the uk web address, they are in Germany, but they still turn orders round in less than a week.

Photoline http://pl32.com/ is my main image processing tool. It has many features of Photoshop, but at 59 Euros is much cheaper.

Processing is more art than science, I think. Subtlety is not my strong point, so I do sometimes overdo the red. That's why I never process images when I get in and I'm tired, I always have a good sleep first.

I like the dark background, but I do take your point about clipping out the detail. I am surprised I got so much done, I can't remember the last time I had an all-nighter. I don't have an observatory, all my gear gets packed into the car, driven 30 miles into the countryside and setup in a field.