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New To AP.... end to spending?


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I don't agree that people are jealous.

You might not be but I certainly am. I'd be willing to do unthinkable things to get my hands on that rig.

I'm with the OP and see no need to slowly upgrade your equipment... Hit the ground running if you can afford it but the learning curve is going to be nearly vertical.

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There's no right or wrong way - if you can master high end gear from the start then good luck to you - but the spending will never end !!!

Ah how true, dibs on being the first home brewed webcammer' on the ISS.

Spending never ends, I know, even down to a missed bolt, that could have been avoided (this week).

However, in all the time I have been privileged to be a member of this forum, real and destructive jealousy has Never been a problem. Yeah we all drool over supeb kit and wish that we could have it, but I've never seen anyone be negatively jealous.

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I appreciate everyone's input. One piece of this puzzle which may or may not make things make more sense. I'm a single 42yr old guy who's spent the last eight years undergoing a series of 8 major back surgeries. I'm now on disability. All I have is time and I wanted a deep pool to jump in. I have nothing else in my life and was in desperate need of something which required exactly what AP offers.

Anyways again, thank you and hopefully I begin posting images in the very near future.

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Ah how true, dibs on being the first home brewed webcammer' on the ISS.

You've got me intrigued. I assume that you were not the first to use a webcam from the ISS but what do you mean by home brewed?

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A small observation pehaps but I think the learning curve is the point! A renowned imager who I know call a friend told me at the beginning that the imaging learning curve was a steep one but if we could achieve perfect images within a few weeks we would all give up. Even with modest equipment an experienced imager with a few really good nights can astound. In a way the better the equipment the bigger the challenge. Heavens knows the processing alone has taken me two years to be fair. The pool is deep but you can control it up to a point and it is very therapeutic for me. Keep up the enthusiasm and good luck. Best wishes Tony.

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Crumbs, that looks awkward...

As for the spending, it'll stop when you're ready for it to, or the money runs out. The kit you have looks fab. I would suggest that, until you learn fully what you have, and identify a specific need that needs to be filled before spending more, you probably don't need to spend anymore at this time. 

1) Spend the time to understand how to setup the mount as accurately as you can. Do so during the day, so you get a decent feel for using the mount whilst you can see everything clearly. 

2) Repeat with the scope/s. 

3) Repeat with the cameras.

I'd recommend making a 'cheat' sheet checklist, probably get it laminated so you can tick, then wipe off for each setup. It's too easy to forget something otherwise..

Whilst it's great that you can do everything automatically, and oh boy would I love that ability (maybe one day, along with a permanent), by doing to do all manually, you'll get a better understanding of what is going on, and what needs to be done to get going, which will help with the automatic setups.

I use all my gear for a mix of visual and imaging, it all depends on what's going on, and who's around. This is where understanding how everything works helps in the long run, as it's not to hard to switch from one to the other. 

I have a cupboard full of bits and pieces, I've no idea how much I've spent (although I tend to try and improvise as required for what I'm trying to achieve where possible, £30 on teflon tape to improve my focussers for example, instead of £300 on upgrades). 

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On my HEQ5 there is a simple path to get up and running and then there are features and controls to add as experience and competency increase. I imagine this is even more applicable to your higher end equipment. You don't need to know it all to get a result. This means once you are up and running, there is a whole world of improvements you can make as you discover and use new functionality based on actual experience of imaging itself. Nice.

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