Astrophotography Shootout £6k vs £600

[Chris]

33 minutes ago, Philip R said:

My reply to the topic was to say that you can make something work on a limited budget.

Absolutely agree. I've been using a supermarket webcam costing 12 quid and an industrial looking Early 90's Meade mount which cost 65 quid for my imaging  And I'm about to up cycle a mouldy shed with a rotten floor into an RoR obsy. Lots of fun without breaking the bank   

[RT65CB-SWL]

14 minutes ago, Lockie said:

They're a good duo Rory and Ricktenstein, video ideas, humour, execution, editing, effects, and the sound all top notch. 

You forgot Pink Bunny...

[Chris]

4 minutes ago, Philip R said:

You forgot Pink Bunny...

Ooops that was a mistake, he looks like he holds a grudge! 🐰🔪👀😬

[smr]

I was impressed by the production value of this video when I saw it, the editing is kind of top gear-esque (which is a good thing) and the subject matter is interesting too... it shows what you can achieve if you think about what you can invest in on a modest budget.

Having recently started my own Youtube channel I understand how time consuming video editing is even for my videos, so with that kind of production quality I can imagine it took quite a long time to make!

[Chris]

1 hour ago, smr said:

I was impressed by the production value of this video when I saw it, the editing is kind of top gear-esque (which is a good thing) and the subject matter is interesting too... it shows what you can achieve if you think about what you can invest in on a modest budget.

Having recently started my own Youtube channel I understand how time consuming video editing is even for my videos, so with that kind of production quality I can imagine it took quite a long time to make!

I was thinking the same, must have taken them weeks and weeks to put a single video together! I'll check out some of your videos.  

[ollypenrice]

4 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Have you never been tempted Olly? Or with your skies and data collection time is f2.8 not so important to you?

I'll take the risk of being totally honest: I don't like faffing with kit. I have a hell of a lot of it on the premises - three rigs that need to 'just work' for our guests - so simple beats fickle. I also host six robotic setups and these make demands on my 'kit faffing' time, if you see what I mean!  The ultimate 'sky hoover' for me was the Twin Tak FSQ106/Full frame CCD/Mesu 200. The Taks were F5 so two of them equate to F4, give or take a bit of nerdy argument. That was perfect for me. Very fast and residual noise diminished by data combining from two cameras. This rig has now become the Twin TEC140/Atik460/Moravian8300/Mesu 200 rig which is still pretty mean. It is more seeing-dependent but that's inevitable at higher resolution.

No sub F4 optical single optical system currently available tempts me in the slightest but I can perfectly well see why it tempts others. They are not wrong to be tempted! I just need 'easy.'

Olly

[Alien 13]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

No sub F4 optical single optical system currently available tempts me in the slightest but I can perfectly well see why it tempts others. They are not wrong to be tempted! I just need 'easy.'

Olly

Not even the mighty Samyang 135 mm f/2 lens?

Alan

[JonC]

Just a quick thanks for making this video. Its inspired me and a friend from work, just had a text that he's picked up a SW 200p dob.

[ollypenrice]

9 hours ago, Alien 13 said:

Not even the mighty Samyang 135 mm f/2 lens?

Alan

Sorry, I wasn't thinking of camera lenses. It's ultra-fast scopes which don't tempt me.

Olly

Edited May 14, 2020 by ollypenrice

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

This video is really funny!  You have such a nice style @rorymultistorey I subscribed instantly after watching it.

I love that you have both the expensive stuff but dont forget the low end stuff as well. Guys like Dylan O Donell and Trevor Jones totally leave their roots behind as they get send fancy gear by suppliers. 

I also started with that hateful cg5. God that thing sucked. I finally hit it with a hammer, then sold it to my best friend, He continued hating it for 2 years until he also hit it, then sold it. I hope it will receive many more hits.

But the dreaded thing got me hooked and now I own a 6k set-up as well. The cg5 must be some sort of evil device made by a secret union of astro gear manufacturers.

Edited May 27, 2020 by Obi Wan Ken00bi

[nfotis]

Nice video, I stumbled upon it from a Greek forum, and I appreciated the humor and execution.

Subscribed to the Youtube channel already (and saw other videos as well).

Much appreciate the time and effort gone into this.

 

N.F.

[rnobleeddy]

I think I watched this after I'd already decided to take up the hobby, but lockdown lead to a bit of a blur! Either way, this video helped inspire me to try to do the same.  It was also reminiscent of Top Gear when it was good.

I didn't quite hit the £600 mark - I ended up with some new stuff and a lot of second hand stuff for around £850. I managed to get my first decent shot of the sky last night, but didn't manage to actually include the thing I was after, and before I had a chance to fix it, cloud forced me to bed. 

I fear that my mount may end up as annoying as the one in this video, but half of the fun is the journey...