Astrophotography Shootout £6k vs £600

[RT65CB-SWL]

55 minutes ago, rorymultistorey said:

  

Yeh i hear you but i think even astrobackyard admits he's not a pro. I'm not a pro either. I think mr backyard is good at processing but in all honesty i haven't watch that many of his vids. In general   i have sympathy with anyone trying to make a living out of astro youtube videos. Im actually going take some more time off work to make some more.  Currently im earning $25 a day from adds.  Enough to feed me but not the rest of the family and certainly not enough to pay the London mortgage.  

What I like about your videos @rorymultistorey / astrobiscuit / Rory; you don't talk 🐮💩 [bull$4!t] and your equipment, (like mine is sourced secondhand or other - my 'scopes and eighty per-cent of my other equipment has been secondhand or other and I am content with that). You are passionate about the hobby and pushing it to the limits of what is feasible on a given budget.

You don't brag that acmescopes has kindly sent me; this piece of equipment to review/play with etc., like some do. You speak for the majority of the people that are employed, unemployed, furloughed, retired, other, etc., that want to pursue a hobby without the debt. I just want to say "THANK YOU!" from the majority that share the same hobby as you and I do and cannot afford to spend £000's

Keep the making videos mate! ...and "don't let the buggers get you down!" is what my late grand-father would say to me when things get tough.

  

Edited May 12, 2020 by Philip R

[Paul M]

40 minutes ago, gorann said:

Maybe you should take the AstroBackyard guy with a grain of salt

I take most things with a pinch of salt!

I watch quite a lot of YouTube content on general aviation and round the world yachting, all produced by amateurs (with one exception). I'm not about to go flying or take on the Panama Canal any time soon I just enjoy the escapism. Same with AstroBackyard. Of course it's got a commercial bent, he's got a lot of shiny toys out of it and good luck to him. It takes a lot of effort to produce that content and it gives him a payday. 

All I want is entertaining. I'm in no rush to get kitted up for serious imaging (it's a hobby, how can it be "serious"?  ) and certainly wouldn't be spending on that kind of gear even if I was.

 

[rorymultistorey]

3 hours ago, happy-kat said:

If that's $25 dollars a day that's enough to feed more than one person

Ha... did I mention I like single malt. Also $25 is the most I've ever earnt in one day thanks to this video being so popular.  So  it seems 18000 views turns into $25. It'll probably go back down to the regular which is more like $25 a month. 

[rorymultistorey]

@white dwarf thank you most appreciated 😉

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

2 minutes ago, rorymultistorey said:

@white dwarf thank you most appreciated 😉

 

Who... me! 😜

[Guest]

It was such an excellent watch, especially for someone like myself, trying to put an astrophotography rig together on budget. Very, very motivating! Awesome work @rorymultistorey

The £600 budget still amazes me. My setup of Sky-watcher EQM-35, Sky-watcher Evostar 72D Pro, OVL Flattener, Canon 600D and peltier cooler is still missing guidescope and guide camera and I have already broken the £1000 barrier.

I completely agree it should attract new people to the amazing hobby and that can only be a good thing.

11/10 sir!

[rorymultistorey]

15 minutes ago, Philip R said:

Who... me! 😜

As I never, ever cock up I'm going to run with the idea that i was actually just randomly and spontaneously  thanking white dwarf.  He is a very fine, nay one of the finest moderators (oh dear... where is that Glenmorangie?)

Edited May 12, 2020 by rorymultistorey

[ollypenrice]

6 minutes ago, rorymultistorey said:

where is that Glenmorangie?)

Well I haven't got it!!!

Olly

[RT65CB-SWL]

1 hour ago, rorymultistorey said:

As I never, ever cock up I'm going to run with the idea that i was actually just randomly and spontaneously  thanking white dwarf.  He is a very fine, nay one of the finest moderators (oh dear... where is that Glenmorangie?)

Pink Bunny...  sorry, I meant Roger Rabbit drunk in R. K. Maroon's office.  

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Philip R

[gorann]

Since we drifted more and more into videos on this thred, here is for something completely different (i.e. not 600 or even 6000 pounds!)

I found it quite stressful to watch when you see a 1.25 m mirror lifted by a tractor and then when they realize they built the doors to the shed too low......

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by gorann

[Chris]

9 hours ago, gorann said:

Maybe you should take the AstroBackyard guy with a grain of salt. He often seems to be selling products sent to him and he loves them all. Some of the episodes really reveals a lack of knowledge, like the three episodes where he starts imaging with a Celestron EdgeHD 11". For SCTs and especially for that rather big one you really need off-axis guiding and he was using a finderguider, the most inadequate guiding equipment you can use for that scope. Not surprising, the stars in his final image were far from round and it all looked very fuzzy. In the middle of one of the EdgeHD episodes, he suddenly shows the new Canon EOS Ra that has nothing to do with anything else there. In a later episode he reveals that it was sent to him from Canon, so not purchased by him (he did not reveal if he got to keep it).

I thought exactly the same regarding a finder guider on a large SCT - wrong focal length and mirror flop, any adjustments wouldn't be able to keep up! I know he didn't get to keep the Canon Ra because in his last video he mentioned ordering his own to keep as an upgrade to his 60Da. 

 

[Chris]

8 hours ago, Philip R said:

you don't brag that acmescopes has kindly sent me; this piece of equipment to review/play with etc

Are you sure this is bragging? Wouldn't it be rude and out of order to not thank a company for sending you a product? I've been in this situation myself when reviewing some entry level telescopes for FLO a while back, and It feel wrong and ungrateful to contemplate not giving FLO some credit for going out of their way.    

[happy-kat]

Given the recent exposures on 'influencers' I would say it is right to mention who kindly provided the x y z being reviewed

[Knight of Clear Skies]

23 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

...but I'll negotiate. Ha with RGB stars. How about that?

If you wanted a real challenge Olly, what could you do with just 5 or 10 minutes of data? In those circumstances I suspect my budget rig and idiosyncratic methods could win out.  You have a permanent setup and less cloud to contend with than UK imagers, but many of us have limited imaging opportunities for various reasons.

This is just 5 seconds of integration time from a couple nights ago but I'm thinking in terms of enough focal length to show some DSO features....

Edited May 13, 2020 by Knight of Clear Skies

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

If you wanted a real challenge Olly, what could you do with just 5 or 10 minutes of data? In those circumstances I suspect my budget rig and idiosyncratic methods could win out.  You have a permanent setup and less cloud to contend with than UK imagers, but many of us have limited imaging opportunities for various reasons.

This is just 5 seconds of integration time from a couple nights ago but I'm thinking in terms of enough focal length to show some DSO features....

Nice. 

I wouldn't want this proposed duel to the death to take on a serious character! 🐰  But to take it seriously for a moment, restricting exposure time and object faintness would be like proposing a race between a Dacia Sandero and a Porsche 997 in a 3Omph zone. In a 30mph zone they both do 30mph. Round Silverstone things might be different. The whole point of a premium mount is that it can reliably knock out 30 minute subs while supporting a very high resolution. And the whole point of a premium apo is that it can focus all visible wavelengths onto very similar planes. Ha is almost monochromatic so it doesn't test the lens correction. And the whole point of a cooled CCD is that it can benefit from 30 minute subs. Etc etc etc.

In truth the conclusion of the original video is correct: on mainstream targets you can do very well indeed with well chosen budget gear and the advantage of the posh stuff lies mainly in its convenience. I processed some of Singlin's M101 data from a 10 inch Quattro recently and it was in no way inferior to my TEC140 data. Sorting out the Quattro took him a while, though. Big budget brings an easy life more certainly than it brings better pictures.

Olly

[Knight of Clear Skies]

3 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

But to take it seriously for a moment, restricting exposure time and object faintness would be like proposing a race between a Dacia Sandero and a Porsche 997 in a 3Omph zone.

Kind of, yes, but the Sandero would genuinely manage better over the speedbumps. Proposed in the spirit of fun but there are some serious points hiding in there.

5 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Big budget brings an easy life more certainly than it brings better pictures.

It can do, yes, but my cheap simple kit gets more use as I can be up and running in 5 minutes and packed away in even less time.

[ollypenrice]

6 minutes ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Kind of, yes, but the Sandero would genuinely manage better over the speedbumps. Proposed in the spirit of fun but there are some serious points hiding in there.

It can do, yes, but my cheap simple kit gets more use as I can be up and running in 5 minutes and packed away in even less time.

Yes, there's a difference between permanent setups and portable ones. Maurice Toet has a high end portable one: modified professional DSLR, Tak Epsilon, AP Mach One. If you divided the image quality by the length of cable in the rig he would be unbeatable! 🤣  He's pretty unbeatable as it is...

Olly

[Star101]

On 06/05/2020 at 21:39, gorann said:

Very professional and entertaining, quite amazing really - just like Top  Gear! He forgot about the collimation part of a scope that just got nearly cut in half at the local garage, but never mind. And at the end the mesage was the usual one - spend your money on the mount first😅

Having been sold a CG-5GT and C11 as a good setup when I was a Beginner, 10 years ago.  I had to laugh seeing it in this video. I took my 5GT to a star party once... They only said no lights...No one said you had to be quite!! 🤣 Its the noisiest mount I have ever heard. Back home in the garden I had to choose an object before kids went to bed else the mount would wake the neighbours when slewing.

 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

45 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Maurice Toet has a high end portable one: modified professional DSLR, Tak Epsilon, AP Mach One.

Recognised the name and had another look at his site, really top notch. Maybe one day I could think about a Tak Epsilon but i don't know how much of a maintenance hog it would be.

[Star101]

Very entertaining video. That must have taken an age to make. From setting up to imaging and all that work in between....Must have taken days to make. And yes, Hammonds brother, maybe?   

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Recognised the name and had another look at his site, really top notch. Maybe one day I could think about a Tak Epsilon but i don't know how much of a maintenance hog it would be.

More initial setup than maintenance, I think. 

Olly

[Knight of Clear Skies]

8 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

More initial setup than maintenance, I think. 

Olly

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

[RT65CB-SWL]

14 hours ago, Lockie said:

Are you sure this is bragging? Wouldn't it be rude and out of order to not thank a company for sending you a product? I've been in this situation myself when reviewing some entry level telescopes for FLO a while back, and It feel wrong and ungrateful to contemplate not giving FLO some credit for going out of their way.    

OK so 'brag' maybe a bit harsh a word to use; so I will take it back and would like to take this opportunity to apologise. 

By all means do give credit and thanks to acmescopes [and others involved]. My reply to the topic was to say that you can make something work on a limited budget.

[stash_old]

Anyways its the Sound Man ,Not Rory (LOL) ,who makes the video great to watch -  just like in the movies - watch Jaws without the music and its not scary at all - honest😱

[Chris]

6 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Anyways its the Sound Man ,Not Rory (LOL) ,who makes the video great to watch -  just like in the movies - watch Jaws without the music and its not scary at all - honest😱

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