Chris at DIY Astro joins FLO

[ollypenrice]

Yet another reason to go to FLO where retail expertise is matched by subject expertise.

I wonder if Chris knew Alan Longstaff at Hertfordhire. Alan wore his neurobiological hat there rather than his astronomical one but you never know.

Olly

[Saganite]

Well done Chris, so pleased for you..

Steve

[Toaster05]

Fantastic news! Really happy for you Chris! Much deserved.

Hopefully your great video output will continue.

[AstroNebulee]

12 hours ago, Rekrab said:

Congratulations Chris, I've only just come across your YouTube channel and find the content fantastic.

(While waiting for my Sky-watcher 200P to arrive, I today purchased a Celestron FirstScope from Flo after watching your video. Something to get me started while I wait for the big Dobsonian)

I had a celestron scope like that for my first scope and it gave me the bug for astro and never looked back 

[laudropb]

Congratulations Chris. Your enthusiasm to help newcomers to our hobby has always shone through in your videos.

[Chris]

13 hours ago, Rekrab said:

Congratulations Chris, I've only just come across your YouTube channel and find the content fantastic.

(While waiting for my Sky-watcher 200P to arrive, I today purchased a Celestron FirstScope from Flo after watching your video. Something to get me started while I wait for the big Dobsonian)

Very kind of you to say, cheers! and I hope you enjoy your literal FirstScope whilst you're waiting for your second  

The FirstScope does benefit from better eyepieces, but It's a fun scope that will get you used to the sky and how things work. Then what a big difference you'll find when the 200p arrives with all that extra aperture!

The good thing about the pair is the First scope will always be handy for when you just want a quick look between the clouds, or as a travel scope. Then on the more cloud free nights or when you have more time you can let the 200p cool outside and enjoy all that extra aperture

[Chris]

On 21/05/2021 at 17:18, JeremyS said:

This is excellent news. Congratulations @Chris, the artist formerly known as Lockie👍🏻

lol thanks Jeremy, you've always been very supportive on SGL, a thoroughly nice bloke  Unlike Prince I didn't change my name in rebellion against my record company 😄 I remember way back, I went by the name Starfox after a character in a Super Nintendo game...I've grown up a tiny bit...maybe...perhaps 😅

[Chris]

11 hours ago, Alan White said:

Wonderful news all round, congratulations @Chris but your still Lockie in our hearts.

Cheers Alan  Lockie is all good too, I might put aka Lockie in my sig  

[Chris]

11 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Great news Chris👍. I'm really pleased for you, a dream job for you, I'm sure.

I wish you and FLO the best possible success with your future working relationship😊.

Dave

Thanks Dave, very kind words  it really is! 

[Chris]

4 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Yet another reason to go to FLO where retail expertise is matched by subject expertise.

I wonder if Chris knew Alan Longstaff at Hertfordhire. Alan wore his neurobiological hat there rather than his astronomical one but you never know.

Olly

Thanks Ollie  It's a small world, I remember Alan very well! I studied Astronomy via a combined modular degree which meant I studied several subjects in my first year before majoring. I chose Astronomy, Geology and Biology in year one. 

Dr Longstaff was one of my biology lecturers and a memorable man (in a good way of course!) I remember him bounding up to me with a real smile on his face upon realising I was majoring in Astronomy. He was keen to share the Astronomy studies he was conducting in his spare time, it was great to chat with him   Alan was one of those lecturers you looked forward to seeing, very animated, and he had the ability to interweave entertaining stories into the learning material, sometimes rude like his nitric oxide story 😅

I remember your post several years back Ollie, I was very sad to hear of his passing. I obviously didn't know him really well as I just went to his classes, but I knew enough to know he made a real difference whilst he was here!  

[Chris]

3 hours ago, Saganite said:

Well done Chris, so pleased for you..

Steve

Thanks Steve! I'm really happy, or super stoked as surfer kids say 

[Chris]

3 hours ago, Toaster05 said:

Fantastic news! Really happy for you Chris! Much deserved.

Hopefully your great video output will continue.

I appreciate that, Cheers!  To stop the channel completely at this point would be like cutting off a limb, but I'll unfortunately need to slow down the content.

To be honest I was really struggling to put out a video once a week for such a long period of time, and fit that in with family life. I'm still working avidly on content such as the ultimate guide to the Summer Triangle I'm working on now, but I'm going to concentrate on quality over quantity and hopefully release a good video every month (give or take). This is more inline with some of the larger channels also.    

[ollypenrice]

17 minutes ago, Chris said:

Thanks Ollie  It's a small world, I remember Alan very well! I studied Astronomy via a combined modular degree which meant I studied several subjects in my first year before majoring. I chose Astronomy, Geology and Biology in year one. 

Dr Longstaff was one of my biology lecturers and a memorable man (in a good way of course!) I remember him bounding up to me with a real smile on his face upon realising I was majoring in Astronomy. He was keen to share the Astronomy studies he was conducting in his spare time, it was great to chat with him   Alan was one of those lecturers you looked forward to seeing, very animated, and he had the ability to interweave entertaining stories into the learning material, sometimes rude like his nitric oxide story 😅

I remember your post several years back Ollie, I was very sad to hear of his passing. I obviously didn't know him really well as I just went to his classes, but I knew enough to know he made a real difference whilst he was here!  

Lovely to hear this. I'm glad I asked. He really was a great guy.

Olly

[Chris]

1 hour ago, laudropb said:

Congratulations Chris. Your enthusiasm to help newcomers to our hobby has always shone through in your videos.

Thank you!  It really is make or break time for newcomers to the hobby. 

[Grifflin]

Congratulations Chris.....I would like to say that your YouTube channel more than anything else has probably inspired me to take up astronomy in a more serious way....and of course led me to recently join this forum. 😀

[Chris]

36 minutes ago, Grifflin said:

Congratulations Chris.....I would like to say that your YouTube channel more than anything else has probably inspired me to take up astronomy in a more serious way....and of course led me to recently join this forum. 😀

Oh wow that's brilliant! Welcome to SGL  

[Skyline]

eh @Chris Well done my friend !! 🤙

[wookie1965]

Congratulations will you still be doing your YouTube stints? 

[Chris]

1 hour ago, Skyline said:

eh @Chris Well done my friend !! 🤙

Cheers Nadeem!

[Chris]

6 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Congratulations will you still be doing your YouTube stints? 

Cheers! absolutely, I'm working on one as we speak  They'll be less frequent but hopefully better quality. That's the plan! The new career comes first though 😎 

[wookie1965]

13 minutes ago, Chris said:

Cheers! absolutely, I'm working on one as we speak  They'll be less frequent but hopefully better quality. That's the plan! The new career comes first though 😎 

Any chance you can do one on taking pictures with a smartphone especially settings in Pro mode or is it better to use video. 

[Chris]

1 hour ago, wookie1965 said:

Any chance you can do one on taking pictures with a smartphone especially settings in Pro mode or is it better to use video. 

Hi, well I need to drag my luddite bottom into the 2020's as I've only ever used modded webcams and dedicated astro cams for planetary and lunar imaging 😄  At this point in time I'm probably not the best person to ask. However, I feel with the way Smartphone tech and software is going it's fast becoming (or has already become) a good route into astrophotography for people starting out! All they need is a smartphone adaptor and they're away!

 

I still think dedicated cameras give better results, and I'm not sure my motorola G6 would do the cause much justice, but I would like to get on board with this by doing a video It might just need to wait until I've become proficient at it. You've got me wanting to build or buy a phone adaptor now 😆   

[Toaster05]

26 minutes ago, Chris said:

You've got me wanting to build or buy a phone adaptor now 😆   

If only you had the means to acquire one for testing and review purposes!

It's a pickle!