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Making Every Photon Count by Steve Richards

RichieJarvis

By RichieJarvis
in Member Equipment Reviews

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  • 4 months later...
  • Replies 127
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Sp@ce_d

Sp@ce_d

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Posted

I ordered the book (Second Edition) on Thursday and it was waiting for me on the doormat when I arrived home Friday night. I can honestly say I couldn't put it down. I was almost into chapter 5 before I could get my coat off!

I like the way it's delivered in such a comfortable manner. Never feeling the pace is too fast or that somethings been left unexplained. This is exactly what I was looking for and more to start me out in the right direction. It certainly surpassed my expectations and will be a valuable reference.

This book was recommended to me and I can wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone thinking of taking up Astro-photography.

A word of warning though. I wasn't expecting the added bonus of information on installing an observatory. What with a greenhouse and shed already on the project list this has caused a certain amount of "discussion" in the household about priorities.. :D

I wish more guides and technical know-hows were as well written as this. I can't wait for the sequel... 10/10

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crash_ollie

crash_ollie

Posted
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Just bought dual axis motors, polar alignment scope and auto-focuser for my skywatcher explorer 150p. (~£180)

......so I thought I'd buy Steve's book (~£20) before I go ever more crazy and buy a DSLR camera. (~£ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!!!!).

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S.A.M

S.A.M

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Very good book to read and Stev makes it reasonable to understand even though I am not very good at imaging, yet! As for the book falling apart, mine is okay but that is not too say oin the futuire it will fall apart.

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Sp@ce_d

Sp@ce_d

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Very good book to read and Stev makes it reasonable to understand even though I am not very good at imaging, yet! As for the book falling apart, mine is okay but that is not too say oin the futuire it will fall apart.

It's an excellent book, mines had a fair bit of reading. I've had it less than 2 weeks and unfortunately it's starting to show the first signs of the middle pages coming loose though.. :)

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Stephen

Stephen

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I'm about half way through it and it's great stuff. Just a little gutted I ordered it from FLO on the 11th completely unaware there was a 2nd edition! :)

If you're still reading this Steve, are there huge changes between the two?

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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I'm about half way through it and it's great stuff. Just a little gutted I ordered it from FLO on the 11th completely unaware there was a 2nd edition! :)

If you're still reading this Steve, are there huge changes between the two?

No, don't worry, the changes are not huge but I had the opportunity of updating it and it made sense to ensure that I kept advances in equipment up to date or the book would appear as 'dated' as some of the competition!

Apart from changes to the text to reflect my own equipment changes to include my new narrowband setup and things like showing the Canon 550D instead of the 450D, the book remains basically unchanged. In terms of completely new content, the book now includes stand alone autoguiding solutions like the Sky-Watcher SynGuider which were not available when I first wrote it.

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Stephen

Stephen

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No, don't worry, the changes are not huge but I had the opportunity of updating it and it made sense to ensure that I kept advances in equipment up to date or the book would appear as 'dated' as some of the competition!

Apart from changes to the text to reflect my own equipment changes to include my new narrowband setup and things like showing the Canon 550D instead of the 450D, the book remains basically unchanged. In terms of completely new content, the book now includes stand alone autoguiding solutions like the Sky-Watcher SynGuider which were not available when I first wrote it.

Thanks for the info :)

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NickK

NickK

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I'd consider it if it was on Kindle :)

I have a Sony PRS but just can't get on with the fragmented availability. If you buy one in a series then you can guarantee that one of the series isn't available due.. Amazon's clout seems to at least be able to offer a complete series more often than not.

I've put a stop to physical book purchases, simply because I'm swimming in them!

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  • 1 month later...
Bellyeye

Bellyeye

Posted
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I'd love to be able to carry this around on the iPhone/iPad so a pdf version would be great.

However I can understand the reluctance of authors to go down this road. It's all too easy for you hard work to end up as a bit torrent these days....

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dharma66

dharma66

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I second the call for an 'e' version.

If it's done as Kindle or iBooks, it's less easy to rip off than simple PDF.

There is one publisher of computing books that generates a unique PDF for every purchase, and includes the customers name in the footer on every page. So if the PDF gets into the wild, it can easily be traced back to the person who released it, and prosecution is made much easier!

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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Thanks for your comments regarding an eBook/PDF/Kindle version - I'm sorry to disappoint but I'll be sticking with the paper version for the foreseeable future as an electronic version just doesn't appeal to me for all sorts of reasons.

I may be a Luddite but the first thing I do with any article that I find of interest on the Internet is to print it out as I find this the best way to read and absorb the written word is on a physical piece of paper! Mind you I haven't got an MP3 player yet and I love music :):p:)

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SuperMassive

SuperMassive

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Just like to add my thanks to Steve for writing this book. As a complete novice, and someone who also prefers 'proper paper books' to e-versions, this is a great read. I'm now informed and inspired in equal measures and will be buying my astronomy kit with more confidence, knowing more about how to acheive the end result.

Thanks Steve. :(

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  • 1 month later...
ajg

ajg

Posted
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Ordered! I'll be pulling the trigger on an NEQ6 when the pay cheque arrives at the end of the month, the rest of the kit is already in place, although the camera will be an old school Nikon D100 for now.

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nightvision

nightvision

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This book has been a MASSIVE help to me and for a while yet i reckon i will be using it frequently as a reference.

the only fault i could find with this book was that it fell apart, and i mean every page came out individualy, not steve's fault i would imagine probably the publishers but i have fixed anyways.

Any one else have this problem? it might of just been a one off.

Michael.

Yes mine has fallen apart, sort of expected it would happen.

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