Getting Too Tied Up With Imaging....

[Greg]

The last two nights I have concentrated on visual observations....

Usually I have the Canon or the Toucam on one of the scopes and I concentrate on capturing the "Perfect " Image....

I can appreciate the need to preserve what you see and to perfect your imaging skills...But what for..I usually spend 20 mins sorting out the lappy and the camera and 2 mins looking through the scope. I then discard 98% of what i've taken and stack the remaining 2%.

Last night and tonight I had the the Newt out on the patio...No pressure just scanning around looking at stuff..I'd forgotton what it's all about..

Just a bit disillusioned , that's all

Imaging is like a drug....I just feel sometimes that I loose the wonder of just looking thorough the scope.

Do any of the "Imagers" On here feel the same.....?

Or is it just me?

[Rob]

Agree with you 100%. I been there & bought the T-shirt!. I've got rid of the T-shirt and enjoy the hobby.

I too got fed up with looking at the laptop more than the sky... thats not say imaging isnt good fun!, or even an important element of the hobby!. It is.

I just could not get a grip on it, and felt I was never going to!.

[Ant]

I lost my interest in visual observing a long time ago. Moved over into imaging which is where I also wanted to be even before it was that easy (Film) - not that Digital is easy, but film is damn hard to get anthing...

I have to admit that except for framing / finding targets I haven't looked through a scope for a very long time.

I just felt that the imaging side of things gave a more pleasing memory than a faint fussy blob.

But in recent months I've felt very similar to you greg, and as a result I've just not been out. I think that maybe I need to just spend a little time at the EP and see if anything catches my eye (if you'll excuse the pun).

What hasn't helped for me is that we have moved house to an area that suffers really badly from Dew, on almost any night the scope is covered with dew within two minutes of setting up. The air is so saturated with moisture that the LP is normally quite bad. The Canon will not reach focus with my 2" adapter, so I cannot use my LP filter. And both my power stations have given up the ghost.

Starting to put a few of these things right, so hoping for a few more trips out into the garden for observing - was going to start with tonight but the weather is against me.

Ant

[GordonCopestake]

I just brought a great big 12" dob off auntie flo and i've finally got the imaging bug out of my system. Imaging is great and allows you to share your observations with others but I always found I was putting all my efforts into messing with kit rather than looking at the target which for me is what this hobby is all about. I know others enjoy imaging and it's their images that got me hooked in the first place, so there is always a place for imaging; it's just not for me I think. I'm sure i'll change my mind at some point and repurchase a great big EQ mount and an expensive 5" APO but for now im happy with just looking with my eyes!

[Albireo380]

I spent a lot of time in the Spring trying to do some imaging. I was pleased with my stumbling steps, but with the weather having been so bad up here recently, when I got out last I just looked.

Isn't a dark sky wonderful - so full of stars. Binoculars made the Pleiades and double cluster look superb. Albireo is such a lovely double. M13 is a whopper of a Glob. Spent a happy few hours with no pressure to get "spot on" images. No fiddling with lots of kit - just looking at the sky. You can't beat it.

Imaging is very enjoyable - but every now and then a night of observing is a must.

Tom

[StarMan1701]

I've been bitten by the imaging bug this past year and I've spent most of that time assembling and testing my cameras etc. in anticipation of the approaching dark winter skies, (assuming any cloudless ones ever appear).

However, I still like to simply look through the eyepiece. To me, there is just something wonderous about staying out until the wee hours, hunting down the night sky's various subtle treasures - I enjoyed it enormously in my teens and I still do today. I can't see that ever changing.

Lee.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Two piers in the shed. One fastened to the computer at a time, the other free for gawping. Gives me something to do while the images pile up in the folder, however I find that I rarely do look down the 'scope except for getting stuff on the chip when the goto fails. The plan was, all along, to have a look while the imaging thing happens, but now I'm thinking of ways to have two 'scopes imaging while I sit in the warm. Paint me pink and call me soft, I don't care, i just get enough discomfort at work and this astronomy is supposed to relax me.

Enjoy what you do guys, and don't castigate those that do otherwise, is my life philosophy so I think I'm with all of you on this.

Captain Chaos

[GazOC]

Yep, each to is own. I had a cracking night out on Thursay just looking at the open clusters in my 14" with absolutely no observing plan whatsoever.

Just do whatever works for you on a particular night and don't worry about it.

[lunator]

I always try to enjoy myself.

If my observing plan isn't going to work (like tonight) I change it.

I will always be a visual observer but I do enjoy taking pics through the scope and I am glad there are guys on this forum who take the time and trouble to produce such fantastic images.

Cheers

Ian

[ZOG]

With the greatest respect to all the imagers, you all produce some stunning images and it really is a joy to look at them. The trouble is, it gives us non imagers a false idea of what we're going to see through the eyepiece leading to thoughts of whether our equipment is perhaps faulty or not good enough. I can understand the feelings of folk who have been doing this for some time to take the next step into imaging, but if I can draw an analogy, I used to do a lot of sea fishing and was quite content to stand on the beach or pier all day long, often going home without a bite. Then I started noticing that the guys coming in on the boats had sackfulls of fish. I tried boat fishing for a while, loved it at first and caught plenty of fish, but it wasnt anywhere near as much fun, I suppose because it was less of a challenge. I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes doing the simple things gives the most satisfaction, but at the end of the day it's individual preference that counts.

[John]

Thats the great thing about this hobby - there are so many ways of getting involved with it - you can get in as deep or as shallow as you like !!. Personally I classify myself as a "Sky Tourist" - I like to see the sights with my own eyes - but when it's cloudy I love to look at photos that others have taken and read all about the subject so next time I get to take a peek I appreciate what I'm looking at that little bit more.

I am in danger of turning into an equipment junkie though - have to cut up the bank cards I think :-(

John.

[geppetto]

Must admit that I find imaging stressfull but at the same time fun and rewarding.

If I lived at a good dark site, I probably wouldn't do much imaging at all but with my LP,

without imaging, I wouldn't be able to see a lot of the objects up there.

Still, as has been said, each to his/her own and long may that remain.

Keep having fun

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I think the "need better gear to do better" is almost universal, after all there's no better excuse for spending is there?

I vaccilate between naked eye tripping over stuff and imaging, with a bit of visual in between. The first two are fine together, after setting the thing going you have a choice of finding somewhere warm to wait in or staring upwards and I do a bit of both. The awesome distances involved when you simply look up are the same as visual observing but I feel the bigger scale is more obvious with the wider eyeball field of view.

Visual has lots of appeal to me as well, but its a quick fix thing, "right, seen that one, what's next on the list" comes to mind. I always find myself stepping back from the 'scope (tripping and landing on my blunt end too often) to see whereabouts whatever it is lives. The goto tour is good, once, but for a newbie like myself its frustrating waiting for the scope to point itself at a streetlight and go "beep". Or point at something which you wouldn't recognise if it hit you so you don't know what EP to use, if its an open cluster you can spend ages looking for whats hidden in the lump of stars not being able to see the wood for the trees. Also when you have lots of LP, many of the fainter things aren't available visually as you need to be dark adapted to see them. That's not going to happen where I live short of a power outage and it would be raining when that happened.

Whatever you guys do it's interesting to me because I might not have tried that and might like a go at it. I think it boils down to the fact that we are all odd, in a nice way, as we each have our preferences, which is how it should be.

Vive la difference.

Captain Chaos

[daz]

I know how you feel Greg.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I want to continue imaging, but only as a fun aside. I want to get into variable star estimations and do more visuals, so I think I'm going to limit myself to 1 session in 3 for imaging. Then I won't feel so guilty about not looking through the scope, and can still have a play with the imaging side as well.

It's a plan .... :?

[Kain]

I'm the other way around, I spend all the time looking through the scope, but I really want to take pictures of what I see.

Observing with the eye is great, but I would love to show my mates what I can see.

Kain

[FLO]

I am almost entirely visual though I have recently dabbled with imaging and hope to do more.

[CELESCOPE]

yes indeed , we imagers do get fed up at times , i have to agree, but i did spend years looking through the eye piece , it was ok and i enjoyed those times , but i love taking pics , from an early age , and to now be able to take them of the wonders up there , is a real joy , it does take alot of hard work Guys i know , and as been said already on here , we do tend to spoil what you see through the eyepiece , but at least you can say HEY!! I HAVE SEEN WHAT IT DOES LOOK LIKE , and still carry on enjoying the viewing aspect ,

Thats why i always say to anyone starting out , dont spend loads of money , so many want to start imaging and say lets blow 2k on a setup and find it ain,t that easy , cus its not belive me ,

its an individuals choice , thats what good about this forum there are so many different things going on , that makes a good forum .

anyway thats my piece hehehe

Rog

The imager sometimes happy sometimes fed up , thats how it goes .

[Astroman]

The only imaging I do is scientific-not too interested in "pretty pictures". The images I take are none too spectacular-most are unrecognizable patches of indistinct star patterns. I find it tedious and unrewarding, so I'm almost strictly visual. I finally got to spend this past weekend actually observing from a dark site, (yes, darker than my back yard), and feel reinvigorated! With the "new" instrument, (10" F/6.6 Newt), everything I've seen before is new again. Being experienced at observing, I know what to look for, as well as what to look at. The difference is large, and shouldn't be overlooked, so to speak. Glancing in the eyepiece just to checkmark the list and move on is not observing, it's window shopping, and while I've seen all 110 Messier objects in a single night, it's nowhere near as rewarding as the 2 or 3 years it took me to actually observe, describe and log them. It's something to keep in mind when you're out there. Am I here to complete a list, or to see all I can in one or two objects?

[MartinB]

I'm interested in the "pretty pictures" more than the science. A bit of understanding the science does help to get the pretty pictures though.

The more I look into it the more challenging and complex imaging becomes. You get a modified web cam, bung it in the scope. Focus a bit and set some sort of exposure and hey presto you have an image. that's what gets you hooked. Moving on from there though requires a lot of effort, committment and practice (and to some extent a big dollop of dosh). I'm fine on the first 2 but opportunities for practice are very limited. The technical challenge of it all is one of the main motivations for me. Visual star gazing is almost a different hobby. I dabble with visual from time to time and enjoy it but it doesn't grip me in the way that imaging does. There is no logic to my obsession

[FLO]

Being experienced at observing, I know what to look for, as well as what to look at. The difference is large, and shouldn't be overlooked, so to speak. Glancing in the eyepiece just to checkmark the list and move on is not observing, it's window shopping, and while I've seen all 110 Messier objects in a single night, it's nowhere near as rewarding as the 2 or 3 years it took me to actually observe, describe and log them. It's something to keep in mind when you're out there. Am I here to complete a list, or to see all I can in one or two objects?

Good post AM 8)

Less is more, eh?

[Astroman]

Thanks Steve. I agree with MartinB, visual and photographic astronomy are two different hobbies, or at least different facets of the same hobby, and you might add contributing to science another facet. Taking an image is only a small fraction of what goes into the finished product, and it's the stuff of artists. Problem with my view on imaging is minimalism-the less processed the image is, the more valuable scientifically it is, even if I have tracking errors, or it's out of focus, both of these would cause an imager to toss the results.

[Ambermile]

Well, earlier this year, after several years imaging and whatnot, it occurred to me that I hadn't actually seen these things before I took the pictures... to be honest although I had bagged them I usually had no idea at all where they even were!

At that point I made a conscious decision to stop imaging and get a decent visual scope... the rest is history

Arthur

PS - I even have a twinkly new limited edition red ART-285ex (only five made - only two released) with *all* the whistles and bells and I haven't even installed the chip in it yet )

[MartinB]

Off topic for here I guess Arthur but would love to hear more about that new camera.

[Ambermile]

Umm - the ART11002 you mean? Whatever makes you think I know about that one then...

Arthur

[MartinB]

Looks awesome!