Jeez, Patrick, I'm not a Luddite. I was just pointing-out that an old-fashioned alternative exists to the app, and many already have it in their observing kits. Just about the time I got my emulsion-based astrophotography setup complete, the digital revolution kicked-in. After accumulating gear for some ten years on the installment plan, it was suddenly obsolete. Unlike you, I didn't resist the digital conversion on technical grounds. It was purely ecconomic. The past few years I've been putting my digital arsenal together. A few years ago I got a modern mount, autoguider, and a nice, hi-resolution dedicated astro-camera. The last piece of equipment I need will be obtained in the next 60 days, then I'm fully ready to begin "hi-end" astroimaging. This year will see me staring at a laptop screen in the dark, accumulating frames to be assebled and processed later. It's going to be fun as I sample various objects and techniques- I'm not sure just what "favorite" targets or specific goals will pop-up. At this point, I'm just as likely to become a "nature photographer" as a "data-taker". I want to try it all and see where my interests lean before heading down a particular path predominantly. So, I'm not resisting the techinical changes as much as just being discerning about what I haul out with me. There's already a lot more gear than I used to haul back in the good old days. I'm also looking seriously at DSLR imaging so I can avoid hauling out the laptop. But I'm diving into the deep end right off the bat just for the sake of experience. There is also a difference in motivation between us. You like to showcase astronomy to the Great Unwashed and for that, having the techie visual aids certainly might help grab a few more-especially today's youth who are growing-up wired. I don't mind outreach (did a lot of it in the old days, I can't begin to count the number of star parties, sun parties, slide shows and talks I put on at area schools back in the '70's and early '80's), but these days I'm less active in that aspect. Always glad to let folks take a look and do my best at explaining, but I figure they need to do a bit of homework after I've given them a kick-start. If they just say "wow" after the star-party but drop it once on their own, well, that's their choice. There are a lot of fish in the river, we can't catch them all. There's a reasonable chance that one day I'll have all the cool apps, but for now, I only find one useful enough to load onto my smartphone. SkEye. I prefer it to the Google sky map. We'll see what else gets added, if anything, as time goes by. My 79 cents. ;-) On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 6:28 PM, Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com>wrote:
On 22 Jan 2013, at 17:37, Chuck Hards wrote:
You sound like me back when I was first introduced to astroimaging. Didn't like it at all. I thought it was like looking at a pixelated picture on TV. "I'll stick with film!", I used to say. And now look at what's in my observatory. While my poor, forlorn darkroom sits spotless, tidy...and unused for years.