"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| ste® wrote:
<snip!>
| Indeed. Lend me a few grand for a decent computerised telescope plus a
| good quality CCD and my next effort will be! ;-)
But what about the old saying, "nice photo, what camera have you got?" I
know many photographers don't like that! ;-)
<snip!>
| > I'm surprised that you haven't yet prepared a table of infinity marks
| > against temperatures! You could go out and focus on the moon and
| > note the temperature and focusing position! Hard work though... ;-)
|
| Way too much hassle and too imprecise. How would I know the temperature
| of the lens? It's one thing knowing the air temperature, but how
| quickly does a lens drop to that temperature after leaving a warm room?
| I know that my 10-22 lens was pretty cold at Llyn y Fan Fawr since there
| was frost forming on it. Perhaps lenses should come with internal
| thermometers? ;-)
I like the way you dismiss it - not because it's a bit over the top, but
because it's not quite accurate for you! :-) Something tells me that if the
lenses did have internal thermometers, you'd soon have your table in your
pocket! ;-)
| > Yes, I realise why it's a problem. This is where a viewfinder
| > magnifier would also come in handy, to help manual focus on distant
| > and small objects.
|
| Yes, that would be a much better solution. A faster lens would help a
| lot too. In case you hadn't realised, the maximum aperture of the lens
| determines how bright the viewfinder image is (along with other
| factors - I think the 20D viewfinder is a bit dimmer than the 300D,
| which is dimmer than the 10D). That's another good reason for using an
| f2.8 or brighter lens for night shots. F5.6 at night is not good.
Yes, I did already know about the lens max aperture determining the
brightness of the viewfinder image. Likewise, I've also read the same thing
the brightness of the viewfinders for the 10D, 300D, and 20D - though I read
that the 20D is still better for manual focusing because it has a grainy
texture on the glass. However, I've only really noticed this texture when
out on a bright sunny day! ;-)
I know the Angle Finder C is £150, but you can pick them up for a *bit*
cheaper on eBay, though still expensive. I initially didn't like the
thought of this because it would only really be suited for macro work and
floor work, but after noticing that I am often bending down to take my
landscape shots anyway (because I've got a small crappy tripod), it might
actually suit this type of photography better than first thought.
| > Oh well, like you've said before, you're never going to get great
| > astro-photography without some a specialist setup.
|
| No, and it's not a priority so I can't see me spending real money on
| what is only a minor hobby, not until I have money to burn anyway. ;-)
I don't know much about astronomy, but it would be really cool to have some
8 megapixel photos of galaxies, stars, etc, with all them bright colours..
But as you say, you'd have to spend real money on that and be dedicated to
make it worthwhile. ...so I was thinking about contacting my local
astronomy club (wherever that may be), to see if there's any chance of
coming along with my camera one night to take some photos through their
telescopes. That way, I'd hopefully have no expense (though I'd be unsure
what I'd need to connect my camera to the telescope), will have access to
good equipment, can rely on someone elses expertise to find something
interesting in the sky, and can then snap away. What do you think, and
would you do something similar by where you live?
<snip!>
| You don't need star charts for that, all you need is a compass, a cheap
| one will do! How high is it? Simple, whatever your latitude is, that's
| how high the north star is, in your case roughly 53.5 degrees.
Easy when you know how. Okay, that sounds quite simple, I can guess 53.5
degrees and I know which way north is when I go out to local locations. I
was thinking of going to the beach for some night photos, but it's that
windy around here that I'd be too worried about getting all sorts of sand in
the camera. It'd be a good walk though if I can bear to leave the camera at
home and just go for the fun of it! :-)
<snip!>
| No working out needed for the north star, just point your camera north!
| The north star is always in the same position, north! No matter where
| you are! So all you need to find is some north facing compositions.
| Just get hold of a cheap compass, even a button one will do. Use that
| to aim the camera. Tilt it up at 53.5 degrees to get the north star in
| the centre. You'll need a wide angle to include the ground in the pic.
| Aiming up at say 25 degrees may give you a decent composition with
| ground at the bottom and the north star at the top, depending on how
| wide your lens is of course. Try your 18-55 lens at 18mm.
I'll try it Paul, thanks. No need to get a compass though as I know my
local locations/directions; and I've also got a GPS if needed. I was
reading an article by David Noton in one of the magazines a month or so ago,
and he recommended a watch with a built-in compass. Might be a good idea as
it'd do two jobs in one and save carrying something else in the bag.
| > Possibly a good lens, but nooo, not another lens! :-) I'm now
| > working on the assumption that in order to buy more camera equipment,
| > I must make money from the hobby first. We'll see!
|
| That's the problem. Easy to get hooked on buying lenses, but at the end
| of the day it's a hassle to carry them and a hassle to change them, so
| if you buy too many you'll end up leaving most of them at home.
| Consider your lens choices carefully, buy lenses that you really need
| and which you'll use a lot. It's a big expense initially, but can be a
| good investment over time. Before I went digital I was using the same
| lenses that I bought between 1986 and 1989. No need to keep upgrading
| them like digital camera bodies, once you've got a set of lenses you're
| happy with.
My LowePro backpack is quite heavy with all my lenses now! And I've only
got about 4 of them and a flash! Saying that though, when I wear the
rucksack over both shoulders and tie the clip across my chest, it doesn't
feel that heavy at all. In fact, I'm currently carrying a surplus 4 stone
around my belly anyway, so what's a few lenses...! :-)
The lens plan is to eventually (and this might be a few years down the line)
have a few high quality zoom lenses, nice big white ones! :-)
| Paul
Ste
