Hey!
I'm not actually that new to astrophotography, and got into this hobby back in February of 2023, and hell, I'd even say I got good within just a few months. I won't lie, it helped that the nearest Bortle 2-3 transition zone was a mere hour drive down south (that's the best thing about Canada being so vast and empty), and pairing that with the good old 135mm f/2 lens from Rokinon/Samyang, and yeah, no wonder I got so good so fast. Good data is good data, and that's probably the single best contributing factor to producing great images. Also it definitely helped that I bought PixInsight and used BlurX and Noise X, which singlehandedly skyrocketed my processing ability to allow phenomenal images.
But I digress. My point is, I'm not new, and so you may be wondering why I'm posting in the "Introduce Yourself!" forum. Well, here's the thing. Money's not flowing in consistently yet. I'm only 19, and am in my second year of university, and pairing the expense of university with the fact that this hobby is quite up there in terms of expense, and you get my situation back in May 2023 where I faced a decision. I needed a car to commute to university, but to get a car, I would need to sell all my astro gear. In fact, I had put so much $$$ into astrophotography that selling off all my gear alone would fund an entire car, and so considering it was summer (summers in Canada mean basically no astronomical night, meaning mid May to late August is pretty much hands off for astrophotography), and a car would do me much more for QoL than astrophotography, I decided to sell off all my gear.
For those interested, I sold the following:
- ASI533 MC Pro
- EQM-35i Pro
- Askar FRA 300 Pro
- Rokinon 135mm F/2 lens
- Nikon D5300
- My 2" 7nm dual-narrowband filter (SVBony SV 220)
So yeah. A lot of real good stuff. Stuff that would consistently produce some darn fine images (check my "Deeper Dive into NGC7000" image, and you can see just how good my setup was), but money's money, and I needed a car. But hey, it funded my first car! an NA6 Miata! Driving around with that thing led to some great summer roadtrip memories, and I do not regret that purchase at all. But damn. Slowly but surely as the nights got longer and longer over the summer and consequently autumn, I would look up at the night sky and think to myself, "darn man. I wish I still had my stuff. I want to go back!". This effect was greatly amplified on nights where it was COMPLETELY clear, and my astro-instincts of "ooo! A clear night! I could image!" would kick in, but then I'd remember, "oh wait. I don't have my gear anymore...", leaving me longing for this hobby that much more. My last image was completed on May 7th, 2023, the aforementioned NGC7000 image, and since then, I didn't do a single bit of astrophotography. But that changed recently.
Fast forward to just a few days ago, it was one of those perfectly clear nights, but I still had no gear. Those same astro-instincts kicked in, leaving me hopeless as I wanted to go out and image so badly but I just couldn't. However, a friend who had a DSLR agreed to let me borrow his, and so I decided, "darn it man, it's been too long", and so I picked up his DSLR and went out!
And... well, it was a failure. I forgot that, while it was a cloudless night, the full moon was high up, and so I basically got zero good stackable data (I was hoping to get some wide field milky way imagery). But, there was one good thing that came from that night, and it was the fact that it utterly and absolutely re-ignited the pure passion I had for this hobby. The drive out to the dark site, the feeling of being alone with the stars, and the feeling of seeing your data come in and thinking to yourself "I wonder how this is gonna look all stacked up!", and next thing you know, fast forward to now, and a Star Adventurer 2i, a Canon T3i, a Samyang 135mm F/2, and a power station is on its way to my house, and I will be diving back into this hobby! FINALLY!!!
My gear won't be as advanced, but I took some phenomenal images with the setup I just bought (my very first Orion wide field, in fact, also on my profile), and pairing this setup with the good old Bortle 2-3 zone I mentioned, and I'm confident I can dive right back into all of this and get back to producing amazing images once again! It helps that I still have all my processing software, as it was all non-refundable, and so processing will be just as easy and awesome!
So yeah, for the first time in over 6.5 months, and after months of wanting to get back into this hobby, I finally re-ordered some of my old gear, and am hoping to get back out there and begin imaging again in a few weeks!
To all of those who read this far, first off thanks for listening to my story, and second of all, maybe some of you have been through what I've been through. Selling off your gear, only to regret it down the line and re-introducing yourself to this hobby! If so, leave your stories here as well. I'd love to read them.
Overall, I'm just so glad to be back. I already have some future projects planned, and it is just in time for my 3 week winter break before my winter semester begins. I'll have plenty of time to get some great photos once again!
I'm not actually that new to astrophotography, and got into this hobby back in February of 2023, and hell, I'd even say I got good within just a few months. I won't lie, it helped that the nearest Bortle 2-3 transition zone was a mere hour drive down south (that's the best thing about Canada being so vast and empty), and pairing that with the good old 135mm f/2 lens from Rokinon/Samyang, and yeah, no wonder I got so good so fast. Good data is good data, and that's probably the single best contributing factor to producing great images. Also it definitely helped that I bought PixInsight and used BlurX and Noise X, which singlehandedly skyrocketed my processing ability to allow phenomenal images.
But I digress. My point is, I'm not new, and so you may be wondering why I'm posting in the "Introduce Yourself!" forum. Well, here's the thing. Money's not flowing in consistently yet. I'm only 19, and am in my second year of university, and pairing the expense of university with the fact that this hobby is quite up there in terms of expense, and you get my situation back in May 2023 where I faced a decision. I needed a car to commute to university, but to get a car, I would need to sell all my astro gear. In fact, I had put so much $$$ into astrophotography that selling off all my gear alone would fund an entire car, and so considering it was summer (summers in Canada mean basically no astronomical night, meaning mid May to late August is pretty much hands off for astrophotography), and a car would do me much more for QoL than astrophotography, I decided to sell off all my gear.
For those interested, I sold the following:
- ASI533 MC Pro
- EQM-35i Pro
- Askar FRA 300 Pro
- Rokinon 135mm F/2 lens
- Nikon D5300
- My 2" 7nm dual-narrowband filter (SVBony SV 220)
So yeah. A lot of real good stuff. Stuff that would consistently produce some darn fine images (check my "Deeper Dive into NGC7000" image, and you can see just how good my setup was), but money's money, and I needed a car. But hey, it funded my first car! an NA6 Miata! Driving around with that thing led to some great summer roadtrip memories, and I do not regret that purchase at all. But damn. Slowly but surely as the nights got longer and longer over the summer and consequently autumn, I would look up at the night sky and think to myself, "darn man. I wish I still had my stuff. I want to go back!". This effect was greatly amplified on nights where it was COMPLETELY clear, and my astro-instincts of "ooo! A clear night! I could image!" would kick in, but then I'd remember, "oh wait. I don't have my gear anymore...", leaving me longing for this hobby that much more. My last image was completed on May 7th, 2023, the aforementioned NGC7000 image, and since then, I didn't do a single bit of astrophotography. But that changed recently.
Fast forward to just a few days ago, it was one of those perfectly clear nights, but I still had no gear. Those same astro-instincts kicked in, leaving me hopeless as I wanted to go out and image so badly but I just couldn't. However, a friend who had a DSLR agreed to let me borrow his, and so I decided, "darn it man, it's been too long", and so I picked up his DSLR and went out!
And... well, it was a failure. I forgot that, while it was a cloudless night, the full moon was high up, and so I basically got zero good stackable data (I was hoping to get some wide field milky way imagery). But, there was one good thing that came from that night, and it was the fact that it utterly and absolutely re-ignited the pure passion I had for this hobby. The drive out to the dark site, the feeling of being alone with the stars, and the feeling of seeing your data come in and thinking to yourself "I wonder how this is gonna look all stacked up!", and next thing you know, fast forward to now, and a Star Adventurer 2i, a Canon T3i, a Samyang 135mm F/2, and a power station is on its way to my house, and I will be diving back into this hobby! FINALLY!!!
My gear won't be as advanced, but I took some phenomenal images with the setup I just bought (my very first Orion wide field, in fact, also on my profile), and pairing this setup with the good old Bortle 2-3 zone I mentioned, and I'm confident I can dive right back into all of this and get back to producing amazing images once again! It helps that I still have all my processing software, as it was all non-refundable, and so processing will be just as easy and awesome!
So yeah, for the first time in over 6.5 months, and after months of wanting to get back into this hobby, I finally re-ordered some of my old gear, and am hoping to get back out there and begin imaging again in a few weeks!
To all of those who read this far, first off thanks for listening to my story, and second of all, maybe some of you have been through what I've been through. Selling off your gear, only to regret it down the line and re-introducing yourself to this hobby! If so, leave your stories here as well. I'd love to read them.
Overall, I'm just so glad to be back. I already have some future projects planned, and it is just in time for my 3 week winter break before my winter semester begins. I'll have plenty of time to get some great photos once again!
