Hello from NH - Forums

Topic starter

Jan 27, 2021 · Edited: Jan 27, 2021

Hi everyone, I'm Zara. I'm a game designer/mother in rural New Hampshire under Bortle 3-4 skies. I've been at this for about 4 months so I'm just getting started. I stumbled onto this hobby when I bought a telescope for my child and managed to take some pictures with a phone over the eyepiece. It's funny how one day you can just discover that you absolutely love something you never considered before.

I had no photography background whatsoever and no camera gear at all, so I was really starting from scratch. I do, however, love a steep learning curve and I have a background in graphics so I did some research and picked up gear I thought could take me through the long term.

Nice to meet you all,
Zara

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Scott Badger

Jan 27, 2021

Hey Zara! Also new to this and also in NH — Mount Washingto Valley area. Cheers, Scott

Eduardo Oliveira

Jan 29, 2021

Hi Zara,

Nice to meet you. When I started back in 2012 I also had no background in photography. I had never used a DSLR before. The first thing I did was to read about astrophotography quite obsessively. I eventually went to the Brazilian Annual Astrophotography Meeting to search for advice on buying my own gear. Since its so difficult to buy equipment in Brazil due to very high import duties and lack of vendors, I wanted to buy something that could take me through the whole learning curve. I decided to buy an 8 inch RC telescope and an Orion EQG mount. My camera was a Canon T3i. My next step was to try monochrome cameras (Atik 314L and later a QHY163M CMOS). I later sold my EQG mount and went to the US to buy an Astrophysics Mach1GTO that remains my main mount to this day. It is a wonderful hobby if you are up for some resilience. It is not very common to see women in the hobby too, and I never quite understood why. Your background in graphics will certainly help you in the post-processing which is quite envolving. Regards,

Eduardo Oliveira. (Diamantina, MG, Brazil)

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