Astronomer

Some shots from my backyard, one per post. My foot's gimped up, so I stayed close to home. Canon 70D, 55-250mm Zoom/Macro lens

Hi @@Leadfinger, Thanks! I was over the moon when I saw how the hawk in flight shot turned out! See the first post on this thread for camera and info on one of my telescopes. That 'scope is a big hunk-o'-glass, a 4" f8 800-ish mm triplet lens of the highest quality. I have an adapter for it so my camera can connect to it directly. The 'scope then becomes another camera lens. I also have a 13.1" f4.5 reflector that the camera can connect to for short images, mostly of bright solar-system objects. I also have a dedicated solar telescope, and a couple of other specialized telescopes that I can't use the camera with, though there is a very cool adapter that lets me use my smartphone as a camera with these telescopes. That's on my radar to pick up eventually. I haven't dipped my toes into astrophotography yet. I'm primarily a visual astronomer, but my camera and remote-control tracking mount has me itching to try my hand at photographing the night sky. I plan on experimenting with it over the Summer, with the help of friends who have been shooting the night sky for years, and have won awards for their work.

Thanks Loader. The compression the site uses really degrades the shots. The RAW images are just awesome. I'm still a novice myself, and my wife and I did a bit of research before settling on the Canon 70D kit that came with 2 good lenses. It helped that I won a Microsoft Surface RT tablet at a trade show, and it came with a gift receipt. I exchanged it + some cash for the kit. It all depends on what your budget is. Get the best camera body (new or used) that fits the budget, plus at least one good lens, and slowly build from there. That's how I built the lens kit that I have for my astronomy hobby. Built slowly and patiently over time, looking for new or used (mostly used) deals on top lenses. Other than that, I honestly don't know enough yet to even begin to offer good advice. There are a bucket-load of photography forums out there with a lot of good advice. Good luck!

Success! I took my camera and went for a walk near my office at lunchtime today, and I saw a large hawk on a distant pole. As I approached from a distance, it flew off of it, and towards me. I snapped a few shots of it in flight, then it landed on a pole right in front of my office. I took almost 150 shots as I stood nearby while he perched there for about 20 minutes. Here are 3 chosen more-or-less at random. I have a lot to go through over the coming days!

I'll be glad to hang as far back in the map as is humanly possible, sniping the enemy from as far from the front lines as can be achieved without putting my virtual self in harm's way!

I've used one for when I used to travel. It now runs my basement entertainment centre. 6 or 7 year-old Gateway Core 2 Duo, 6Gb, 17" 1920x1200 display, nVidia mobile 9800, HDMI out. It plays CODWAW very well.

Congrats on yet ANOTHER successful orbit around the Sun!

My media server has over 500 science documentaries on it, as well as many others covering several topics. Reality has so much awe and wonder to offer! An old friend of mine, who is a retired physics professor, does not read fiction (which to me would be a great loss) because there is so much to learn about the reality that surrounds us. To him, a lifetime of dedication to understanding it can only scratch the surface, and anything else is a wasteful distraction. I admire his focus and his mind.

I was looking out my home office window when I saw a racoon walk down my front yard and across the street. I grabbed a few shots until I lost it in the shrubs..then I looked again a minute later, and there it was up on the roof of the house across the street. Looks like a female, and it slipped in under the soffit to the attic. I bet it has young'uns up there.

The white spots in the image isn't dust. Every Summer for a week or two the sky gets filled with some sort of floating seeds from a type of tree. It almost looks like snow some days

Yes! Put the friggers in Canada! I need every advantage I can get, even if it's just -1 or -2 ping . Thanks Rugger!

http://www.photographytalk.com/photography-articles/5320-top-10-items-that-all-photographers-need-to-have-in-their-bag I've used LensPens for over a decade with my astronomy eyepieces, and I have a full kit for the camera. Love them. The hand-strap looks great, and I could use the portable battery charger. I have 2200mAh and 5200mAh chargers, and the beastie in the article just spanks them almost 3x combined.

There's a large red-tail hawk that's been soaring over my office and in an area in the surrounding few km around it. I was driving home one evening and caught it on a wire. It was a bit shy and wouldn't look at me. It flew away when it noticed me. I have my eye out for it as I'm driving and hope to get a really good shot of it soon.

Happy birthday, my friend!

Holy crap, Weed! My parents in Nova Scotia are feeling your pain. Atlantic Canada has seen its snowiest winter in decades. Many roads in the Cape Breton Highlands are down to a single lane.

This was March Break week for many people. That could account for some of the absences.

I think that there might be a "holding pattern" joke in there somewhere, @@Merlin007...

Hmmmmm...

Florida Man Suspected of Using Private Plane to Draw Giant Radar Penis http://on.mash.to/1GMnzTV

How about David Spade's "Owen Wilson" nose on Saturday Night Live a while back? Maybe there are other uses for donated pee-pees?

And what's a fine woman like her doing with an Idiot like you? Congrats to both of you!