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N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy

nighttime-imaging.eu

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Re: N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy

#21

Looks well thought out and powerful to use. The page does, however, fall prey to a common issue among HN submissions: For someone who is not already an expert, and who does not know the rest of the pieces required: what do they need to know/have to get their first successful use? I’m vaguely guessing that someone needs a camera that can keep the shutter open, some type of servos to turn the camera?, and a laptop runn…

But there are plenty of other resources to help you get started. The target audience for that website is people already familiar with Astrophotography that want a software suite to control your equipment, i.e. that are ready to use N.I.N.A. And honestly, if you are just starting out in astrophotography you probably want to start simpler than the setup that you would need something like N.I.N.A. for. For example star trails, where you just need a camera that can take long exposures, and a tripod, images of the moon and the bright planets where you just need a single short exposure, or even just wide-angle images of the sky. Unless you are committed enough that you are willing to sink a lot of money into a new hobby.

I think the problem here is that on HN it's just a link with no context, so the site gets a lot of views from people that aren't really its intended audience.

Re: N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much. Definitely get the tripod right at the beginning. You can get some nice and very portable ones for not much money, and with any night photography if you want halfway decent shots, it’s a must. And depending on how into it you get, you might not even bother with a mount for a camera. If you end up going the telescope route you’ll want a good equatorial mount for that, and typically the camera will attach…

Also, garage sales for tripods. I got a collection of ~30 tripods at a garage sale for $10 for the lot. Some really really cool tripods - but I dont really do photography I put my houseplants on them/ https://imgur.com/gallery/l4cwHyp

I think a tiny bit of me just died with the realization that this is what this poor equipment has been reduced to. A tiny tear has been shed in its honor.

Were they real or just designed to look like that? Seems like a lot of damn weight to be carrying around to hold up a plant.

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