The not so good ole' Days!

[pizwiz]

I have to chuckle many times when i see images being discussed and how they can be improved.
The tools and the technology available to amateurs today always amazes me. Amateurs routinely produce images here that would have been possible only in Professional Observatories not so long ago.
But we also took pictures, and enjoyed the challenge even without all the digital help available today.
So I thought I would post one of my old Images, just for comparison purposes.
This is an image of M51 taken with what was at the time (about 40 years ago) considered to be "good Quality" Amateur equipment. Keep in mind that a Refractor over 3" and a Reflector over 6" would have been considered large instruments and would have been found only in wealthier people's observatories. A 12" Telescope is something we read about in S&T and similar magazines.
Image taken with 60mm Sans&Streiff F/15.2 Refractor, Pentax SLR using ASA1000 35mm film ( the fastest then available and expensive). Hand guided exposure of about 15min.
Have fun with it.!

Adolph

[neilfleming]

Outstanding result for the time! I've got nothing equivalent.

...Neil

[BT Technologies]

VERY nice image considering the eqpt that was used AND that it was film! I remember when I used film to do imaging 20 years ago. For every good image that I got, I often had to throw away 25 others. The cost of the film AND the processing got pretty expensive back then.

Thanks for posting!!

[pizwiz]

OH how true !
Astrophotography sure was an expensive hobby. 1 good shot out of a 36 exposure roll of film was considered a success. The hardest part was the fact that you did not find out your cat had bumped the tripod during your 30minute exposure or that the neighbour had turned on his porchlight until after the pictures were developed. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who discovered that he had the shutter set at 1/1000th of a second instead of Bulb.
And that fast film sure was grainy.!
I won't even get into the way you felt after having your eye glued to a guidescope at some impossible angle for 30 Minutes.
The longest exposure i ever took was a 55minute handguided exposure for a shot of the Horsehead using my 120mm Refractor when i got back into the hobby a few years ago. The old Pentax still worked fine and the modern ASA1000 film sure was much cleaner.
I'll never do that again, now that I can do the same thing in a few minutes.

Adolph