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I see that the new Gemini autofocuser has a temperature sensor. I tried using the Temperature Compensation feature in NINA, but it causes the program to freeze. Have you experienced this issue, or do you know how to fix it? Thanks!

Hey Ollie! Interesting mate, I’m struggling with my inspiration for videos! The interest for Astro is still there, that will never go, but my videos!! There’s only so many times I can show myself setting up the portable rig, don’t even have to set up the Esprit anymore in the obsey! It’s difficult to keep the interest going in a video! It’s tough, I think, taking your advice, of going back to enjoying the hobby, like when I first got into it!Maybe, as new people are always coming into the Astro world, I should go back to basics with my star tracker! We’ll see! Good luck and clear skies 👍

Thank you for this video! I'm not keeping up with the latest gear, it's not within my reach at the current life situation so I'm still using my Evostar 80ED (as you) and my HEQ5 Pro. I decided to put it in an observatory just to the the most out of every clear night, and I don't have that many up here at 63 degrees north and by the sea. I try to plan and give every image my very best in terms of love and caring (and hours) as well as a background text for the people that want to share the images with me. I like to be outside when it's clear, just to enjoy the night sky, but I don't have any gear for visual observation at this time. I've been thinking of just getting a lens to my DSLR and take some mily way images to complement my deep sky object photos. As for my channel, I haven't really decided, what should I do with that. Right now, it's more a documentation of my projects and my images.

Hi, nice video! Thanks for sharing. I'm approaching planetary imaging right now, just wandering what setup you have that allows you to control everything from inside? Thank you

Really good points Ollie. I'm happiest when the tech and the creativity are balanced. As for content creation, you are right. Some of my best performing videos are gear reviews, but I too find making them disruptive to the hobby. I thought about maybe having one rig set aside specifically for gear reviews.. but I just don't enjoy tinkering and fine tuning a rig. For me the the rig exists to collect data, if I'm futzing with it too much then I'm loosing time and interest. That is not to say I won't get new gear... just that currently my eagerness to get something for review or run out and buy something new is currently diminished.. well except for cameras.. I could really use a new one or two... lol.

Great video! Although I have not gone back to visual astronomy, I have definitely changed my course in astrophotography. I dont watch any gear videos anymore. I have two full rigs, they are perfect to me and I am not looking to improve upon them. I just go out and image… enjoy the dark sky, and I tend to watch the process unfold. Instead of leaving the rigs unattended I will often sit and get lost in each sub… nit inspecting for quality, more just looking at all the amazing things that are in the frame. I do my images for myself. If others enjoy them then that is great. I think social media can be a negative thing for astro and generally the forums are even worse.

You forgot how to use your real eyes? What do you mean? I forgot how to use mine as well

For using a mobile device, iOS accessibility color filters allows the whole device be set to a reddish palette. I even made a shortcut so I can trigger it from the Lock Screen. Unfortunately, android does not seem to have an equivalent.

I try at the moment an ASI662MC on my ASKAR103 with 700mm native, plus a 2x Barlow. Still thinking about the 715 with its smaller pixels, but I fear that my telescope won’t be able to deliver enough resolution - what do you think?!

That’s exactly why I started out with visual only and wanted to keep AP for later when I really mastered my gear (especially the mount) and know what I‘m really looking at or photographing

Visual astronomy is so simple with grab and go scope. Grab a scope with one hand and a star atlas in the other and in minutes you can be enjoying the night sky. I gave up my Dobsonian as it was a bother to drag out that I would end up not going out.

I think you downplay the Dwarf II advantages (low cost, ease of use, outreach) too much while at the same time downplaying the disadvantages of the more traditional route ($$$, steep learning curve). I have an 200mm telescope but am new to astrophotography. Compared to what I can see through an eyepiece, the images I've taken of M31 blow my telescope out of the water. This is a low cost way to see if you want more.

I have just returned to the hobby after 40 years away. I used to grind my own mirrors, knew the night sky very well, and even in my then suburban skies you could see the Milky Way. While I never found one, I ardently searched for comets. Now coming back to astronomy I have been overwhelmed with the gear and the emphasis on AP. The AP and computerization are really amazing but they have mechanized and removed a big part of what I enjoyed before. After some getting up to speed with the current state of the art I bought an OTA and a mount and eyepieces. What I have found is neither my eyes nor skies allow the exploration I used to do. Age too has made it less comfortable to set up and stand for hours. I'm considering getting kit for EAA so I can explore from my desktop, but something about that doesn't really appeal. The sense of discovery is gone, the sense of citizen science is gone. You're right in that the emphasis is on the gear, and tricks of processing, etc. Ultimately, how many pictures of M45 do we need; what do you accomplish by doing the same thing 1000s of other have done before? If the electronics and software appeal to you, that's really your hobby. There's a lot to say for that; but it isn't astronomy.

Insightful thoughts Ollie and you are not the only one feeling this. I grew up in the 1960's-70's before the digital revolution and when light pollution was of little consequence, so the tactile sense of visual astronomy has always been my foremost interest. Today, there is a generation, or two, that do not know these times, and where technology is commonplace, dark skies are fewer and amateur astronomy seems to lean towards techno-centric astrophotography. My greatest gripe for astrophotography is the rapid obsolescence of hardware and firmware, the associated expense and frustration of keeping up with this, as well as the disconnect with the natural environment and subject matter; something which comparatively little affects the visual astronomer. Keep up the good work and efforts on your channel.

Spot on. Here's the thing - the CZcams algorithm punishes you if you don't post. I've been making videos for people making a go of astrophotography with what they have (or can afford). I started doing this to pay-it-forward from the inspiration I got from similar channels when I got started - channels that had since either stopped posting, or moved on. As much as I enjoy making this type of content, it has become a a bit of chore lately because I've noticed that if I don't post content often enough, new videos will get less exposure, and frankly I don't want to have to constantly think up new topic ideas to feed an algorithm - that is neither natural for me nor fun. Easy to see how anyone can get resentful. I joined a club that has access to a dark-sky site, picked up a used refractor and The Cambridge Star Atlas, and I've been doing a lot more visual observing. I have also gone back to my sky watching journal/log to plan and record my nights. Clear Skies! Edit: I joined your channel three months ago after watching Why Visual Astronomy Can Still be Cool, and I look forward to more of your videos.

Good video Ollie. I think we all struggle with the hobby at times, fraught with problems either weather related or technical. I have managed to not buy any new gear for about 18 months now, and just enjoy using what I have in the relatively short timeframe I am prepared to give the hobby (typical 2 hour exposure time max).

I'm stupid and need a Seestar to see the sky. I live 10 km from the Sydney Opera House. It's a revelation. Going down the rabbit hole of technology can be the enemy of looking up....ask why not how.

I have been an eyepiece man in this hobby ever since I was 14. I am now 81. I have collected premium eyepieces for all that time including 4 9.652 carl zeiss eyepieces. Yes I have gone down the astrophotography path , I have got good one shot colour shots that I am very happy with. My computer skills are limited and to me it's a lot of time to get a pretty picture. I have receintely bought a baadar 2" prism diagonal, and the veiws through my evostar 150 ED are just stunning.Even in bortle 6+ skies. Clear skies.😊

Capitalism, baby! Even the purest hobby becomes tedious under late stage capitalism.

I will set up two telescopes (not all the time) one to image and one just to look around, I find this keeps me interested as, the one I use to just looking around is like, point at some thing then look up info on said object or the other way around reading info and go look at it. So because of this sometimes I may spend 1min looking at some thing and other times hr's. So depending on the night I may look at several things or, one or two and in the background the imaging rig is doing it's own thing. So I kind of feel I get the best of both worlds.

A thoughful video Ollie. Your recent excellent video on eyepieces and visual astronomy coincided with me thinking about getting into visual too, as an adjunct to my AP. While I don't think I'll be taking a full break from AP any time soon, I must admit that there's a little staleness creeping into the whole thing. Also, I’ve realised that I've fallen into the trap of submitting my images into Astrobin's image of the day process and then repeatedly checking through the day to see how many likes the images were receiving. No more. I want to try to process my images to the best of my ability but for my personal pleasure and approval, no one else's. I plan to purchase a couple of eyepieces soon and get back to basics.

A thoughful video Ollie. Your recent excellent video on eyepieces and visual astronomy coincided with me thinking about getting into visual too, as an adjunct to my AP. While I don't think I'll be taking a full break from AP any time soon, I must admit that there's a little staleness creeping into the whole thing. Also, I’ve realised that I've fallen into the trap of submitting my images into Astrobin's image of the day process and then repeatedly checking through the day to see how many likes the images were receiving. No more. I want to try to process my images to the best of my ability but for my personal pleasure and approval, no one else's. I plan to purchase a couple of eyepieces soon and get back to basics.

The gear reviews bother me, a lot. I find a channel I like, then suddenly they are an affiliate, here's an unbiased review, and please use their link. It's naive and destructive to pretend one can have an unbiased review and make money off affiliate links. Hey, here's an unbiased review, I hate it, don't buy it, click on my link if you do? I don't mind if they focus on gear they have purchased, we all have gear, but some I think actually believe they will make real money using affiliate links (in my opinion anyway). I do not like the mix no matter how much I like the presenter. I find myself wanting to share my experience to have fun, so here goes. I move from target to target to have fun. I could spend multiple nights on a single target for the best photo, but much like in games I challenge myself to have fun first and ignore the perfection crowd. I stayed up until 1am Friday night to see if I could get my scope and camera to see Saturn. It was better than a line and a dot, not much better, but it was fun. I also like to slew over to areas in the sky where I might see something neat, take 15 or 20 minutes of photos, then move on. I'm inside most of the time, but the mosquitos here are horrible right now so I'm fine to polar align and duck inside. As an aside, I will never do mono because it's too much like a job, I want my hobbies to be fun, and OSC can still make for great photos. I see a trend of those going mono burning out faster, but that's just a casual observation without hard data to back it up.

Great video! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. I try to strike a balance by doing 50-50 with visual. Sometimes that might just involve sitting under the stars and looking up, without even using a telescope. That said, I’m also guilty of getting carried away with gear fever on occasions. But I try to take it back to basics when I can 👍

For the last year, I have gone out and done EAA, live stacking with Sharp Cap Pro. I have most often take 10 to 20 minutes exposures on my alt/az goto mount. Fun. I have most often used my Celestron Short Tube 80 and my SvBony 305 80mm ED refractor. Fun. I recently started using an equatorial mount, have purchased several more optical tubes and have extended total exposure times up to 1 to 3 hours. Still fun. I plan on reviewing most things I have purchased, but have a face for radio, I voice for print and am only semi-literate. So, I am loath to be seen on camera. I have recently started posting photos and reviews on my channel in hopes of being as good as this fellow, some day.

Ive been into astronomy now for 35 years off and on. Atm im taking a break and ive started collecting Lego star wars 😂. Its good to take s break every so often otherwise ive found it looses it's spark. I am due to move to a bortle 3 sky fron my current 7 so as soon as thats happened i dare say the scope camera and mount will come out of mothballs. Ive already seen whats it like and im keen to see how much better it really is. Great video thanks for posting 👍

Very interesting Ollie i must admit my mojo right now is at an all time low I haven't imaged since May, as for content I really haven't done much this year either as I know I'm not very good or confident in front of the camera & I think people are pretty bored with my content which is fair enough, it doesn't help with my operation in the not to distant future looming which will put me out of action from work let alone astro for a while. Mind you I also feel under pressure to buy the latest gear to compete with other channels which I just cannot afford to hence to using a really old mount in the observatory as there's no way I could afford an EQ8 or one of these new strainwave mounts. As for visual astronomy I haven't done any in years & I know I really should do, apart from having the odd look at the Sun with a solarscope that's pretty much all the visual I've done. I think it would be good of people went back to the basics a bit as well as using the latest gear as Nico Carvers video shooting the ifn around polaris untracked with a DSLR was exceptionally good & he used free software to edit to.

100% agree. Technology is both a saviour and a burden, with most of its promises often being at the expense of introducing more issues that then you perceive must be fixed with more purchases. I took a step back too, and find myself enjoying visual as well as EAA or imaging at the same time. Probably my age betraying me now, but honestly, it feels like a grind after already spending a day bashing my head at work at the floor of the software sausage factory trying to get it all to work, and then come home and troubleshoot Astro software. Even NINA sometimes screws stuff up.

I totally agree with you, I am guilty myself on my Chanel of doing a lot of reviews, but most are reviews of kit I have bought for myself, but I have had a few offers of free kit to review, (hard to refuse) and it does get in the way of my own enjoyment…so I will be taking a step back from the reviews over the winter and concentrating on my own imaging and enjoyment…clear skies, and thanks for the video..👍🏻

I think it’s completely understandable to feel the way you do presently. I know there have been some nights sitting in my truck, staring at my laptop screen, or inside my house, where I think how silly this whole thing seems. For me, I love the whole technical challenge of it and when you finally figure out something that been driving you crazy! I also love to sit in my chair the next day and edit my stacked image. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Hi Ollie: Interesting video. I was lucky enough to grow up in a rural area where we could just walk outside at look at the Milky Way from our yard and that awesome feeling of looking up at a truly dark sky has stayed with me all these years. A few years ago, I got sucked into astrophotography which I still pursue a little bit but I was really turned off by the huge amount of time needed in front of the computer processing all that data. It just never had the appeal for me that looking at the night sky had. Like someone else said, I too mostly enjoy sitting outside with my telescope, a chair, a sketch pad, star atlas, and notepad. There is just something profound about looking up at our amazing universe.

Yes! I have had a similar experience this summer. I've been doing almost exclusively astrophotography for the last 6ish years...and I moved this spring and for awhile I didn't have all my gear unpacked and set up again. I was just pulling out my 115mm refractor and going for quick visual sessions of maybe an hour....and of all things I fell in love with double star observing!! I couldn't believe it, but the stars are just so much prettier through an eyepiece than in even the best astrophotos. I love imaging and I've been doing some again, but I will continue to make time for visual observation.

I acquired everything I needed to do Astrophotography, and turned around and sold it all. I didn't get into Astronomy to stare at screens.

Join Astronomical League and complete at least one program as an astrophotographer. Your priorities will be switched right away. Acquisition time will not matter, but you have to study/investigate produced photos. Second, one proper rig in proper location is more productive than 3-5 sheeit rigs (sorry, like yours or constantly reviewed by many CZcams channels) in light polluted location. When one proper rig automatized, then you will have time for visual astronomy. Again, need to complete programs for AL. Good luck!

First, I think visual astronomy and astrophotography are two very different hobbies. They're just different, in motivation and experience, and really can't be compared. Second, I agree with the overemphasis on gear on CZcams astrophotography channels. I don't think having the latest and best gear all is that important. For most people, the limiting factor in image quality is going to be the sky conditions, not the quality of the gear. I'm finding that I'm getting better pictures by honing my acquisition skills with the gear I already own and improving my image processing techniques. That said, I have been a something of a gear-buying spree of late, but that's to build out three separate rigs so I can slap the right optical/camera rig for the target on the mount and go. I don't want to be messing with equipment and software and trying to make disparate pieces of equipment and software play nicely with one another. I want to quickly set up and start taking pictures with the limited time under cloudless skies that I get around here.

I'm starting to get sick of companies promoting the latest/greatest and charging a small fortune supposedly trying to be innovating where in reality it's planned obsolescence. this is a niche community and these companies are taking advantage of it. I do want to upgrade some of my equipment but I no longer trust these companies to be reliable. So far I am happy with what I'm doing but I believe the weather conditions also affect our psyche. Eventually as I have more spare time I plan on Astronomy trips to dark areas so I can be one with me and the cosmos and image from there.

Good timing. I just spent an hour outside looking at Saturn with my 30 year old 8" Meade SCT, listening to the sound of the basic 12v clock drive. Tack sharp views. Nice to put the camera away for a while and use an eyepiece.

Spot on mate too much information overload just get out and enjoy the night sky

"Perfection of a kind" is what some seem to be after, especially the kind of perfection that depends absolutely on arcane detail. As a writer once said about wine: one of the least congenial aspects of it is the tyranny of the illuminati of the bottle, aka the wine geek. Badly needed video.

My main issue is the lousy weather that's continued from last year with 8 months now gone of this one. I have set my equipment up countless times only to pack it all up with little or no imaging. Even when it is clear its no longer whole nights.

Oh BTW, I just noticed the ukiyoe print in the background of your video. Does that mean you have some affinity to Japan culture or art? Just curious..... JPASTROGUY (Paul)

Hi Ollie I think people have lost the connection with the night sky, light pollution makes it very difficult to see anything if you live in a city and the trend for the smart telescope is not helping, you take your new telescope out stick it on the floor in the garden trun it on and go inside never even looking up at the night sky, this is so different from how i started with astronomy over fifty years ago i remember on a cold winter night going out with a star atlas and spending time finding the constellation and looking at the moon and Jupiter moons the Orion nebula,and scanning the mikyway with binoculars, that connection is never forgotten, remember a hobby is about finding something that makes you relax and that you enjoy and can never be replaced with just buying the next must have thing , clear skies my friend

Hearing your comments about equipment reviews and other astrophotography channels is something I have noticed as well. That is why I started my own channel @ Astrophotography Japan, that (most of the time) tries to focus on the adventure and pursuit of the hobby, which is the part that brings the satisfaction and joy to me. Besides, I cannot compete with the technical gurus, but I can share exciting and exotic experiences in and around Japan, in pursuit of ancient photons! I hope you check it out. Cheers and best wishes! JPASTROGUY

I agree. I got into astrophotography simply to see more detail in deep sky objects. But it gradually became more technical and time consuming. I am now keeping it simple either with visual or basic processing. Keep up the good work.

I agree, I have changed my focus back to collecting photons from millions of light years away with my eyes. I have simplified back to a mount, scope and eyepiece, a sky atlas, a chair and my journal/sketch book. I am now experiencing the distant objects again.

I have noticed this too in recent months. The main channels I would watch are all focused on the next mount, the next telescope they have. The target and the processing of the data is a brief brush over. It also seems a bulk of the channels I used to watch have fallen off the regular radar too. The weather in oz has been rubbish lately too and the brief one night here and there puts pressure on to find a target and get the most out of it. This can add to the slump feeling. A couple of friends (both here in Adelaide and in the UK) have come up with the idea to work on the entire Messier Catalogue. This way, it takes out the indecision of what to shoot for and can give a sense of completion/achievement, but also removes the whole "gear" conversation. If you're interested, we'd love to have you help us! You have the same gear as we do it seems. 🤣

definitely feeling the same at the moment…also add the new gear burn out. I know it’s just a rut…but, it still sux.