Shot the moon on film in 2004, now I stack 200 frames in my kitchen and it feels like cheating | Astronomy Photos - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Shot the moon on film in 2004, now I stack 200 frames in my kitchen and it feels like cheating
Back in 2004 I drove out past Tucson with a roll of 400 speed film and a borrowed 300mm lens, and getting one usable moon shot took two rolls and a lot of luck. Now I sit in my kitchen with an old DSLR and free software, and last Tuesday I stacked 200 frames of the Orion Nebula before my coffee went cold. Does anyone else miss the waiting, or is it just me being old and stubborn?
The waiting was half the fun and nobody can tell me different. I spent a whole night camped out in my backyard with a cheap telescope and a film camera back around 2006, losing feeling in my fingers just to get a blurry white blob that I was still proud of. There was something about not knowing what you got until the roll came back that made every good shot feel like a real win. Now I can see the screen right away and just delete the bad ones, and some of the magic is gone with it. Idk, maybe we are just old and stubborn, but I miss when getting the shot actually meant something. Half the hobby now is just owning a laptop and clicking a button a bunch of times.