Astrophotography for the Amateur

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource for both novices and pros
Review: Although photography has been a hobby of mine for years, I recently became interested in astronomy. I bought this book to learn how to combine these two hobbies.

This is an excellent resource. If you're just starting out, this book covers the basics and explains things that even a novice like me can understand. As your skill level advances this book will continue to be an excellent resource. It is filled with detailed technical information on scopes, mounts, lenses, films, techniques and just about anything you need to know on this subject. I agree with other reviewers that the book does not cover CCD photography in depth. CCD hardware/software seems to be changing at such a rapid pace. It would be difficult to write a detailed text on this subject that would not be out of date in a couple of years.

Overall, I rate this book very highly and recommend if for both novices and pros.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource for both novices and pros
Review: Although photography has been a hobby of mine for years, I recently became interested in astronomy. I bought this book to learn how to combine these two hobbies.

This is an excellent resource. If you're just starting out, this book covers the basics and explains things that even a novice like me can understand. As your skill level advances this book will continue to be an excellent resource. It is filled with detailed technical information on scopes, mounts, lenses, films, techniques and just about anything you need to know on this subject. I agree with other reviewers that the book does not cover CCD photography in depth. CCD hardware/software seems to be changing at such a rapid pace. It would be difficult to write a detailed text on this subject that would not be out of date in a couple of years.

Overall, I rate this book very highly and recommend if for both novices and pros.

Rating:
Summary: Advanced Math Major Needed
Review: For about 5 years now I've been involved with Astronomy as a hobby. I've owned telescopes small and large, taken numerous night sky pictures, and read many materials on the subject. With the recent purchase of my 8" Schmidt, I was eager to begin taking pictures with it. I realized that while I'd taken some pictures in the past, I wasn't very skilled in the process. With a desire to expand my knowledge and further my skills I purchased this book. I was glad that I did. The book has an abundance of useful information that I was able to readily apply when photographing. It also has an abundance of technically sophisticated information. If you are a very new beginner then this probably isn't your book. I found that you already need more than just a basic knowledge of astronomy and photography to understand the concepts covered in this book. The book is not a light read. If you want to understand what is included in it you must be willing to devote some time, both reading and applying. If you are willing to put up with a level of sophistication and complexity then you should have no problem with this book. The title can be slightly misleading in the sense that the word amateur it is used. "Amateur," in title of this work, best translates as: non-professional. And not as beginner.

Rating:
Summary: My best book on astrophotography
Review: I've been trying my hand off and on for the last year at astrophotography with my Meade LX-200. In that time I've scoured the internet, devoured newsgroup, and emailed enough astrophotographers that you'd think I was trying to get elected to NASA or something. In all that time, one name and reference guide kept coming up as a "must have". Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael A. Covington.


Everywhere I turned, everyone I asked, their answers always seemed to come down to "...because Michael Covington does it this way" or "Yeah I tried doing it that way but after reading Astrophotography I tried it this way and received better results". That attitude actually "put me off" this book. Here I wanted to learn how to do astrophotography, not follow some recipe in a book. After finally browsing through a friends copy I was immediately impressed with the book as a reference guide, and when comparing it to my own notes and conclusions found several area's where I had erred, resulting in poor photo's. Of course, the flip side is true as well.


Some of the info in this book (even though it is a second edition) is dated such as film types and recommendations. I've found his exposure calculations for Lunar photography to be way over exposed.



I have to make a correction here, originaly I (and others) noted the lack of CCD imaging information in the book and I need to note that the first addition makes no mention of CCD, while the second edition has a section detailing the diffrences between CCD and film work. It also has a brief section devoted to CCD work. Its not as indepth as his discussions on film work.

Rating:
Summary: Astrophotography for the Amateur
Review: Michael Covington writes a great read. He has a flow to his style of writing that makes it easy to get lost in the imagery. I started reading and found I couldn't put this book down. From the rank beginner to the accomplished pro. This book is the standard to which all other books on this topic will be compared in the future. There is no stone left unturned. I even gave copies to a couple of good friends as gift's. Anyone in the astronomy endeavor will enjoy finding this great book under their tree even in July.

Rating:
Summary: Very good reference book for any astrophotographer
Review: Micheal Covington's book covers all aspects of astrophotography starting from objects, from camera selection to films, exposure methods, mounts and drives, guiding of the mount & guiding accuracy/errors, and of course the CCD imaging. I also gives ideas on how to build a simple barn door mount. It does not end at taking exposures. After an exposure is taken we have to convert it into an acceptable quality print or into a computer file. Images can be greatly improved by digital processing. So it also covers image processing ideas. The only point to be noted is that one must look at his website and download the errata. The book has many printing errors, some of which are trivial though. That, of course, must not deter any user. I consider is my best field guide book on this topic. I believe his recent edition has got over these errors - not mine. I bought mine in 1999.

Rating:
Summary: Very good reference book for any astrophotographer
Review: This book is a must in doing amateur astrophotography if you are going serious. It has lots of information which is very useful.For example it teach you to calculate the focal ratio using diferent techniques of takig pictures with the telescope, it help you calculate the exposure times in order to photograph the moon or a constelation on a tripod.
It is an excellent source but you have to do calculations(formulas).If you don't like numbers, this book is not for you, but if you do like numbers this book is very useful.

Rating:
Summary: Best Overall Astrophotography Book
Review: This second edition is updated and revised. Of all the books I've read on astrophotography this is the best overall. Given that the standard reference work by Provin and Wallace (A Manual of Advanced Celestial Photography) was dated and is out of print this is the closest replacement.

The book covers all topics relevant to astrophotography, including telescope considerations, mounts, camera types and lens, focusing, photographic methods (prime focus, projection, etc.). Topics covered also include photographing meteors, aurora displays, planets and deep space objects. One appendix contains extensive exposure data for various targets like the moon, planets and deep sky objects. Some image processing techniques and algorithms are covered.

Some of the films mentioned in the book are now obsolete but that is an unfortunate consequence of a rapidly changing market. The book is generously illustrated with photos taken by the author and many other noted amateur astronomers.

CCD photography is covered in the book but not in any real depth. That is not a drawback to the book since most of the material on photography (methods, mounts and telescopes) is generally applicable to CCD as well. Readers interested specifically in CCD and not film should consult other texts for more in-depth information.

Overall the author did an excellent job of collecting and organizing information for the beginner to advanced astrophotographer.