Astrophotography Workshop - thoughts?

Lens/mirror cleaning

autofocus/focusing,

focusing masks,

eyepiece projection imaging,

the list goes on!!

Could IFAS actually hold an accredited course?

A Certificate in Astrophotography!

Just caught this now, some great idea's here. Alot of this technical jargon really
confuses me when it comes to Astrophotography as I am a beginner at this stuff.

Wide Field DSLR imaging would be my choice, could ye run seperate "workshops" at the same time
in different rooms to a smaller select audience. Might make the day run smoother other than
trying to cram everyone into a single day session. Have it on a Saturday close to a resonably dark location just in case the skies are clear, doing processing on a laptop is quite different to actually the practical side of setting up equipment which I and others need to learn

Ronan Newman

** UPDATE **

Myself and Dave Mc have been busy organising this workshop for the last couple of weeks. We are close to finalising a venue (on the outskirts of Dublin) and speakers at the moment. We hope it will happen on a Saturday at the end of October or early November, but this is subject to confirmation and so may change.

The structure of the day will be as follows:

* Mounts
* Optics
* Cameras
* Observatories
* DSLR Imaging Tutorial
* CCD Imaging Tutorial
* Planetary Imaging Tutorial
* Solar imaging Tutorial
* Widefield Imaging

We aim to have pdf copies of all the talks on a CD for the attendees to take home with them on the day. The imaging tutorials will include hands-on processing so attendees are recommended to bring laptops with them. We hope to include the sample images/videos on the DVD as used in the tutorials so that attendees can practice at home with them afterwards.

In terms of cost, there will be a fee to cover the costs of the DVDs, contribution to speakers expenses etc. We are examining the option of organising a simple lunch (sambos etc) for all the participants as well - this would keep everyone together at the venue and save people heading off roaming for food - we will confirm this in due course. Spaces will be limited to 20 people. Due to the nature of the venue we have in mind, no money is permitted to exchange hands on the venue, therefore we will be processing all payments via the IFAS paypal system.

Once we have the final details sorted out, we will post them up here on the site. We are not taking any numbers until then. It will be on a first come first served basis. If there is demand for a re-run of the course, then of course we will try and do that.

Regards,

Michael & Dave.

Fantastic!

Is there any programs that we should download/update in advance?

If they are on the disc there MAYBE some, 'Run Windows Update' type of problems, just incase the location dosent have wifi etc.

Should DSLR's be brought too?

Is there going to be a night-time observing after? i.e. should we bring scopes..?

Well done guys, line up looks great!

Graham.

Hey
Obviously a lot of work and thought put into this, the line up looks spot on, well done, i would be very interested in this. Will be watching closely!!

Mike

Graham,

The event will take place during the day. Programme is roughly from 10:30am to 5:00pm~ish. Weather permitting, the solar imaging tutorial will include live imaging. However, in general, there won't be any night time imaging.
Hopefully, the talks will be clear enough to get the right practical advice to everyone through the tutorials.

In terms of software, we plan to issue a list of programs in advance if the talk so that people can download and install them in advance of the workshop.

Regards,

Michael