Digital Astrophotography: A Guide to Capturing the Cosmos Paperback – December 15, 2007

Astrophotography is an area in the hobby where most beginners feel a measure of intimidation- from the high cost of equipment, the myriad jargon tossed around in amateur astronomy forums on the web, and a seemingly confusing and endless selection of knobs, plates, adapters, scopes, mounts, tripods, cameras, etc. available in the market place. But most folks are hooked the moment they take a photo of the moon or a planet through a small digital camera or even a cell phone cam.Seip's book is concise, highly readable and an up-to-date book on amateur astrophotography. It is clear and well written and perhaps the best primer to read when one is contemplating delving into this area of the hobby.I would have liked to see a little more elaboration on guiding (manual and auto), on focusing a DSLR (that's what most people start dabbling in), and on the importance of a good mount-perhaps an appendix guide on mount recommendations, stability considerations, the concept of PEC and maybe on drift alignment (a proper mount is the biggest success factor in astrophotography), but this information can be easily found elsewhere on the web and in books (Ron Wodaski has an excellent section on telescope and mount selection and considerations in his book that bears reading). All in all, an excellent book. I enjoyed reading it very much.Lastly, if you see Seip's astrophotography photos on the web, you will realize how spectacular his photos (and skills) are. Perhaps it is a reflection of his humility that he avoids showcasing his jaw-dropping photos in his own book!

Wanting to learn more about astrophotography, I purchased this book. Although I am not trying astrophotography now, this book has been very helpful. The author discusses astrophotography in general. Then he goes through various kinds of astrophotography and the types of cameras suited and/or best for a particular format. The types of cameras discussed are;Compact digital camerasWebcamsDSLRAstronomical CCD camerasEach section divided into individual chapters for each type of camera1. Applications with subheadings: a. Characteristics of the camera b. Suitable photo Photo motifs c. Advantages and disadvantages2. Buying tips3. Information on taking astrophotos with the particular camera (example: web cams)4. Processing images taken with a particular cameraSome of the processing directions are more detailed; depends on which camera is being discussed.There is also an appendix with a table summarizing application areas for each type of camera.There are also photos illustrating what various cameras are capable of. Overall I liked the book and refer to it often just for information. It is written in a very clear and understandable way. I would recommend it for anyone, new to astrophotography or more of an expert. Especially good for a newbie.

I am relatively new to the hobby of astrophotography, however, I've done a lot of research online through astrophoto websites and by joining forums dedicated to the subject. Wanting to increase my knowledge, I bought this book for two reasons: First of all it's a newly published book, so I figured it would have information pertaining to the latest cameras, devices, and software available. Secondly, I read all the 5 star reviews here on Amazon which sealed the deal for me.I'm sorry I ever bought it. The book felt very disjointed. It felt like every paragraph introduced you to a new topic, but never really explained anything. By the end of the paragraph you would be wanting more, only for the book to go on about something new.To make things worse, the book is filled with sentences that will leave you scratching your head. Here's a perfect example from page 27. And I quote:"If your camera does not allow the complete manual setting of the exposure, you may be able to use the camera's exposure compensation. For example, if the automatic mode produces over exposures, you can try a manual correction selecting shorter exposures."What was that he said?? Ok, maybe he'll explain it clearer in the next paragraph... Not.On the subject of processing your photos, telling me to open Photoshop and click and drag on the curve to adjust the colors doesn't quite cut it. Can we be a little more specific?? Here's the quote:"In order to create an impressive nighttime image, the following menu item is more helpful: Image->Adjustments->Curves...As shown in the curves dialog box, you can click and drag on the straight line with the mouse to change the shape of the curve. The result (image 3) more closely resembles a nightime shot"I need a little more why's and how's than this book offers. The majority of the book is pictures, and even the pictures lack the information normally found in photography books. I'm used to seeing photos where the photographer explains the equipment and settings - you won't find any of that here.If you already have a general knowledge of astrophotography, I would suggest that you pass on this book.

I am a old astrophotographer returning to the hobby after a 10 year leave of absence. I went looking for a good reference that would lead me back into the hobby. It seems that Seip has one of the few books out there so I bought it. He does an excellent job giving you a good grounding in each and every aspect of the discipline. He has me either already doing or considering doing different aspects of astrophotography that I had never considered before. Starting with web cam imaging of planets then moving up to astrophotography with a DSLR camera have me progressing into the hobby while I build up my equipment list,my expertise using it and $$ which will make graduating to CCD imaging a snap. You can't go wrong with this one.Some of the references are getting a little dated but there is nothing that can't be resolved using his recommendations as a starting point and typing a few lines into a internet search engine. When he updates or writes another I'll be buying it.

This book is very well written and easy to understand for amateurs like myself. Written by an amateur for amateurs, the language is very down to earth.I'm not very technical so for me this book was very welcome. If there is anything i could miss, it's dealing with windows7 issues, but one can get that info on the net, if needed. So all in all, I like this book very much, and recommend it to any amateur interested in digital astrophotography!

This is an excellent book for someone starting out in digtial astrophotgraphy, who is undoubtedly the target for this book. The authors style is clear, simple and straight forward. They do not assume any knowledge of the subject instead set out clearly the advantages and disadvantages of the webcam,digital compact and digital single lens reflex cameras and of the CCD camera. For each category the authors describe how to use the camera to its best advantage -how to set it up, attach it to the telescope, exposures to use and very usefully how to process the images you obtain. The book has an assosciated website from which the reader can download example astrophotographs on which to practice the image processing techniques.If you are already experienced in digital astrophotography this book will not add a lot to your store of knowledge but then you are not its target audience.For the novice to astrophotography though this is a thoroughly recommended book and will give you an excellent start in this fascinating, not difficult and very satisfying field - you can at last share some of your wonder at the cosmos with family and friends.

I did not find this book useful at all. It has some nice photographs but lack any kind of content. Even for a beginner this book is not helpful and does not answer most questions a person would ask. Save your money and buy a better book!

This is an excellent book and covers all the necessary things needed when starting out in this field. Notice I said when "starting out". After I read it, I doubt that I will go back to it a great deal for reference, as it is a bit thin on the ground in that department. There seems to be a lack also of examples and diagrams, compared with a book like Covington's. Having said that it's very prettily put together with a ton of beautiful astro images (in colour).

Book cool