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If anyone is interested, my experience has been somewhat different to
most of the members here. I was already in my seventies when digital
imaging started to appear in AP. I had been doing film AP for over 50 years,
and having never taken to computers [I don't even have a mobile phone], struggled with digital AP from the outset.
I changed over to a DSLR, and tried delving into the dark art of digital AP,
but found Registax, Photoshop, Irfanview, DSS, etc etc overwhelming. I
was forced to stick with the most basic method of doing tracked AP, which was max 90 secs subs [no autoguider, and had had enough of manual guiding]; ISO 1600 with Canon 1100D [sweet spot], or 800 with 600D; High ISO noise reduction on high, Long Exposure Noise Reduction on high, JPEGs [couldn't fathom using RAWS]. Stacking and processing in DSS, that's it, no separate darks, flats, biases, or in depth processing.
This method produced results pretty much as good as the digital newbies
were getting in those days, but as equipment and software evolved I soon
got left behind in the mud at the bottom of the IIS pond. [ I have managed to get several images published in Astro mags, so they couldn't have been that bad I suppose].
On the plus side, my experience in film AP and other forms of photography,
has enabled me to help out some of the newbies with their various [mostly non digital] questions and/or problems.
raymo
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