Your dead right there, thats where the "experience factor" comes in give david mallin a el cheapo 20d on with a 80ed for 1 week and see what comes back.
all im saying is people that have the experience are already 90% of the way there. Pushing equipment is grand, but think back a little bit to when you where starting out? it is very daunting and extremely hard. the only reason why i thought ide start the topic is i was recently looking though the photos i had taken with the Meade LX200R 12" and SBIG st402-me. some serious gear! but all i could manage was tiny fuzzy black and white images, now 6 months of playing around and i have been published in a magazine that gets distributed in Aus and Nz. all i have is the 10" my 16 dollar guide scope (DSE special) a canon 40d (borrowed from curtin un modded) to which i have learnt alot of it myself or with other like minded guys that are in the same boat!
All i would like to do is have a section for beginners with modest equipment and little experience to have a shot at POW as it can really stimulate people to strive for the "prize" of POW beginners section.
Ive added in a picture of one of the shots i was looking though that inspired and im sure you can agree that 6 months of exp is un measureable, imagine what 6 years will do!
This is the link to my first M17 Photo with the LX200R and Sbig
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...0&d=1220452246
and below was taken in early april this year. how can you measure? mind you with only 3x 15 min photos if only i knew then what i know now ide of sat on that same image all night taking 15 min subs! oh what experience teaches us