ED optics anyone?

[nytecam]

I was surprised to see in the photo mags the price of 400mm cam lenses can vary from £1000-£5000 and more. I've just bought [for my astro use] a fixed 420mm fl f/6 2-element ED optic for a quarter of the lowest above and initial results are very pleasing Link here http://www.united-optics.com/Product...mm_F-6_ED.html

[bripriuk]

Hi
If birds stayed still as long as galaxies I would jump at one of them. :-)
Sadly they don't, so I need image stabilisation and super fast auto focussing, hence the price.
I love your astro pics. I would love to have a go at it, but I live in London and have a problem seeing the stars due to the street lights.

Brian

[nytecam]

Originally Posted by bripriuk

Hi
If birds stayed still as long as galaxies I would jump at one of them. :-)
Sadly they don't, so I need image stabilisation and super fast auto focussing, hence the price.
I love your astro pics. I would love to have a go at it, but I live in London and have a problem seeing the stars due to the street lights. Brian

Thanks Brian - I know little or nothing about bird photography so I can see all the gismos must be necessary Yes - I live in SW London but won't let light pollution stop me in astro - I curtail exposures just short of saturation level and press the 'make skies black' button in software and they are - then stack a series of like exposures to go 'deep'