Digital SLR Astrophotography (Practical Amateur Astronomy)

This is a great book, it provided me with very useful information on the subject of Astrophotography. In just two weeks time I have managed to take some breath taking shots of Orion Nebula, the Double Cluster and moon plus Jupiter as well. For my first time in over ten years I was able to take pictures with my new Canon T3i DSLR and I did great, this book is a must have if you are lookin in to taking or getting in too Astrophotography pictures-A+.

I notice the other reviews, but I think the negative ones expect too much. This is not a detailed reference work for the advanced imager but a beginning book that will get you for 0-90 mph right away. I have done planetary and solar webcam imaging and beginning astrophotgraphy with Canon DSLR (Milky Way, Aurora) and been confused by the amount of information avaialble. Michael has presented a concise "how-to" that incorporates all of the specific actions required for DSLR and the underlying tehcnical reasons for them. He also includes some asides that are important, but you will not find in purely technical reports. I was able to scan it in about an hour and it corroborated and enhanced what I had learned on my own. This book would have saved me time and anxiety and I would have had better early results if I had read it first. Again - not a reference for advanced imager, but a solid how-to for beginning to intermediate DSLR astrophotography. Highly recommended for style and content.

The book is outdated and overpriced. While naturally the field of astrophotography is like all electronics advancing in leaps and bounds (it seems like no sooner do you order and receive a new piece of equipment and it has already been replaced), the book is written with the then current technology without any awareness of how technology will improve. Case and point in the end of the book when it touches on non-SLR cameras the opening line comes across as dismissive outlining the flaws with using non-SLR with no hint of how non-SLR cameras could improve.Oddly enough a lot of the things that one could find interesting to read and learn about are brushed over with 'covered in my previous book'. The author flat out assumes that the reader owns, has read, and has available at hand the other book to just be able to open to the specific page and continue learning what they want to know. The impression left is one of a pompous a** who is more interested in just selling his product that actually teaching or explaining.The one part of the book that probably excels is the one part that most people are likely to not care about: technical DETAILED calculations. The author is obviously a student of photography from the film era when it was often necessary to perform detailed calculations to ensure the absolute correct exposure as the cost of trial and error often proves exceedingly great in time (shooting and then developing) and money (film). Chances are most people looking for this book or one similar to it are just starting out and are a child of the digital age. With digital cameras you learn more by the trial and error method of playing around with the settings and seeing the difference. I am one with a pretty good mathematical ability and I often found myself just glazing over the text. I can easily see someone who cringes at the word math wanting to throw the book across the room (something that could proof catastrophic reading on a kindle).Worst of all the author offers no guidance over the choice of equipment beyond the basic EQ good AZ bad. There is no touch on the different levels of equipment that one can get or even a detailed explanation of what he uses and the good and bad of his setup. Who knows maybe he covered equipment in his first book...Overall one is left with a feeling that they spent a considerably amount of money (25$ for kindle book) and got practically nothing to show for it. I thought for sure that for 25$ I would certainly find a lot of valuable information but in the end I learned and enjoyed less material from this book then I did from similar books which I purchased for 10$.Final words, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. I am not endorsing a particular author but there are better books out there with more useful information and cost less money.

Like another reviewer, I found that this was a well written book however, I agree that a little too much was referenced in another book for its price. I am happy to look up the many websites which are referenced...I expect that these days. It is probably time for a new integrated book that has it all. The cameras discussed were a bit old now Nikon D70 etc.

I would have preferred to give this book a 2.5 star rating. It is truly unfortunate for this book, being 7 years 'old.' The last seven years in digital astrophotography is a bit like the difference between the Dark Ages and the Technical Revolution. So much has changed in the 7 years since this book was written that much of the book is obsolete. I say 'unfortunate' because Michael Covington writes very well, in non-technical and easy to understand terms.Probably worth mentioning that any book written and published before 2011 would likely have outdated information or parts. Still, this book is worth 2.5 stars because it has some easy to understand fundamental information and guidance. It should probably not be read by the pre-beginner. Worthwhile for beginners or new intermediates with some knowledge of DSLR astrophotography so that the reader will have some idea of the parts to skim over.As an example, the latest Canon camera models discussed in the book is their 400D and the 20Da. Although this isn't a major issue, it does come into play when considering other recommendations. For instance, the author recommends an ISO setting of 400, but the general setting of 800 is more common now with the newer Canon models. In addition, the author talks about modifications, but today there are many types of modifications, some which include a cooling chamber for the DSLR camera sensor. Some DSLR sensors are even being debayered to create a DSLR mono camera!Get the book used or borrow it from a friend. It is worth a read for the beginner and new intermediate who wants to understand more about the function and value of DSLRs in astrophotography. Maybe Mr. Covington would write a new book on the subject. He is an excellent writer!

I'm new to DSLR Camera's and to Astrophotography and was expecting a book full of useful tips about how to set up my camera how take pictures of objects in the sky. There are some helpful hints and tips but not enough to satisfy this hungry novice. A lot of the book is about technical issues on the camera, lens and how the sensor works and the software available to work on your pictures once taken. I wanted more basic stuff and this book did not satisfy this need. Its more for the experienced camera user and astrophotograher in my opinion. Example from the book about focussing the camera say's its frustrating for those new to the hobby but offers very little help. The book is expensive for what it offers.So it will now be added to my shelf of books only to come out once I've mastered my camera and to some extent had some experience of taking astro pictures.

I haven't read all of this book yet, but it certainly has impressed me so far. As a writer Covington has that ability to communicate very well and has a evident passion for his subject. He has an academic disciplined quality to his style which is necessary for a technical subject like this (which is missing from Seip's book), but without drifting off into abstruse theoreticals. He keeps things on a down-to-earth simple-to-grasp basis which I find very refreshing given the possibilities for confusion. Diagrams are clear and informative, and cover areas I've never seen in other books - like single page diagrams showing all the camera coupling methods, lens configurations or telescope types. Equations and concepts are backed up by real examples and data. There's plenty of nice astro photos showing the results of all this hard work too.I bought this on the strength of his original astrophotography book which was geared towards film, with a brief mention of digital imaging at the end of that.The only regret, mentioned by another review is the lack of colour plates, but this isn't a serious concern for me, so this gets five stars from me.

I have just come back to astronomy after many years and things have certainly moved on. 40 years ago astrophotography was limited to those with access to the big 'scopes and decent developing systems. The digital camera has changed it all.I am still working my way through this book, but I have tried some of the ideas Covington discusses....and they work.The book is well written for both beginner and advanced. The explanations are clear and precise and they review different approaches. They also review why some of the cameras have developed their various formats and technologies.The book is written around the use of a Cannon EOS and the Nikon, but do not let that put you off. For me it is great as I use an older Cannon 400D but the ideas can be applied to any camera.The software section is also very good. How to handle digital images to get the best out of them, again with clear explanations.If you are interested in trying astrophotography then buy this book.

Great read for a person just beginning to be interested in doing DSLR Astrophotography. It introduces all the key concepts and though the book is slightly outdated with regard to the models of cameras/etc and some other minor details, overall it's easily applicable to today and is a sublime way to get more information on the subject.However, I do feel like some aspects of DSLR Astrophotography have changed hugely over the past few years, especially when it comes to processing images and the actual cameras available, so it would be worth noting that it'd be worth investigating online for more recent processing techniques and for the newest cameras available.

I'm new to astrophotography, but have a degree in a related subject. I need it when reading this book. That's not to say it's opaque with equations and unexplained technical jargon, but it doesn't shirk from technical details. It will be a very long time before I outgrow this book. Given that it is so specific on camera brands and models, this book will quickly date in that respect. The concepts wont, but criticisms of particular models will, as the manufacturers bring out new models each year addressing the flaws.