Well, it’s holiday time and some things to keep an eye on. We got a Brompton bicycle over the summer (thinking we would need it at Burning Man, but sadly didn’t go). Anyway, it’s an awesome bicycle and Amex right now has a $300 off if you spend $1500 at Brompton.com so off we go. We got our previously at REI and it was also a good deal. Plus there is an additional 10% off as an REI membe, but the Amex deal slightly beats that. The thing looks a bit weird, but it amazing how stiff and easy to ride it is.
This thing weighs 26.5 pounds and can fit in a carry on, so really a good idea. Now we just need a good case to put it in and we are set to go just about anywhere.
ZWO Seestar S50
One of my favorite podcasts is the Astronomy Cast podcast. They are just so good at explaining the really interesting part. For a long time, I’ve wanted to do astrophotography and I can do some nice wide views just with a tripod and my trusty Sony A7R Mark III. But in their latest holiday guide, they said that the $500 ZWO Seestar S50 for $500 is a game changer, like most of these small things, you can’t actually look through a eyepiece, instead, this thing basically does long exposure and focus tracking, so you use your phone application to run it and you can get some nice photos.
Compared with the $2-5K I was thinking about paying for a tripod, a positioned and a big imager, this seems like a good way to see if I would even like astrophotography.
The thing has a light filter and you can actually look up Light Pollution on the Bortle scale the light pollution. Nor surprisingly in downtown seattle, we are 8-9, so time to find some darker skies! It’s kind of a fascinating map of civilization really
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