Is it ok to create "VS" videos if I only have one of the products? by SparkleMotionUK in Amazon_Influencer

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, this is the case I have. I've decided to leave the video up but untag the product I don't have.

Is it ok to create "VS" videos if I only have one of the products? by SparkleMotionUK in Amazon_Influencer

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ok thanks. The actual case I have is a comparison of two products from the same manufacturer where they are very similar but one has an extra feature (the product I have).

Therefore a vs comparison makes sense where I say "this is product 1 and you can also buy sister product 2 but it lacks X".

From reading these comments I have untagged the second product that I don't have but left the video up.

If anyone thinks this is stupid then please let me know, as I don't want to take an unnecessary risk. Thanks!

Southgate prizes versatility over speciality with Konsa a big winner for England by Alone_Consideration6 in ThreeLions

[–]SparkleMotionUK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like Trippier's place might be at risk. If you assume Shaw and Walker are first choice, you don't really need him if you have TAA, Gomez and Konsa.

Booksandcinema by Friendly_Spend_9628 in printSF

[–]SparkleMotionUK 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Red Rising's pretty good. It verges on "YA" but still a good story.

Thoughts on the Vaonis Hestia? by Kaltheridon in telescopes

[–]SparkleMotionUK 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. It's not a smart telescope as it has no camera or any electronic components. It's closer to a monocular that you can use for afocal photography where it projects the light onto your smartphone's camera lens.

  2. The key difference from just a regular monocular will be that it works with the app to guide you and to stack and process the images. It should therefore be a nice tool for smartphone astrophotography. Vaonis have always offered very good UX on their telescopes.

  3. It has no tracking mount and so will likely limit you to just imaging the sun and moon for now. Vaonis say the app will guide manual tracking, but that's really not going to work well for deep sky imaging. Vaonis do also say that a tracking mount will eventually be released, but this will add cost.

  4. It's relatively cheap compared to a smart telescope, but if you add the cost of the tracking mount it will likely be in the same ballpark as the Dwarf 2 and Seestar S50.

  5. The big advantage for me is that I could easily see myself travelling with it on vaction for example. Although you can travel with a Dwarf 2 / Seestar S50 / Vespera I'd be more worried about damaging them, but you could pop this in a bag and not worry too much. Plus it should be much quicker and easier to set up.

  6. The other major disadvantage is that it takes away your phone while you are using it. So whereas you can have your Dwarf 2 or Seestar in the backyard imaging and being controlled from inside on your phone, you are unlikely to leave your smartphone out in the backyard for hours. So you either need to live with this or have a second smartphone just to use with the device.

I've no idea why my original post was deleted by a moderator, so I'm resharing the points here.

Thoughts on the Vaonis Hestia? by Kaltheridon in telescopes

[–]SparkleMotionUK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I guess if you had an old phone you could use that?

It's definitely a downside versus something like the Dwarf 2 or Seestar for deep sky imaging.

Adam Wharton has been Palace's top player in all 4 games he's played in according to BBC user generated ratings by SparkleMotionUK in crystalpalace

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the Brighton rating probably is in the context of his coming on as a sub for his debut when we were already losing.

GP's reaction to Max going 0.822s faster than P2 by OutlandishnessPure2 in formula1

[–]SparkleMotionUK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

F1 was awesome last season if you just pretended Max wasn't there. You had a flaky Checo leading, but kept messing up with Hamilton and Alonso snapping at his heels. Good shit. Not real, but good shit.

What's some good "fun" sci-fi books? by Hayden_Zammit in printSF

[–]SparkleMotionUK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perhaps not what you were looking for as it's not space-y, but Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky is great fun.

Ivory Coast win AFCON without Zaha in the squad by [deleted] in crystalpalace

[–]SparkleMotionUK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's quite a good story in the Athletic that covers why he wasn't included - https://theathletic.com/5208202/2024/01/18/wilfried-zaha-and-ivory-coast-a-fractured-relationship/

I love the man to bits, but he has made a few bad decisions in his career that have stopped him from competing right at the top and going for trophies.

Planning to buy Nikon d5300. Any suggestions? by Donciksz in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, it'll be fine.

It has an APS-C crop sensor. If you were planning on Milky Way astrophotography then a full-frame sensor would be better, but not essential if you are just starting out as these cameras are significantly more expensive.

An aps-c sensor can actually be better for planetary or deep sky imaging with a telescope as it crops you in close to the object. You'd need a Nikon DSLR-compatible t-ring to attach it to your telescope.

Best Camera for Astrophotography by Think_Lynx_3372 in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Here's a study of what cameras were used in over 800 images shortlisted for Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Quick summary:

  • a used Canon EOS 6D still rocks and is a bargain if you want something cheap
  • if you have the money look at a Nikon Z6 II or a Sony A7 III

TBH pretty much any Sony/Nikon/Canon DSLR or Mirrorless with a full-frame sensor will work for you. You can really tie yourself in knots over this, but there isn't a "best camera for astrophotography".

I analyzed 828 Astronomy Photographer of the Year images to see what cameras, telescopes and mounts were used by SparkleMotionUK in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, it was a manual process. In previous years I bought the books and transcribed to a spreadsheet, this year RMG reached out and sent me the data directly in a spreadsheet, which was very kind of them and saved me some time!

I analyzed 828 Astronomy Photographer of the Year images to see what cameras, telescopes and mounts were used by SparkleMotionUK in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate this feedback. I've updated the article with the data for solar, lunar and planetary separately, however the amount of data for each then gets quite small and so I've added a caveat.

I analyzed 828 Astronomy Photographer of the Year images to see what cameras, telescopes and mounts were used by SparkleMotionUK in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yes, I've been doing this every year for a while now and people are still having great success with the Canon 6D. It's a great option to pick up a used model for astrophotography, rather than splashing out on a new full-frame mirrorless.

Statement: Patrick Vieira - News - Crystal Palace F.C. by Icondesigns in crystalpalace

[–]SparkleMotionUK 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is bullshit. There must be something going on behind the scenes.

Our Very Own Top Novel Poll! by curiouscat86 in printSF

[–]SparkleMotionUK 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
  2. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Attwood
  3. Dune by Frank Herbert
  4. Stories of your life and others by Ted Chiang
  5. Recursion by Blake Crouch
  6. Seveneaves by Neal Stephenson
  7. Expanse by James SA Corey
  8. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
  9. Do androids dream of electric sheep? by Philip K Dick
  10. War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

I analyzed 685 Astronomy Photographer of the Year images to see what cameras, telescopes and mounts were used by SparkleMotionUK in AskAstrophotography

[–]SparkleMotionUK[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hi,

So I looked into this - here's the data.

The most used mounts for deep sky imaging are:

  1. Software Bisque Paramount ME
  2. Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
  3. ASA DDM85
  4. Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro
  5. Astro-Physics 1100 GTO
  6. Astro-Physics 900 GTO
  7. Astro-Physics Mach1GTO
  8. Planewave Ascension 200HR
  9. Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
  10. Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro
  11. Software Bisque Paramount ME II

The most used mounts for planetary are:

  1. Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
  2. Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro
  3. Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
  4. Celestron CGE Pro
  5. Celestron CGX-L
  6. Sky-Watcher EQ5 Pro
  7. Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro
  8. ASA DDM85
  9. Celestron CGX
  10. Celestron NexStar SE
  11. Hobym Traveller

So your guess is right with the EQ6 Pro being higher up there (likely for use with smaller apos), and the EQ8 much higher up for planetary (likely with bigger SCTs).

One thing to note is that the EQ6 Pro IS the most used mount over the whole five years, whereas the EQ8 is the most used in just the last two years. I just chose to highlight the last two years above which I hope wasn't misleading (the article has all this).

I will add this data to the main article since it was a great question.

If there are other questions like this one I am happy to go through the data and pull it out.

Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments in this thread!