Larry Geary
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/24/06
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Gone caving]
#5231815 - 05/21/12 01:06 AM
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My only disappointment was that I wanted to meet BillP of the Eyepieces forum, but everyone I saw had two eyes.
I wanted to thank Al Nagler for the Ethos eyepieces I won in a Stellafane raffle a couple of years ago, but he was busy, so I had a nice conversation with David Nagler instead. I chatted with the Questar folks, who I hadn't seen in a while. I met Art Ciampi of TNR (Takahashi) and saw some nice equipment. I chatted with the folks who make Sky Safari and SkyFi, which I recently purchased. Said hello to Don Yeir and got on the list for a 4mm Brandon. I met a few guys from the Classic Telescopes forum and drooled over some classic eyepieces I can't seem to find on the market. I got a Pentax XW and a set of XOs at a good price. I walked till I was too tired to walk, then put my goodies in the car and came back for the solar star party just as the clouds came in, but that was my bad timing.
I had a great time. Attendance seemed high to me, and the floors were crowded. I've stayed home the last two times, but I'll be back next year.
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DonsDob
member
Reged: 05/21/12
Loc: CT
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Larry Geary]
#5237812 - 05/24/12 06:18 PM
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2012 was my first NEAF and I was generally pleased - beautiful scopes, nice people, good, well attended lectures. My only disappointment was the lack of equipment for the beginner\intermediate user. No binoculars except a few at Celestion and one at Vixen ( a very nice one.)
I was specifically interested in seeing 8" dobs - there were none! Closest was the 10" Skywatcher at Celestion but no Astro-tech, Orion, Zumell, etc.
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Alan French
Night Owl
Reged: 01/28/05
Loc: Upstate NY
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: DonsDob]
#5243392 - 05/28/12 08:36 AM
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It was my 18th or 19th NEAF, and no complaints here. I thought it was an excellent year. Lots to see and lots of folks to talk with, and the NEAF Solar Star Party was real icing in the cake on Sunday.
Clear skies, Alan
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Mike7Mak
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/07/11
Loc: New York
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Alan French]
#5244321 - 05/28/12 05:23 PM
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I enjoyed the heck out of it. My first time seeing and touching scopes, mounts, and cameras that weren't mine. 
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PiSigma
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/14/09
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Mike7Mak]
#5244494 - 05/28/12 07:01 PM
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This was my first time at NEAF so I don't have much to compare it to but I thought it was fantastic.
I was part of the Cloudy Nights Classic Telescope Display and really enjoyed meeting several of the frequent posters on that forum along with everyone else who stopped by to discuss the Classics on display and scopes they owned, past and present. Thanks again to Alan for providing the space for this.
I bought a new Point Grey Flea 3 camera and a Canyon Diablo meteorite from the Meteorite Men, whose show on Sunday was hilarious.
I'm already looking forward to next year!
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djpontone
member
Reged: 04/27/08
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: PiSigma]
#5245221 - 05/29/12 08:26 AM
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How about a swap meet on sunday morning to beef up attendance.
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ADBjester
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/27/10
Loc: Reading, PA
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: hfjacinto]
#5255482 - 06/04/12 11:20 PM
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Lets hope that the 2012 turns out to be a better year for the amateur astronomy community. But I am also to fault, this year my hobby budget is down, in 2011 I spent over $2k (for a Lunt 60MM Scope and other goodies), this year I was way under. I wonder how many of us spent less this year?
I spent over $3K at NEAF (my first outing to it) this year. OPT did very well by me (but they always have, even via mail order), as did Starlight Xpress.
But then, imagers have always been the "high end", while visual observers get their toys for less (glass envy notwithstanding).
I noticed lots of expensive items flying off the shelves at the OPT booth (notably, the Canon 60Da sold out quickly), and I noticed that Point Grey and others spent a tidy sum on promotion.
If this year was "disappointing", I think I'd have loved to have seen 2011. If I was disappointed by anything, it was the NEAIC focus on planetary imaging (something I have little interest in).... but then that was said to be based on feedback from prior years.
I'll definitely be back, for both NEAF and NEAIC.
Jeff
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Ira
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/22/10
Loc: Mitzpe Ramon, Israel
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: ADBjester]
#5280150 - 06/20/12 05:42 AM
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Why not have badges that identify people as being part of affinity groups so if you walk by, say, a blue-badged person you'll know she's a CNer.
/Ira
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peter scherff
sage
Reged: 07/11/06
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Ira]
#5280899 - 06/20/12 03:24 PM
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The International Dark-Sky Association has stickers to put on your badge/self. Perhaps Cloudy Nights could have "name tags" where we could write our aliases.
Peter
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George N
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/19/06
Loc: Binghamton & Indian Lake NY
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: ADBjester]
#5282214 - 06/21/12 12:36 PM
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I spent over $3K at NEAF ......But then, imagers have always been the "high end", while visual observers get their toys for less (glass envy notwithstanding). ...
Jeff
When’s the last time you priced out a sub F/4 25+ inch Dob with GoTo? Twenty grand just might get you one….. not counting the trailer, etc.
Then there are guys like me who do both. I’m lucky to have the co-owner of a leading CCD camera maker as a friend and fellow astro club member, not to mention a key to a public observatory with a 20-inch RC Cass and 6-inch Astro-Physics refractor.
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Daniel Mounsey
Vendor - Vixen Optics
Reged: 06/12/02
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: gatorengineer]
#5313300 - 07/11/12 08:05 PM
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NEAF 2012 was fantastic this year! Great attendance and energy. A couple of vendors were delayed getting their shipments out to NEAF which may account for a couple of booth areas not being properly set up.
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Aquarist
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/27/12
Loc: Illinois
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Daniel Mounsey]
#5584103 - 12/22/12 01:31 PM
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Well, I think the badge idea is superb. Better yet, real name, screen name, and maybe one or two areas of interest? Having never been, I hope to attend in 2013. But having something similar nearby would also be wonderful.
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Joe Cipriano
Entropy Personified
Reged: 09/03/05
Loc: Uh... anyone have a GPS?
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Aquarist]
#5584179 - 12/22/12 02:17 PM
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I created (with a lot of help from the mod/admin corp) the official CN badges we used at ASAE:
I've volunteered to put together CN badge files for NEAF; I'll include the official NEAF header, if I can get permission from the show's producer.
As I won't be attending (and I don't have a decent color printer, anyway), someone will need to print them up, buy badge holders and lanyards, and figure out a way to distribute them.
I need to get the OK from Fred Bieler ("frebie") to use the CN logo again - but as he approved its use (and the final badge layout) for ASAE, I don't anticipate an issue.
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Aquarist
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/27/12
Loc: Illinois
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Joe Cipriano]
#5584550 - 12/22/12 07:13 PM
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Those would work well. IMHO.
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RAC-INC
member
Reged: 11/05/12
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: gatorengineer]
#5629575 - 01/18/13 09:51 AM
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There were over 4000 attendees at NEAF 2012! Most in history! Beat 2011 by over 600 attendees!
Reason it may have looked empty are: More vendors with more booths using more floor space, more speakers with standing room only attendence, and of course the very well attended Solar Star Party which takes place in the courtyard!!!
2013 expects to be better than ever!!! Be there or be...you know...left out!!!
RAC-INC.
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Daniel Guzas
sage
Reged: 11/20/10
Loc: Bethlehem NH/ Boston MA
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Joe Cipriano]
#5630821 - 01/18/13 11:41 PM
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Yes I have thought the same. Why not wear a badge with our cloudy nights alias with our real name. This is perfect. I wondered while wandering around NEAF 2012 how many people are members of this very forum. I then thought it would be a great idea to have a badge much like you are proposing.
Thanks for putting this together. And if we can ge the word out on the site then all who attend will sport one of these bad a$$ badges and we can all actually see who we have already met in cyberspace!
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Joe Cipriano
Entropy Personified
Reged: 09/03/05
Loc: Uh... anyone have a GPS?
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Daniel Guzas]
#5630976 - 01/19/13 01:59 AM
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Thanks. They worked well at ASAE; I met several CNers that I otherwise wouldn't have recognised.
I'll start a sign-up thread in this forum first week of March, and leave it open for a couple of weeks - anyone thinking of attending NEAF should know by then if they're going or not. It takes me some time to put together the badge graphics, so I want at least a couple of weeks after the badge request thread closes to guarantee that I get them finished on time.
Again, I won't be attending (can't afford to), so someone(s) will need to print up the badge files and volunteer to distribute them. For ASAE, I emailed the badge files to Ron (Rboe) and Steve (Watermaster), who printed them. Steph bought the lanyards, and I picked up the plastic badge holders. Ron, Steph, and I put them together at the event, and handed them out from the CN/Astronomics booth - which turned out to be a great way to meet fellow CNers.
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Howard Alfred
member
Reged: 01/04/05
Loc: NYC
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Re: Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
[Re: Chucky]
#5796417 - 04/13/13 11:11 AM
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I've been there often including 2012 though my pilgrimage had become a bit spotty. I found 2012 great, better than some other years but it's all subjective. Yes some vendors were missing, for me most notably Starlight Xpress. But I got to meet up with some old friends I haven't seen I years...and yes some I avoided. And the weather held out. Lot's of great freebies by the way.
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