Anyone else disappointed in NEAF 2012?
#76
Posted 15 May 2012 - 01:53 PM
#77
Posted 16 May 2012 - 08:03 PM
Disappointed I could not be there as a Vendor.
Disappointed I could not be there as a member of the public.
Disappointed that I couldn't see old friends.
Disappointed that I couldn't be the one calling my mates to tell them what I got at NEAF (thanks lads, you made me more miserable ).
Alan and the team never fail to amaze and I would be surprised if this event was any different. Same goes for Bob Moore and his team at NEAIC (why did my new job have to start THAT week?).
I don't think Astrolaugh will make NEAF 2013 but I do hope its owner will
#78
Posted 16 May 2012 - 10:57 PM
I'll see what I can make that flattener do on the sun this weekend.
-Rich
#79
Posted 16 May 2012 - 11:51 PM
I don't think Astrolaugh will make NEAF 2013 but I do hope its owner will
It wasn't the same without seeing you, my friend. I hope either or both make it next year.
#80
Posted 18 May 2012 - 08:23 AM
#81
Posted 21 May 2012 - 12:06 AM
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.
#82
Posted 24 May 2012 - 05:18 PM
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.
#83
Posted 28 May 2012 - 07:36 AM
Clear skies, Alan
#84
Posted 28 May 2012 - 04:23 PM
#85
Posted 28 May 2012 - 06:01 PM
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!
#86
Posted 29 May 2012 - 07:26 AM
#87
Posted 04 June 2012 - 10:20 PM
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
#88
Posted 20 June 2012 - 04:42 AM
/Ira
#89
Posted 20 June 2012 - 02:24 PM
Peter
#90
Posted 21 June 2012 - 11:36 AM
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.
#91
Posted 11 July 2012 - 07:05 PM
#92
Posted 22 December 2012 - 01:31 PM
#93
Posted 22 December 2012 - 02:17 PM
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.
#94
Posted 22 December 2012 - 07:13 PM
#95
Posted 18 January 2013 - 09:51 AM
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.
#96
Posted 18 January 2013 - 11:41 PM
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!
#97
Posted 19 January 2013 - 01:59 AM
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.
#98
Posted 13 April 2013 - 10:11 AM