It all begins with an idea.I compared a standard C8 to an EdgeHD 8 for astrophotography. Here’s what changes (and what doesn’t) depending on your camera sensor size, backfocus, and budget.

Haleakalā vs Home: Bortle 1 vs Bortle 6 — Do Filters Still Matter?

I hauled a small, travel-friendly astrophotography rig to the top of Haleakalā to answer two beginner questions:

1. Is traveling to truly dark skies worth the hassle?

2. And if I do travel… do filters still make a difference?

This was also a “real life” trip: I was working near a bright Moon, which makes filters extra interesting.

The “f/2 should crush it”… test (and why my first result didn’t)

If you’ve been around astrophotography for more than five minutes, you’ve heard it:

“Faster focal ratio = faster imaging.”
So in this Versus episode, I decided to put that idea on trial with a super simple setup:

• Celestron C8 + HyperStar (around f/2)

• William Optics Zenithstar 61 II (a small refractor around f/5.9) Agena Astro Products+1

• Same camera, same filter, same night

• Same target: The Veil Nebula YouTube

On paper, this should’ve been a blowout. f/2 vs f/5.9 isn’t close.
But in practice… my first comparison didn’t look like the f/2 system “crushed” anything. YouTube

So I stopped, assumed I was the variable (as usual), and dug into what can make an f/2 rig not look like the obvious winner.