Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232474
Yay, back on the Internet today!! A tall pine tree very close to our house (and directly above our power line) took a direct lightning strike on Monday night. Scary! The pine tree looks like some giant took a giant-sized potato peeler and peeled off 15’ long strips of bark off the tree.

The strike knocked the power out to our whole neighborhood, but being the direct recipient of that totally unwelcome nonconsensual power-rape caused us some damage: Our Clothes dryer and Heat Pump/Furnace are both fried, as was our Internet modem and wireless router. Could have been so much worse, so I’m pretty happy about.

Haven’t called Insurance yet…hoping they got us covered on the major appliances. The dryer was brand new (December 2020). I’m guessing that beautiful pine tree’s going to need to come down now…wonder if it got cooked inside.

what a sudden disaster that you had to go through and deal with. hopefully insurance won't take too long to get your appliance taken care of. did you had to wait long for your new dryer when you got it? we had to wait 3 months for our fridge because of covid.

did you take any pictures of the tree? :P

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232474
Yay, back on the Internet today!! A tall pine tree very close to our house (and directly above our power line) took a direct lightning strike on Monday night. Scary! The pine tree looks like some giant took a giant-sized potato peeler and peeled off 15’ long strips of bark off the tree.

The strike knocked the power out to our whole neighborhood, but being the direct recipient of that totally unwelcome nonconsensual power-rape caused us some damage: Our Clothes dryer and Heat Pump/Furnace are both fried, as was our Internet modem and wireless router. Could have been so much worse, so I’m pretty happy about.

Haven’t called Insurance yet…hoping they got us covered on the major appliances. The dryer was brand new (December 2020). I’m guessing that beautiful pine tree’s going to need to come down now…wonder if it got cooked inside.

Geez glad you guys are ok.

DTBaan wrote in post #19232491
what a sudden disaster that you had to go through and deal with. hopefully insurance won't take too long to get your appliance taken care of. did you had to wait long for your new dryer when you got it? we had to wait 3 months for our fridge because of covid.

did you take any pictures of the tree? :P

We made a trip to Home Depot today to get some clothesline. Thank goodness the Washer seems fine, because I hate having to go to a Laundromat.

Since I don’t seem anywhere close to solving my sleep disorder (typically end up going to sleep everyday at 4-6 AM :eek, it’s finally occurring to me to maybe embrace and exploit my sleep issues and take up astrophotography. I’m keenly interested in seeing how Lee likes his new tracker.

What is a good phone app for visualizing the location of the Milky Way and other night sky subjects?

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232571
Since I don’t seem anywhere close to solving my sleep disorder (typically end up going to sleep everyday at 4-6 AM :eek, it’s finally occurring to me to maybe embrace and exploit my sleep issues and take up astrophotography. I’m keenly interested in seeing how Lee likes his new tracker.

What is a good phone app for visualizing the location of the Milky Way and other night sky subjects?

I use Sky Map on my Android tablet and phone.

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232571
Since I don’t seem anywhere close to solving my sleep disorder (typically end up going to sleep everyday at 4-6 AM :eek, it’s finally occurring to me to maybe embrace and exploit my sleep issues and take up astrophotography. I’m keenly interested in seeing how Lee likes his new tracker.

What is a good phone app for visualizing the location of the Milky Way and other night sky subjects?

I haven't tried "Sky Map" so I can't compare but I use Stellarium on both my desktop and Android Phone.

Here's their website if you'd like to check it out. http://stellarium.org/

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232571
Since I don’t seem anywhere close to solving my sleep disorder (typically end up going to sleep everyday at 4-6 AM :eek, it’s finally occurring to me to maybe embrace and exploit my sleep issues and take up astrophotography. I’m keenly interested in seeing how Lee likes his new tracker.

What is a good phone app for visualizing the location of the Milky Way and other night sky subjects?

David, sorry about your tree and the damages to the appliances.

I use PhotoPills on iOS. Kind of a learning curve but it’s super useful app. Alyn is an excellent night photographer. He has some great videos on his channel.

alfredomora wrote in post #19232602
David, sorry about your tree and the damages to the appliances.

I use PhotoPills on iOS. Kind of a learning curve but it’s super useful app. Alyn is an excellent night photographer. He has some great videos on his channel.

I already have PhotoPills I use the PhotoPills AR to previsualize sunsets, but astrophotography has been so far out of my photo interests that I never looked at it for that. This video is perfect Alfredo…thank you!

Alyn lives just over the border in Wales from me. He's been in Turkey for months though.

Last night was a bit of a bust. Which I was partly expecting, hence I didn't go too far and make a full night of it. There was a haze to the north over Bristol, light pollution was burning out Polaris, couldn't really polar align well. Also I couldn't get the App/compass working on the phone. Plus, I think I went out a little bit too close to blue hour.....

But it's all good. I've learnt things

All part of the process Lee, looking forward to your first images with it

David - have you tried the headspace app? They have sleep casts on there. I also have trouble falling asleep and these help. Annoyingly I could fall asleep anywhere during the day but when I get to bed I’m wide awake and my brain is busy

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232474
Yay, back on the Internet today!! A tall pine tree very close to our house (and directly above our power line) took a direct lightning strike on Monday night. Scary! The pine tree looks like some giant took a giant-sized potato peeler and peeled off 15’ long strips of bark off the tree.

The strike knocked the power out to our whole neighborhood, but being the direct recipient of that totally unwelcome nonconsensual power-rape caused us some damage: Our Clothes dryer and Heat Pump/Furnace are both fried, as was our Internet modem and wireless router. Could have been so much worse, so I’m pretty happy about.

Haven’t called Insurance yet…hoping they got us covered on the major appliances. The dryer was brand new (December 2020). I’m guessing that beautiful pine tree’s going to need to come down now…wonder if it got cooked inside.

One diner time at our kitchen table we had a strike on one of our oaks near our log house that split it in half, it was so loud that everyone at the table jumped off there chairs.
Surprising that tree is still standing today.

I would seriously consider looking into a whole house serge protector, that's installed near your electric panel for the power coming into your home. Florida being the capital of lightning strikes we had one for years. Plus even electrical spikes and outages can do damages to electrical items plugged in. Another consideration would be a lightning rod for the house.

Good luck with insurance claim. Depends on your policy coverage if the claim will be honored.

LeeRatters wrote in post #19232622
Alyn lives just over the border in Wales from me. He's been in Turkey for months though.

Last night was a bit of a bust. Which I was partly expecting, hence I didn't go too far and make a full night of it. There was a haze to the north over Bristol, light pollution was burning out Polaris, couldn't really polar align well. Also I couldn't get the App/compass working on the phone. Plus, I think I went out a little bit too close to blue hour.....

But it's all good. I've learnt things

Lee, are you planning to go out Saturday night for some astro photography?

I understand that the Chinese rocket booster may re-enter that night. Might make for some great images!

Timphoto wrote in post #19232774
Lee, are you planning to go out Saturday night for some astro photography?

I understand that the Chinese rocket booster may re-enter that night. Might may for some great images!

No. Not with our forecast for this weekend! That's why I decided to pop out last night.

I've not stuck it on the camera yet, but my first impressions are the 20G is a nice, little lens

I've not got used to the 35GM yet!

David Arbogast wrote in post #19232538
We made a trip to Home Depot today to get some clothesline. Thank goodness the Washer seems fine, because I hate having to go to a Laundromat.

tie one end of the line to the lightning tree for sheets and giggles hehe jkjk
was thinking you can also get the wooden grid and wash clothes in the river or lake :P