Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Iowa! Are you caucusing?

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

You betcha - we've gotta decide who the rest of the country gets to vote for. It's our duty.

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Sounds fantastic! Have fun!

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Now I don't do astrophotography, but what does one need of a site but darkness and a view of the sky? I'd think a field of stubble 10 miles off of I-80 in the winter would be pretty panoramic. Do you need a hill for a more distant horizon? Just curious.

Sentimentality moment alert: not nighttime shots, but some of my favorite N900 photos were taken in the Hawkeye state.

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Well, the most important thing is to get away from lights. Iowa doesn't have any really big cities, but it has lots of towns and even a town with a few hundred people will have enough outdoor lighting to spoil the darkness for miles around. Add to that the fact that nearly every farm has bright outdoor lighting outside of the farmhouse, and it becomes nearly impossible to find a place in Iowa with no light pollution.

Here's a light pollution map: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#...FFFFFTFFFFFFFF As you can see in that map, there are *no* really dark areas in Iowa.

Another issue is transparency. In the summers, there's quite a bit of dust in the air in farm country, and that hurts. Also in the summer, the air is often very turbulent, which hurts "seeing". Things are better on the transparency and seeing fronts in the winter, but boy do you pay a price for that in comfort!

At least it's more scenic than Nebraska!

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

https://live.staticflickr.com/7024/6...238f01f5_o.jpg

Although hella scenic, it should be known that everything about the photo is staged. The milieu is an intentionally preserved 19th century neighborhood (The Village of East Davenport) hosting an event called the "Antique Tractor Show". They also host a national Pontiac Fiero show in the Autumn, which I believe draws all the operable examples of the 1980s GM oddity -- I'm talking 90 or more!

Still super-fun for both me and my then 2-year-old.

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

You are complaining about THAT??? You ain't seen nothing! I'll show you a light pollution (with a dash of overcast skies pretty much all the time)!

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#...FFFFFTFFFFFFFF

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Announced topic for February, "Earth"
https://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?...01&postcount=1

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

But to make it comparable you should use the same scaling:
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#...FFFFFTFFFFFFFF

Which does not make it look better :eek: (including my position at the almost outmost right :()

Re: Camera phone competition January 2020: HIGH
 

Prague? :)