Hobbies Page

Astronomy

I have been actively involved in astronomy since 2007. My main interest is astrophotography, but I also enjoy visual astronomy. Luckily, the farm where I live is in a rural area and as such ideal for this hobby. I am an active member of the Styrian Astronomical Society and an informal round table of Astrophotographers.

Motorcycling

I have been riding bikes since I was 17 years old and during this time have never been without one or more bikes. In my youth in England I was actively involved in motorcycle training and road safety and as such was an instructer and DOT Driving Examiner. In recent years I have become involved in Enduro riding and am actively involved in an Enduro Club in Graz

Photography

This hobby has always interested me, even since my youth.
I started with a cosina SLR film camera, but because of the contraints of film with costs and time, I really only used it for snapshots.
With the dawn of digital photography I started to get involved again.  Initially with a Canon S20, then the Canon G5. I then moved to DSLRs, but changed aleagance to Nikon.  This was not because Canon was poor or such, but a good friend recommended Nikon because of their superb lenses and superior flash system. Well, I started with a D70s, then went to the D80, the D300 and at the end of 2012 finally went full format to a D600. I must admit, the transition was very painless, the D300 was really a first rate unit and performed consistantly well and now the D600 seems to even surpass it. The D600 is compact and offers extremely high resolution combined with very low noise. I have tried taking photos at ISO 6400 and these are still quite acceptable.