Hi, I’m John Nedelcu, an astrophotographer based in the East of England.
My journey into astrophotography began when my wife bought me a Nikon D5600 for my birthday. Armed with that, a kit lens, and a very cheap tripod, I pointed it at the full Moon from a hotel window in Dover just to see what would happen. That single image was enough, and I was hooked. I started astrophotography with that simple setup and quickly realised there was a whole universe waiting to be explored.
These days, my equipment is a little more capable, but still modest. I image with a cooled OSC camera, the ZWO ASI533MC Pro mounted on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro, alongside a growing collection of optical systems. Like most astrophotographers, I’m always planning the next upgrade and looking for ways to refine and improve my setup.
By day, I’m a mechanical design engineer, and I’m naturally inclined to apply those skills to my hobby. I’ll also admit I’m a little lazy — I like things to work smoothly and with as little fuss as possible. That’s led me to design and manufacture tools to simplify setup, reduce frustrating problems in the field, tame cable chaos, and generally make life easier at 1am in the cold. I’m also keen to keep costs sensible, finding ways to improve performance without unnecessarily inflating the budget. My newfound enthusiasm for 3D printing has been a tremendous help with this endeavour.
Outside of astrophotography, I’m generally happiest when I’m tinkering with something. Photography remains a constant though: product, macro and landscape, where I enjoy slowing down and looking at detail from a different perspective. More recently, I’ve started delving into microscopy, exploring an entirely new hidden world at the opposite end of the scale from deep space.
When I’m not behind a lens, you’ll usually find me PC gaming or flying drones, which satisfy the same curiosity for technology, precision, and seeing the world from a slightly different angle. And, of course, a fair amount of my spare time is devoted to appropriately spoiling our cat, Fluffy, who firmly believes she owns both the house and the observatory plans.
This site is where I share my images, honest equipment reviews, practical guides, and the upgrades and ideas I’ve developed along the way.