[jjav]

This is pretty universal advice, yes, in most (all?) skywatching tutorials. The astrophotography rabbit hole is deep, infinitely expensive and the learning curve is steep. It's a lot more sensible to start with visual observation.

(That said, I ignored the advice because really wanted to do photography more than anything else.)

[gbrown]

Your parenthetical is why I commented - astrophotography isn’t just more advanced visual astronomy, it’s really a separate hobby.