Guest peepshow Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 As a beginner I am allowed to ask daft questions. So, I know that webcams are mainly used for small objects like planets and not deep space wider views. Here comes the daft question.....is there a way of taking batches of a number of photos covering a wider view of the sky and ' stitching' them together with some software to form a wide angle view of the sky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 No such thing as a daft question. Yes is the answer. But if using a webcam to take smaller panels and then stitch them together this will only work on very bright objects, for example the moon. It is not practical to use an unmodified webcam to take pictures of small portions of the night sky as the light from the star you would be trying to capture is just too far away and the pictures from the avi would not be clear. If you used a modified (for long exposure) webcam the results would be slightly better. But a dslr would be your best bet for taking pictures of large areas of sky that you eventually wanted to stitch together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) Ignore. (mods delete please, posted in error) Edited July 16, 2013 by Daz Type-R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 (edited) there are several programs that can do this Photoshop has photomerge Imerge standalone free program Microsoft ICE I think you can still get it for free AutoPan Giga Registar most are not that easy to use and there is a learning curve HTH Steve Edited July 16, 2013 by Ibbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Thanks Felix and Steve. I am on a learning curve which is on a learning curve, which is on a........... I did think that the dslr was the best way to go for wider views. Can I ask a follow up then. Will, say a Canon 350d, work on a laptop with Windows 8 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I am not sure but think you should be OK with the 350 with w8 but you do not need a computer to run the camera, you can do a series of exposures with one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Timer-Intervalometer-Remote-Canon-EOS-650D-450D-550D-1000D-RS-60E3-T4i-/251239739983#vi-content the stacking and processing is done on the pc thats the easy bit, the hard bit is getting the mount to track well and the focus correct Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Thanks for that ebay item, Steve, which is new to me. Not expensive either. I am in the process of modifying a Phillips SPC900 webcam for long exposures and making a double barn door tracker too. I appreciate that good tracking is essential, and as you say, is one of the hard bits. The original lens of the SPC has quite a wide angle of view and I was hoping to use that for some wider angled deep space work. No one seems to do that so I guess there is a 'orrible snag..... ..........more on the learning curve ( Maybe the SPC lens has a low f number?) I also have a selection of 35 mm lens and also lens from 16mm film cameras, both tele and wide angle which I was going to try out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 have a look on http://moggadapters.com/astro/adapter.asp there may be some help here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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