Guest peepshow Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I have looked at some wonderful photos on this forum since I joined recently. Many list all the equipment that they have and I have noticed that some have good CCD cameras and also list a SPC900 webcam. Would I be right in assuming that where a CCD camera is listed then the SPC900 is only used for a viewfinder or such. Have any deep space photos actually been taken with a webcam such as the SPC900 modified for long exposures and if so, has cooling been used? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 In the instance where you see an SPC900 listed along with a CCD it is most likely that that the SPC900 has been used as a "finder guider". This is where the webcam is attached to the end of a finder scope and used to focus on a guide star to aid in the accuracy of tracking. Regarding modifying a webcam for long exposure this is absolutely possible and I have seen some nice pictures of deep space objects with modified webcams. However for the bette quality, higher resolution and more detailed DSO pictures a dedicated CCD is the way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kheldar Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 SPC's are also used as planetary cameras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 SPC's are also used as planetary cameras Oh yeah that too! Am not sure how I forgot that what with it being the only type of imaging I have started to do..............at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 OK guys thanks for that, but, Felix I see you have a SPC900 listed on your kit list. As no dslr camera is listed or a CCD camera, so are you just using the SPC900 with IR filter for photography? You already have an Orion finder scope so I wonder about your SPC900 usage. Sorry to be so nosey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Yes, Felix uses an SPC900 for planetary imaging. I don't know if he uses an IR cut filter or light pollution cut filter (I'm not sure the former makes much difference with planetary imaging, and the latter just seems to make everything darker). James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 The Orion finder scope is just a right angled finder with everything the right way up and right way round for ease of finding stuff. A normal finder on some scopes on EQ mounts (particularly newts) will have you bending in all sorts of wierd angles depending what you're observing. The SPC is a webcam which lends itself very nicely to imaging moon, sun, and planets - it's dead easy to grab a couple of thousand frames in a few mins, then align, stack, and process them eliminating the duff frames and keeping the good ones. The only mods needed are a nosepiece to fit the telescope and some folks use an IR filter as well. It can also be used with a guide scope and software to guide a goto mount in LE photography. Basically it follows the nearest bright star to the object you are imaging - keeping the mount on song for the long exposures taken with a ccd or dslr camera (which is attached to the imaging scope). The webcam can also be modified for LE photography. The mods are various but you can have the chip changed for a more sensitive one, add in fan cooling, and have the amp switched off. Astronomiser do the mods or some folks do it themselves from web guides - look up Steve Chambers "SC.nnn" mods - he was the first one to do this with a Toucam Pro webcam. Hth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 OK on all that, thanks. I was just nosing around to see how others were using the SPC900. As I have mentioned on other threads I am moding one for long exposure use ( as per the yesyes site ), so wondered if others had used them with cooling. Maybe I had better get some results before I go into that field. The trouble with this astronomy lark is that one question answered leads me to many others, rather like a chain reaction. Thanks again for all comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Cooling, cool. How were you going to set that up? Sounds like a fun project. Are standard CCD/CMOS sensors happy to be 'cooled' or are sensors which are manufactured in cooling units 'special'? I suspect the quality of the sensor in a cooled vs an SPC900 is different too, and not just in terms of resolution, pixel size etc, but also intrinsic noise (irrespective of temperature). What I'm hinting at, but honestly don't know about, is whether or not cooling an SPC900 will add a great deal to the final image quality. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peepshow Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 (edited) I suppose the simplest way to cool is to bolt a peltier cooler on the back of the SPC900 case with a circulating fan inside, and big heat sink outside. Or better still maybe a tube carrying the cold air and pointing at the CCD sensor in the SPC. Whether it's worth doing is for those more experienced to say than me I guess. But I have seen articles on the net about it so there is probably something to be gained. Edited July 17, 2013 by peepshow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 OK guys thanks for that, but, Felix I see you have a SPC900 listed on your kit list. As no dslr camera is listed or a CCD camera, so are you just using the SPC900 with IR filter for photography? You already have an Orion finder scope so I wonder about your SPC900 usage. Sorry to be so nosey. Yeah I use my SPC900NC for planetary and moon imaging. I use it with a Televue Powermate x2 and I also use an IR cut filter. I have posted a few o my images in the planetary and lunar threads on here if you wanted to see the results and the full list of equipment I use or the specific images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 The cooling on mine is just a fan strapped on the side - it seems to do the job nicely (but I didn't do the mod myself). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teslar Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 (edited) I've got one of Dion's specials with LX mode and a built in cooling fan I was getting some good results from it but I've moved on to the IMGOH and a QHY8L so it's not getting used much but I've been holding onto it as it was my first imaging camera and I was well happy with the results I got Edited July 17, 2013 by Teslar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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