Guest Philmarriott Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Hi guys. As some of you know im new to astronomy but want to start taking some pictures of what im seeing, but not sure where to start. Thinking of getting one of the philips webcams to get started. I know i could buy a proper camera for the eyepiece but didnt want to start spending silly money to start. Any ideas welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Philmarriott Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Just to add i have celestron c8-n on a eq 5 mount with the dual axis tracker. (I think ha ha) its not a goto. I already have a panasonic bridge camera but dont cannot remove the lens. I was playing with settings trying to take pictures of clusters last night which were not too bad. Still got so much to learn though so sorry if i sound like an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Phil, You certainly don't sound like an idiot, you should see some of the questions i've asked, and still ask It sounds like you are starting from a good point with regards scope and mount, which is a bonus. You need to made a distinction, only my opinion, that inaging things in the solar system are very different from imaging things outside the solar system. For solar system things, moon and planets mainly (ignore he sun for now),it's probably easiest to use a webcam and take high frame rate video footage (10-60 fps) then use registax to break the video into frames and then it stacks the best ones. Perfect tracking isn't so important with this as each frame is very short in duration and registax can cope with the image moving over the field of view. For things outside the solar system it's best to take long exposure single shots, 30 seconds to 30 minutes says, and people either use a dslr camera or a fancy, and often expensive ccd camera. I don't know much about that side of things yet so i'll leave that to someone else. But trackin for this is very important, and more so as your exposure lengths get longer; this is why people have guide cameras to keep the main camera exactly on the same target for hours on end. So, web cams. It's a case of what you want to spend. You can even make one yourself out of a cheap webcam and a 1.25" nose piece. I started with a £30 one off ebay (quick cam) which someone is borrowing at present, but you would be welcome to borrow it after him. Lots of people use a phillips spc900, and these are always on astrobuysell for £60-80 second hand; felix has one of these and in fact has a new camera so you could message him and see if he wants to sell it! Then a company called ASI ZWO have started to make Cmos sensor cams for planetary, and i have the 120MC version (circa £200). Some people image in black and white as the resolution is better, but many image in colour. Have a look at damian peaches website; he is my idol (in more ways than one lol). So not a stupid question. And i look forward to what others say and what you do. I'll email my friend with the quickcam and see if he has finished with it in case you want to borrow it. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Good advice from James above Phil. However he is a bit behind with his knowledge of my equipment I'm afraid, in that I have already sold my Philips SPC900 webcam-it went on he same day I posted the advert. Sorry Good luck with your journey into imaging. I'll just add that (in my opinion) it's a slippery slope of expenditure once you get into deep sky imaging (targets outside the solar system) and can get expensive. That's mainly why I stick with planetary and moon imaging with webcams/planetary cams whilst cost is still involved its on a smaller scale in comparison. Just my two pence worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Not to expensive if you can get a decent Canon DSLR?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 That's why I said "can" get expensive Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cazz Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 A very interesting read, I've learnt a fair bit there. I'm just starting on the road with a Philips thingy one. :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 A very interesting read, I've learnt a fair bit there. I'm just starting on the road with a Philips thingy one. :-/ If you need any help cazz I'm happy to try and help if I can I used the Philips quite a bit and got some ok results with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 I haven't used my Philips 900 for over a year, maybe time to sell it? Not sure if I can use mu QHY5 for planets? Cheers Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cazz Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 If you need any help cazz I'm happy to try and help if I can I used the Philips quite a bit and got some ok results with it. Thanks Felix, I will probably have loads of questions - when I get to use it lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 I haven't used my Philips 900 for over a year, maybe time to sell it? Not sure if I can use mu QHY5 for planets? Cheers Ron I'm fairly sure you can use the QHY for planetary Ron-i may stand corrected though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Philmarriott Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Right i got hold of a philips 900 webcam today for £50 with the adapter so going to see how i get on with that to start. Any tips welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 Try this article and related links: http://nightskyinfocus.com/equipment/philips-spc900nc00-webcam-for-astrophotography/ There's loads out there on the net about this stuff. Essentially record some video of the planet, run it through registax and hey presto! Easy James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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