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Which scope monitoring webcam?


michaelmorris

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I'm starting down the road of setting up my observatory for remote operation. I've sccessfully tested running RealVNC so that I can now run the computer in my observatory from the laptop in my study. The next step is to install a webcam in the observatory which I can use to monitor the position of the scope on it's mount. As I see it, I can either go for a static webcam with a wide angle lens, or a webcam with a normal lens where the whole webcam is mounted on a motorised pan and tilt mount that I can control from the remote computer.

What webcams have other people used for this purpose?

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Hi Mike

I went down this track trying to set up with a spare spc900 cam. I wanted to keep an eye on the pier/scope during imaging in total darkness.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a replacement(non IR) lens for it to use with IR lights. Again, getting enough light from IR diodes was also problematic.

Here is the thread that may be of interes. http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/164940-cameralight-poser/

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the end I've gone down the route of using a spare SPC900. I couldn't find the original lens so Peter (Pyschobilly) kindly sent me a spare one he had (top guy). Unfortunately this didn't provide quite a wide enough field of view. The SPC900 uses a standard 'board camera' lens fitting, so it was easy to pick up a 3.6mm f2.0 non-IR lens from Ebay for under a fiver.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4cfa6972cd

Maplins also sell these lenses.

Here is a screenshot of the field of view it gives me.

post-586-0-35555700-1358942104_thumb.jpg

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Glad you got it sorted.

Are you using this to monitor the scope during imaging or just for setting up.

Why I ask is if it's for the former how are you illuminating the observatory without spoiling the darkness.

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Glad you got it sorted.

Are you using this to monitor the scope during imaging or just for setting up.

Why I ask is if it's for the former how are you illuminating the observatory without spoiling the darkness.

I plan to use the webcam only to monitor the scope during imaging. I have a small dimmable light in the observatory that is heavily shaded to prevent it throwing light upwards. With the camera set to full gain, 5 fps, max exposure and a bit of gamma thrown in for good measure, I only need to have this light on at a pretty low level to provide enough illumination to see the scope. I may experiment with IR lights in the future.

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