Do you use a Meade LX200 with an Orion Star Shoot Camera and live in the UK?

[billym44]

If you do, I’m hoping you can help me out. I bought a second hand Meade 8” LX200GPS about 6 months ago, with it came an Orion Star Shoot IV camera. The scope appears to be fine and as far as I can ascertain, collimation looks ok. I’ve also used the scope with a DSLR mounted at prime focus for shots of the moon and all looks ok.

However when I try planetary imaging – namely at present Jupiter, the view through the Orion camera onto the laptop screen is not very good at all. I’ve tried several attempts to get a good focus and experimented with different camera settings and some filters in order to get a good image on the screen but it’s fuzzy at best.

In years gone by when I had a 10” Meade (too big to move around!) I also had a Toucam Pro II and had some reasonable results with that camera.

My problem is that I’m assuming the Orion is at fault – but I don’t know for certain. And before I invest in a better camera I want to ensure that it’s not actually a fault with the scope optics.

So the question is, if you have a similar set up and are used to using this sort of camera, could I package my Orion up and send it to you for you to try it out with your scope and compare it to your usual results. Obviously I’d pay for any return postage as well. I’m just trying to find out if what I see is the “norm” for this camera or not?

Any willing volunteers out there who can help please?

[knobby]

Could you maybe post a screen shot of your capture , ie a single frame ? I have a C8 , similar to your scope and frankly Jupiter looks pretty naff while capturing ... Its only after processing / stacking that any detail comes through ... What time and how high is Jupiter when you are imaging ?

[DougM43]

I use a meade lx90 the image on the laptop screen is quite poor, fuzzy and difficult to focus, this I believe is quite normal. I have found that raising the gain and or the brightness in the camera settings so the moons become easily visible and focusing on one of them easier than trying to achieve focus on the planet works well, then altering the camera settings to get the best possible image of the planet on the laptop screen before capture. I'm quite new to imaging so others may suggest a better way but I have been fairly happy with the final results once stacked and processed.

[billym44]

Ok, thanks for the replies to date. This is going to sound a very basic question but how can I how upload one image from an avi file that contains around 600 please?  Thanks

[knobby]

Or you could screen shot the capture ' shift + printscreen'

[Davey-T]

Download Virtual Dub or something similar to extract one frame, or use the windows key (the one on the bottom left row with a pic' of a flag on it) and prt scr key it should save it in "My Pictures" in a print screen folder.

Dave

[billym44]

Ok, here we go. A screen shot saved as a jpeg

[DougM43]

That looks much the same as mine, how dose it look once stacked and processed?

[billym44]

Much the same. I'll upload a "final outcome" from my home PC this evening. I've tried various settings in Registax, playing with the wavelets etc, but encouraging that your initial image is similar. Gives me hope! Thanks for all comments so far. More to follow later.

[Davey-T]

Yes, looks pretty much like mine, you don't need all that sky around it unless you're trying to capture the moons otherwise can you capture a region of interest ROI 640X480 ? makes capture and processing faster.

Dave

[Cornelius Varley]

If you upload the original avi file to site such as dropbox  others might be able to process the file.

[billym44]

Hi again,

Ok attached are a couple of images after they've been through the Registax process. the second one had also gone through PIPP first.

I've noted the comments about the smaller ROI and will take that onboard, but I'd be interested to know if others could make a better use of the processing procedure than I have done to date.

Never having uploaded to Dropbox before I presume you have to send emails to people to open a file?

Thanks to all for their advice to date

[DougM43]

No there's something not right there, if the frame capture is typical of the rest you should be able to get a better end result. As I have said I am by far no expert but the final image to me is very similar to how it would look after stacking but before processing.

I have never heard of Dropbox but if there's a way I could have a go at it I would love to try.

[Cornelius Varley]

All you need to do is copy / paste the link to the dropbox file into this thread.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Billy, I've not got a Meade but I have the Toucam and use it with the 11", the initial first single shot looks about as good as your going to get - when I'm running the capture software with the cam in the scope - the view on screen is very blurred - even to the point that its very difficult to get good focus - your always fighting against the atmosphere and seeing.  I've tried to re - focus after every capture - also how long is the capture - I tend to do between 3 and 5 minutes of video and vary the frame rate.

Your processed image looks as though its not gone through the "stack" process - so no detail and resolution is "stacked" to produce the final image before adjusting the Wavelets to "bring out" detail and resolution.

Paul.

[knobby]

Have a look through this thread , it shows capture , stacked and sharpened sequence

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/237484-Jupiter,-steps-?

[billym44]

Ok Peter, thanks for the tips on Dropbox linking.

Doug M43 feel free to have a go at this. This is one of the video's I took. 60 second clip at 10 frames/sec. A few dropped out by the software.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5boktby0g1hn083/Jupiter%20100315%20e.avi?dl=0

And I'm really looking forward to seeing if you manage anything with this. Thanks so much for the time and suggestions.

[billym44]

And just spotted the other comments from Soul Man and Knobby. I was running 60 second video's at 10 f/s. I ran them through PIPP first and even "joined"  videos in this software Went through the aligning, stacking procedure in Registax with the output file from PIPP. Tried various settings on wavelets, including some recommended on various forums. Obviously though there's something I'm not doing right. I'll have a look at the thread that knobby quotes. Thanks.

[knobby]

Downloading now ... says 2 hours 

[Northern Soul man]

Nice 1 Billy - I think if you can probably increase the exposure - say 4 to 5 minutes, with my Toucam I can get the frame rate up to about 30fps - not sure of what your camera can do, should be a lot better than my ANCIENT Toucam - with the longer exposure it will allow for better resolution.

Paul.

[billym44]

Thanks Soul Man. I think with the Orion Star Shoot they reckon on 15 f/s max but I notice at that speed it seems to drop out more frames itself. That's why I went for 10 f/s. I think I got better results when I used to have the Toucam Pro, that's what started this thread in the first place. Trying to determine if the camera, or the scope, wasn't "right". It now seems the initial captures may be ok, which is good to know, but then the processing leaves something to be desired.

Away with work tomorrow so probably not back on line until last evening.

[knobby]

I might have it downloaded by then 

[Northern Soul man]

Knobby - nice 1 , I think there may not be enough Data - I think its only a 60 sec exposure - probably not long enough mate.

Paul.

[knobby]

Knobby - nice 1 , I think there may not be enough Data - I think its only a 60 sec exposure - probably not long enough mate.

Paul.

Gotta be worth a bash, if nothing else it will show if its a processing prob or an equipment prob ... and I like a challenge !

[DougM43]

well I've had a bash at it, a few times and cant get it any better, Interested to see if anybody else can, 

Jupiter 100315 e.bmp