USB camera for homebuild 12" DOB

[cassiewoofer]

OK, I'm really into making telescopes and to be honest have so far got more enjoyment out of the making of them than the use of them.

I am again considering trying to take some images and hope to buy a camera before the summer.

Probably just to capture the planets/moon and sun... 

I have a homebuild 12" dobsonian with a very basic pan and tilt rocker box, with no guiding. (see pic) This will be improved on eventually when my welding skills are up to it.

The result is an un smooth rotation (tilt not too bad) so I just want to image single images and maybe some short video as I'd like to learn about stacking etc.

I have posted something a while back but thought I'd ask again!!!

I've tried adapting a logitek but want something better.

I'm considering the QHY5-II and the Neximage 5, but would this be a waste of money.... should I just get a Neximage solar system imager for now?

Or forget the imaging altogether and spend my time Money working on seriously improving my Dob mount???!!!!!

[Joseki]

if you're into telescope making, you might want to look into making an equatorial platform. It would make a massive difference for planetary imaging. Ps I'd get a zwo camera.

[cassiewoofer]

Cheers John, I'll have a look at those camera's and have been intrigued by those Funny conical equatorial platforms...... blumming interesting mathematics!

[JamesF]

I think I'd agree.  Manual tracking of a dob to get planetary images must be a pig of a job.  If you have an equatorial platform then you'd only be tracking along one axis and you could even add a small sidereal-rate drive mechanism to it.

The QHY5-II is mono only as far as I recall.  The QHY5L-II has colour and mono versions, but is basically the same as the ZWO ASI120 and I'd say the software support for that is a little more robust.  Depends on how much you want to spend really though.

James

[cassiewoofer]

Thanks for the info guys! Looks like I'll be spending the summer rewelding a sturdy mount...... or grinding another mirror! This camera's going to have to wait!

[k9wis]

I am just experimenting with an ORION star shooter. It has a real small FOV so I found I had to spend a bit of time aligning my Equatorial mount to use the clock drive for tracking..Its a great camera for the moon, and I;ve gotten some jupiter pics but not having much luck with Saturn..I am using it with a 6" F/8 Newtonian. I capture about 20 or 30 seconds of images at 15 frames per second the pick out the best ones.....I remember taking my first pic of the moon some 45 years ago with film...this was a lot easier and I got a better pic...lol...

I was wondering what the FOV of your USB camera is..

Brian