GoPro Astrophotography...

[Ohan Smit]

Rain clouds in lieu of clear skies.

 

This is a project I was willing to do for research purposes.

 

I had a spare GoPro to modify with the  

 

 

This resulted in a 9 frames pano(stitched vertically), each picture/fame consisting of an average of 600 frames.

 

 

Shot at 2704x1536(WIDE 4:3 ratio) at 30 fps(Protune On,ISO max 400, EV 0) with a 80mm Celestron Guidescope

 

Processed mov files in PIPP. (With Quality Weighting Enabled : Resulting in a average of 1000 frames per clip for a total of 9974 frames)
The Output Avi's sent through AutoStakkert (Resulting in about 43.5GB's of data)
Then Wavelets in Registax 6(with preset) -> saved as tiffs

Stitching done in PTGui resulting in a 33.8Mp image
Final TIFF processed in photoshop.

 

I had to do the pano in a hurry because of the heavy fog and cloud cover on the horizon and this was the reason for me missing a little bit of the moon in all the excitement.

 

Total capturing time including setup and lousy two star alignment(RA out by about 2.5E deg and DEC 0.8S), approximately 10mins.

 

I will take care to align properly next time and using my main OTA, the drifting was rather scary.

 

The sensor is a Sony IMX117CQT, which has 1.5µm pixels and a 12Mp sensor.

 

Regards 

Johannes

[prusling]

Very interesting. I was a cheapskate and bought an SJ4000 primarily for snorkeling. I hadn't considered using it for astro but I guess it needs to be mated to a lens as you have done. Can you tell us more about the ribcage mod.

[Mick J]

Great first post Johannes, welcome to SGL,  nice to see GoPro being used in this way, good stuff, thanks

[Ohan Smit]

Very interesting. I was a cheapskate and bought an SJ4000 primarily for snorkeling. I hadn't considered using it for astro but I guess it needs to be mated to a lens as you have done. Can you tell us more about the ribcage mod.

Hi

A little insight into the ribcage mod.

This was the GoPro stripped to its bares, to apply the mod.

This is the completed mod, with the standard C Mount that comes with the Mod kit. (No IR/UV filter in this picture, they slide in)

Next to it you can see the C-EOS mount(which threads into the C mount pictured here) and a Canon EF-50mm, this sensor has a whopping crop factor of 5.7x, so my 50mm lens becomes a 285mm lens.

Here is the SCT T-Adapter fitted to the Baader Protective CANON DSLR T-Ring with Clearglass/Dust protection filter Ø 50.4mm, d=3mm.

Lastly this is the modified GoPro with the C-EOS mount and the Baader T-RIng that has been out of order since the rain has hit(It's dusty since I forgot it outside when we cleaned)

I hope that gives some insight

Regards

Johannes

[prusling]

Thanks, Johannes. Look forward to seeing more results. Cheers, Peter

[Ohan Smit]

Some date I captured with the setup on the first light, and my very first try at Jupiter, the focus was terrible but at least I made out the GRS.

Very eager to get proper focus as soon as the weather permits.

2527 frames captured at 1280x720 @ 120 fps.

Aligned in PIPP, Stacked in AS!2 and processed entirely with Nik Color Efex in Photoshop - Detail Extractor, Levels and Curves & Pro Contrast.

Regards

[Ruud]

Hi Johannes. Interesting project and nice pictures too. Baie dankie en welkom op ons forum.

[stash_old]

Very interesting. I was a cheapskate and bought an SJ4000 primarily for snorkeling. I hadn't considered using it for astro but I guess it needs to be mated to a lens as you have done. Can you tell us more about the ribcage mod.

Your model is the same, i think, as the Sunco which this gent modded at EMS uses. it had a std 12mm mount thread when you take the std lens out - here's the how too http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/9647-sunco-camera-mod/page-2#entry111956- the sunco is only £45 at amazon and seems to be take pretty good astro photo's/video's. I also believe the SJ4000(might have this on yours?) has a brother that allows wireless  remote control from a App/PC.

[Ohan Smit]

Hi Johannes. Interesting project and nice pictures too. Baie dankie en welkom op ons forum.

Baie dankie dit is lekker om my moedertaal hier te hoor

Your model is the same, i think, as the Sunco which this gent modded at EMS uses. it had a std 12mm mount thread when you take the std lens out - here's the how too http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/9647-sunco-camera-mod/page-2#entry111956- the sunco is only £45 at amazon and seems to be take pretty good astro photo's/video's. I also believe the SJ4000(might have this on yours?) has a brother that allows wireless  remote control from a App/PC.

Thanks for that link, it leads me to some very informative conclusions and even a preview of the pictures attainable with such systems. 

[JamesF]

A very interesting mod, and great results, too.  You can get C-mount to 1.25" nosepiece adaptors that may come in useful where no better mounting is available on the OTA, though that SCT connector looks a bit of a monster

Be wary btw of saying "this sensor has a whopping crop factor of 5.7x, so my 50mm lens becomes a 285mm lens".  The field of view may well be cropped to what you might expect of a 285mm lens on a full frame sensor.  However, it's still a 50mm lens and optical performance is just as you'd expect of any 50mm lens, so if you wanted to work out arcseconds per pixel resolution or the expected size of a target on the sensor or something else along those lines you'd be wanting to use the 50mm figure, not 285mm.

James

[prusling]

Your model is the same, i think, as the Sunco which this gent modded at EMS uses. it had a std 12mm mount thread when you take the std lens out - here's the how too http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/9647-sunco-camera-mod/page-2#entry111956- the sunco is only £45 at amazon and seems to be take pretty good astro photo's/video's. I also believe the SJ4000(might have this on yours?) has a brother that allows wireless remote control from a App/PC.

Great link - many thanks. Mine is the WiFi version of the SJCAM which was a little more expensive. I understand that there are substandard clones around so any prospective buyers need to be wary. I'll give it a try and report back.

[Ohan Smit]

Thought I would add some feedback regarding this mod.

Lunar capabilities of the GoPro are promising.

If I was not on a brick porch with walls all around me I am sure that it would do Ok on a planets, since from where I am shooting everything wobble when viewed through the scope.

150 frames

FPS: 30.00000

Frames: 100

FPS: 30.00000

Frames: 167

FPS: 30.00000

Regards

Ohan

[sexysi]

Like the look of these, very interesting.

si