Have a Celestron Neximage TD35 webcam but having trouble using it....

[GaryA]

Hi All I am new to Astromony and also photography of anything. My latest project is looking at skies and would dearly likee to have this Webcam and program working well. One thing is I am not too bright LOL on computers but have enough knowledge to be dangerous.

What I am using is a Celestron 8SE Nexstar Telescope. The computer I am using is a laptop NEC with XP Proffesional  loaded on it. the Program which came with the TD35 webcam is called "Future Joe".

 What happens is I sort of get a reasonable picture of the moon surface when I use a 32X magnification but a shocker as you do when you use stronger lens and forget the Barlow X 2 lens.

 (you may figure I am trying to tell you all that I am not a complete beginner).

 However once I move to the planets I get nothing. Why is this happening?

I have uploaded some pics which seem ok of the moon. Just hope you can view them.

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. You mentioned 32x magnification, are you imaging through an eyepiece ? If you are, take the eyepiece out of the focuser, you don't need it and just use the barlow lens with the camera. Also try a better capture program such as SharpCap https://sites.google.com/site/rwgastro/sharpcapor Firecapture  http://firecapture.wonderplanets.de/

[Cornelius Varley]

I assume you actually mean a 32mm eyepiece not 32x magnification

[JamesF]

As Peter says, try the camera without an eyepiece if that's what you're currently doing.  That should improve the image quality.  Initially I'd not even bother with a barlow until you get the hang of things.

The Moon is a good target to start with.  The planets will be much more tricky.  The telescope must be very accurately aligned to get the image of a planet to appear on the camera sensor because it is so small.  Even the movement caused by just tapping the OTA can be enough to shift the image entirely off the camera sensor altogether.

You may find that a reticle eyepiece helps to get the image centred properly.  Also be aware that if the image is too far out of focus you may not be able to see it even when everything is correctly aligned.  Turning the gain/exposure up to maximum can help to show up an out of focus image (usually a faint doughnut shape) if you suspect that is the problem.

James

[GaryA]

Thanks James I will try that first. Your knowledge about sizing of the planets did ring a bell to me.

A Dumb Question is what is a RETICALE Eyepiece. 

 You are talking about the gain/exposure on the Computer program no doubt or something I don't know about on my Telescope?

[JamesF]

A reticle eyepiece is one with (for example) a cross-hair engraved into it internally (sometimes it can be illuminated though I don't find that absolutely necessary).  It means that when you're lining up the planet you can get it absolutely dead centre rather than having to guess.  I found having one was a great help.  You don't need anything expensive.  Anything that allows you to correctly centre the target will do.

And yes, I am talking about the gain and exposure in the capture application.

James

[GaryA]

Thanks James.

I did try that with the gain but went too grainy.

 With this TD35 WEbcam there was no manual with it. This makes it hard to understand.

 Just wondering why i have not heard too much about the TD35 but everyone seems to be using the Celestron Neximage 5. Is there any reason why this is the case?

[Blazar]

Some good advice above. A lot of planetary imagers (and lunar imagers ;-)) use the ZWO range of camera's (or the QHY's). I use the ZWO120MM-s and I have the Edge800 scope so same size as yours, and get some nice results. In addition to the above, sometimes (make that 'most' of the time in the UK) atmospheric conditions will also affect how good an image is. most of the time I cannot use a x 2 barlow either.

As James mentioned above starting on the moon is a good way to learn about the software and what works in terms of imaging etc. The planets are not best placed at the moment in the UK (jupiter has moved off along with Venus, and Saturn is very low. I would stick with the moon for now (I always go back to image it regardless!) Your first shot is a nice one of schroters valley as well...

I find using the virtual moon atlas to plan imaging sessions, as well as find out about whats on offer to view is a great piece of free software.

[JamesF]

I can find very little information about the TD35.  I assume it must be an older model.

I don't get the impression that the Neximage cameras are widely used however.  It certainly seems more rare to see an image posted by someone using a Neximage camera than it is to see one from, say, a ZWO or TIS or Point Grey model, but I guess that might vary depending on pricing in different parts of the world.

James

[JamesF]

As James mentioned above starting on the moon is a good way to learn about the software and what works in terms of imaging etc. The planets are not best placed at the moment in the UK (jupiter has moved off along with Venus, and Saturn is very low. I would stick with the moon for now (I always go back to image it regardless!) Your first shot is a nice one of schroters valley as well...

The OP appears to be in Australia though, so Saturn at least should be a reasonable target right now even if it isn't for those of us in the UK.

James

[GaryA]

I can find very little information about the TD35.  I assume it must be an older model.

I don't get the impression that the Neximage cameras are widely used however.  It certainly seems more rare to see an image posted by someone using a Neximage camera than it is to see one from, say, a ZWO or TIS or Point Grey model, but I guess that might vary depending on pricing in different parts of the world.

James

Ok so it appears the Celestron imagining gear is not the best. I will have  a look and see whats available in Australia. The TD35 goes for around $300 in Aust so I went on ebay and got it for $70.00.  However I am pretty fussy when looking at imagining and hate pixelling at the best of time. I do have the setup for EOS Canon but I want to get this part webcam imaging  as good as I can get it without paying bucket loads of cash for something that is not going to work as to the price. Thanks James and you other people for your help.

[GaryA]

The OP appears to be in Australia though, so Saturn at least should be a reasonable target right now even if it isn't for those of us in the UK.

James

Saturn is looking good at the moment ...

[JamesF]

Do you have a link for a web page with the TD35 details on?  Perhaps my googling just isn't good enough today.  The only ones I can find seem to be on ebay and they don't give that much information about the camera.

I'm not sure I'd say specifically that the Celestron kit is not the best.  It is perhaps at the more expensive end of the market (at least here in the UK) though and I imagine there are many people who look at it and decide that it's more than they'd like to spend, particularly if they can find something of roughly similar performance elsewhere for less.  My very limited experience of the Celestron Skyris cameras is certainly that they seem pretty good for instance, but the price does make my wallet run for cover

I don't know what the camera market is like in Australia.  Perhaps the guys over on Ice in Space would be able to help more in that respect.

James

[GaryA]

Do you have a link for a web page with the TD35 details on?  Perhaps my googling just isn't good enough today.  The only ones I can find seem to be on ebay and they don't give that much information about the camera.

I'm not sure I'd say specifically that the Celestron kit is not the best.  It is perhaps at the more expensive end of the market (at least here in the UK) though and I imagine there are many people who look at it and decide that it's more than they'd like to spend, particularly if they can find something of roughly similar performance elsewhere for less.  My very limited experience of the Celestron Skyris cameras is certainly that they seem pretty good for instance, but the price does make my wallet run for cover

I don't know what the camera market is like in Australia.  Perhaps the guys over on Ice in Space would be able to help more in that respect.

James

It must be as Australian Geographic where offering it for $199Aus. and they said i could use it on my scope.  I thought I was on a winner but when i went to Ebay $70 sounded like someone is trying ripping off someone. So I bought it have given it a go but not what I want and I guess they have lied to me .... I got to get the next one right. By the way I did not really know what my scope proper name was and used the net to try to get the right model by visual looking. Its not a Celestron Nexstar but a CPC 800 Schmidt Cassergrain focal Length 2030mm with F/10 optics.... a little different to what I had said originally. I apolagise for that. I have also gone to the Celestron Site and what they have available in their cdd range has no proper information about them. All I am hoping is someone here has the same type of scope as mine and I can match up to what that person has..

[GaryA]

It must be as Australian Geographic where offering it for $199Aus. and they said i could use it on my scope.  I thought I was on a winner but when i went to Ebay $70 sounded like someone is trying ripping off someone. So I bought it have given it a go but not what I want and I guess they have lied to me .... I got to get the next one right. By the way I did not really know what my scope proper name was and used the net to try to get the right model by visual looking. Its not a Celestron Nexstar but a CPC 800 Schmidt Cassergrain focal Length 2030mm with F/10 optics.... a little different to what I had said originally. I apolagise for that. I have also gone to the Celestron Site and what they have available in their cdd range has no proper information about them. All I am hoping is someone here has the same type of scope as mine and I can match up to what that person has..

Found out the problem .

 On my second usage of the webcam found out it appears to have died. Used it a couple of times. After taking the shots of the moon the device should have told me it was disconnected but didn't.

 Anyway have to check it through first before I Bin it. This means I have to remove the program and reinstall. Have already tried out the cables

[Blazar]

It must be as Australian Geographic where offering it for $199Aus. and they said i could use it on my scope.  I thought I was on a winner but when i went to Ebay $70 sounded like someone is trying ripping off someone. So I bought it have given it a go but not what I want and I guess they have lied to me .... I got to get the next one right. By the way I did not really know what my scope proper name was and used the net to try to get the right model by visual looking. Its not a Celestron Nexstar but a CPC 800 Schmidt Cassergrain focal Length 2030mm with F/10 optics.... a little different to what I had said originally. I apolagise for that. I have also gone to the Celestron Site and what they have available in their cdd range has no proper information about them. All I am hoping is someone here has the same type of scope as mine and I can match up to what that person has..

Gary, that is pretty much the similar scope to mine (as mentioned earlier). The CPC is just a fork mounted version. The only difference between our scopes is the edge was designed with imaging in mind. Thats not to say the original SCT's could not image of course. I can heartily recommend the ZWO range of cameras (and would steer you in that direction). I don't usually like to attach images to other peoples threads, but I think in this case its just to show what the camera can do with our scopes...and of the same target you initially posted about. I use the mono version (so no colour), but they do some great one shot colour cameras as well.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/245587-3105-vallis-schroteri-inc-aristarchus/