Embarrassing Jupiters webcam clinic

[Space Cowboy]

I've noticed after the Philips SPC800 revolution of the last few weeks there are a lot of newbie webcam imagers around. Many are asking questions on different threads. I'm not God's gift to the web imaging world but if anyone has got a question or problem with their Jupiter images however strange it may look...weird colour or odd shape....don't be shy...just post it up on here and myself or I'm sure other learned SGL folk will try and help.

Stuart.

[TheThing]

Brilliant idea Stuart.

[Space Cowboy]

Cheers Hugh! Still waiting for my first client..........

[omneferuss]

Agreed. A 'see what others are doing, and what advice they receive, and how it improves their/my images' thread could serve very well !! - all in one place, tho' it might get a lil' hectic and chaotic

[Pete Presland]

Cheers Hugh! Still waiting for my first client..........

only just noticed this glad to be your first client

all my images do seem to look very alike whatever settings i use webcam or processing wise,a lack of sharpness the equipment is usually spc900,x2 barlow,oo10" f4.8,

just how do you get that extra detail? and can you be sure your not trying to find something thats not there.

obviously there 2 main aspects the imaging and the processing

the imaging seems to be that the object will never look clearly in focus so how do you know how much detail your are looking for when processing?

the processing whenever i look through the individual fames 1000+ none look very clear,sharp or focused,but that said the final image does always look better.

finally would i be better with a shorter focal length refractor like a ed80 ect or is it just a case of practice makes perfect and a good imager should never blame his equipment

thanks pete

[omneferuss]

Pete, to be frank, if I remember your posted image I saw correctly, I'd expect more from 10", if that's what you are using... if there's no discernable difference with different settings then I'd double-check that default auto-everything wasn't ON !!! what capture software are you using? (if it's Amcap, dump it! ditto Vlounge !!.. try WXAstrocapture)

Big aperture is BETTER ! ... are you using uv/ir filter? I think first concentrate on capture.. stacking and processing can wait.. get a good bright capture first.. and as large as seeing permits.. and the best focus you can achieve..

[Pete Presland]

Pete, to be frank, if I remember your posted image I saw correctly, I'd expect more from 10", if that's what you are using... if there's no discernable difference with different settings then I'd double-check that default auto-everything wasn't ON !!! what capture software are you using? (if it's Amcap, dump it! ditto Vlounge !!.. try WXAstrocapture)

Big aperture is BETTER ! ... are you using uv/ir filter? I think first concentrate on capture.. stacking and processing can wait.. get a good bright capture first.. and as large as seeing permits.. and the best focus you can achieve..

thanks i was hoping you were going to say something like that,its why i upgraded to the 10":) i am using wxastrocapture and a uv/ir filter.

next clear night i will reset all the settings is it true that the brightnesss setting does not effect the process of the image

pete

[omneferuss]

...sofar as brightness, you set everything else according to how it looks onscreen, and brightness effects how it looks.. so it must effect the avi in a way that determines the processing outcome to some extent or other..

[Space Cowboy]

Hey we are off and running!

Pete can you post your Jupiter pic so we can take a look....not sure if I've seen it before...I do remember seeing a small image taken with a 2x Barlow....I'm guessing your scope has a focal length of around 1200mm so it should not be a small image. Are you using the 640 x 480 video format? Your scope has the potential to produce knock out images!

[Telescope40]

Hi Stuart. I had a quick go last week. Jupiter was attempted and all I have is an 11 sec video of Jupe lookin like a WW11 searchlight.

I thort at least I cud sort a "live" view to show some banding etc. Dont think it was just a focussing prob as I tried that but then wot do I know.

Meade LX90 - f10 - 2x barlow - no ir filter yet and Sharpcam.

All I did was try to focus and played with some settings on the software. Didnt seem make the slightest difference.

Feel like a complete buerk. Cant even sort out an image for you as it is in video format. If u tell me how I will try. From the notes above I think u can imagine my results.

This thread is great. ANY help gladly recieved. Thx in advance John

[Space Cowboy]

Hi John,

What webcam are you using? Sounds like overexposure is your problem.Make sure auto exposure is de-selected on capture software. To convert video footage into an image you need to use Registax to open the avi file and stack the video frames producing one image. You will need around 2 mins of footage.

RegiStax- Free image processing software

Registax Tutorial

[Pete Presland]

Hey we are off and running!

Pete can you post your Jupiter pic so we can take a look....not sure if I've seen it before...I do remember seeing a small image taken with a 2x Barlow....I'm guessing your scope has a focal length of around 1200mm so it should not be a small image. Are you using the 640 x 480 video format? Your scope has the potential to produce knock out images!

this is the latest i was most happy with this during the capture

these are slightly older but possibly a bit more detail,so it does feel like i am retrograding somewhat

yes i am using 640x480

thanks pete

[Space Cowboy]

Pete, I think the top image may have a focus issue. The other two look fine apart from colour balance which can be changed using RGB align and RGB balance settings in Registax. What you really need to do is up the scale with a 4 or 5x barlow. I find it easier to focus with a larger image.

[TheThing]

Yep Pete, not bad at all. Focus slightly off on first piccie and you need to adjust the levels slightly when capturing I think.

Have you tried Sharpcap for capturing? Once you've found ideal settings, you can save them for future.

[Pete Presland]

Yep Pete, not bad at all. Focus slightly off on first piccie and you need to adjust the levels slightly when capturing I think.

Have you tried Sharpcap for capturing? Once you've found ideal settings, you can save them for future.

not tried sharpcap hugh,using wxstrocapture, will download it and give it a go there is so many different capture programmes around

pete

[Pete Presland]

Pete, I think the top image may have a focus issue. The other two look fine apart from colour balance which can be changed using RGB align and RGB balance settings in Registax. What you really need to do is up the scale with a 4 or 5x barlow. I find it easier to focus with a larger image.

thanks the good thing about keeping the avi's is you have something to experiment with on cloudy nights,i will give it a go

[Telescope40]

Hi . I;m back. Cannot seem to see if there is an "auto exposure "setting in Sharpcam. Is there one ??

Any other suggestions as an alternative capture software than Sharp Cap.

Thx John

[ponytale]

web cam help

[Space Cowboy]

Hi . I;m back. Cannot seem to see if there is an "auto exposure "setting in Sharpcam. Is there one ??

Any other suggestions as an alternative capture software than Sharp Cap.

Thx John

I'm not too familiar with Sharpcap John, only looked at it a couple of times. You can try "Vxastrocapture"

wxAstroCapture - Windows and linuX Astronomy Capture

What webcam are you using?

Basically you want exposure/shutter speed set at either 1/25 or 1/33, Gamma at 0 and Gain 50-60%.

[Space Cowboy]

Sorry Ponytale I can't help you with the long exposure mod. This thread is only for Planetry imaging . I'm sure someone else on the forum can help if you want to post a seperate thread

[Space Cowboy]

Here are some useful links:

Webcam control settings program (works with different capture programs)

WcCtrl - Description

Webcam imaging tutorials:

Digital Astrophotography Beginner's Guide - Article

Webcam Astrophotography Tutorial for Planets

More Registax tutorials :

Starizona's Guide to CCD Imaging

Dave's Astronomy Pictures - Techniques: Registax Tutorial for Planetary processing

Avi video cropping (very good to use when a Planet has drifted during capture, crops and fixes image to help stacking in Registax)

Webcam Astrophotography by Emil Kraaikamp - Castrator

[chiltonstar]

I have a problem using a Toucam with a 127mm Mak - my first attempt at imaging Jupiter last night (through the clouds. rain etc...seeing like a Turkish bath).

My best attempt was attached.... The problem I have is I can't get webcam control if I use the highest resolution, and using Sharpcap (recommended elsewhere) does not seem to work on the elderly laptop I have still old enough to operate the Toucam. Suggestions??

[Space Cowboy]

I have a problem using a Toucam with a 127mm Mak - my first attempt at imaging Jupiter last night (through the clouds. rain etc...seeing like a Turkish bath).

My best attempt was attached.... The problem I have is I can't get webcam control if I use the highest resolution, and using Sharpcap (recommended elsewhere) does not seem to work on the elderly laptop I have still old enough to operate the Toucam. Suggestions??

Not sure what you mean by highest resolution? How many frames did you stack for your image as its a very good image but for the noise level (the more frames stacked the less noise). I would imagine if you don't have full control over camera settings the gain is much too high which happens with default settings.

You can try Vxastrocapture, there is a link earlier in this thread. Also Craterlet http://www.stark-labs.com/craterlet.html and K3CCD tools http://www.pk3.org/Astro/index.htm?k3ccdtools_download.htm

[chiltonstar]

I used frames taken from 4 successive clips of 15 secs each, dodging clouds as they passed across the FoV. I had switched the controls to manual and fiddled around until the image looked reasonable (15 fps, 15 secs)....

The problem is that the webcam seems to be capable of VGA resolution (??) but I can only use it at up to 320x240 as the higher resolution seems to grey out the "adjust" panel and prevent me from changing frame rate, gain etc. It would be nice to operate at VGA in order to get larger and less pixelly images... Maybe the solution is a more modern webcam?

Chris

[Space Cowboy]

VGA is 640x480 which you want for webcam imaging but I think rather than struggle with your Toucam which may well work ok with the other capture programs I've mentioned on this thread I would get one of the SPC880s that are still going cheap on the Morgan's website. https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=6313&CategoryID=452&SubCategoryID=522

These are the best astro webcams money can buy (once upgraded to SPC900 with a simple software flash explained here : )

http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/113699-philips-spc880nc-now.html

You wont have any trouble getting these cams to work with Sharpcap or any other program but remember you need at least 90 secs of AVI footage to get enough frames for a nice smooth image (I normally stack at least 500 frames in Registax)