Mike Oliver

Yes, Carole, making progress on the basics as you say. The acid test is still to come when I get a clear night and can try everything out with my 'scope. Luckily, I have found a colleague in my Society who is willing to help - he has been into astrophotography for some considerable time. Funnily enough, my main objective is to be able to control and observe through my telescope whilst I'm in the warm instead of freezing myself to death in the garden. My daughter is buying me a Celestron WiFi module for Christmas as a further contribution to this old man's cold bones 🥶

I contacted Meade support and they gave me a download link that provided me with a version of AutoStar Suite, Envisage V7.1 that runs in Windows XP and 7, Nebulosity 4 and the drivers for my DSI camera. They couldn't have been more helpful. I have connected the camera to my old laptop and it is sending images to AutoStar - obviously, they are only garbled because the camera is not on my 'scope at this point. Once I get the chance, I'll see what the results are with the camera mounted on the 'scope. So, I now have two working cameras - who would have thought it?

I sorted out the image size issue. The Sharpcap controls allow me to adjust the image size up to the camera's maximum potential (640 x 480 pixels) and this gives the kind of size I was hoping for.

I managed to fit the Philips SPC900 camera (kindly provided by Daz) to my 'scope, locate my Windows XP laptop and install the camera driver, then load Sharpcap (V2.9). I managed to get everything working and ended up counting the lichen spots on a rooftop about 300 yards away. I have one question: the size of the picture in the Sharpcap window is pretty small. Selecting Full Screen doesn't do what I expected (i.e. fill the screen of either Sharpcap or the laptop) and I'm wondering if there is some other way to achieve this.

I do intend to give the Meade DSI a run out but my recollection of a friend's experience with this camera doesn't fill me with confidence. Also, Meade have told me I shall have to use a laptop running Windows XP for the camera to work. Luckily, I have an old Toshiba laptop with XP on board but it is a mini laptop and it hasn't seen the light of day for a few years. Still, it will be worth a try. Onwards & upwards...

I've just returned to this thread - sorry if I appeared to have ignored your response. I've been in touch with Meade and they say that my DSI will not work with Windows editions later than XP. Luckily I have an old but functional laptop with XP on board, so I'm going to download the necessary software and see what I can achieve. Nebulosity seems to be another option and I appreciate your heads-up and the link.

Hi CJ: That's very useful information. I suspected my camera was a bit basic for the purpose but I may give it a try when the sky clears and I can brave the outside temperatures again 🙂 . At the price, the clamp looks to be a potential resolution to my problem. I'm still very tempted by the webcam option, because that would allow me to use my laptop screen in my living room via a USB cable (see my remark about the weather) but the use of my Kodak camera opens other options..

Hi SF: Right, for this operation, you say I would need a very sensitive camera and Sharpcap. I have heard of "Sharpcap", which was recommended by one of the sellers ( Svbony) for use with their webcam-type eyepiece. As I said, the only camera I own is a (fairly old) Kodak "Easy Share" Z1485 IS and I've no idea if this would meet the sensitivity requirements or how I'd fit it to my telescope - it isn't at all like the cameras one sees being used for astrophotography in online videos. I will, however, take a look at my 'scope with the camera close by to see if it can be fitted. If it works, I'll owe you a big vote of thanks.

Wow! I'm overwhelmed - what a great group this is. If I can't get my Astrophotography organised from all this help, I deserve to be drummed out of the brownies - er, sorry, cubs. Thank you everyone. I'll let Daz's offer take precedence right now and come back to Hyper Giant if that doesn't work out. Despite my responses, I am able finance the exercise up to my stated limit and will be happy to pay for any items I obtain from members of the forum. I've read some reviews on most of the cameras I've looked at until now and some of them seem reasonably good so I am confident of a positive outcome. I'll get back to you all as things progress. Again, my thanks.

I found the EEVA subforum and the first post there was "What is EEVA?". I read through a lot of replies, etc. and have come away still not really knowing what EEVA is. There were masses of abbreviations, technical terms and learned speak but it mostly went over my head (that's the trouble with getting old!) So, would you humour me and tell me what EEVA is, please?

Thanks, spillage. I've been to the Philips site and located and downloaded the Windows 7 driver. Once I have a camera, I can try it on my Windows 8 laptop with the Windows 7 driver - maybe using the compatibility facility that Windows provides. I also found a link to a site where somebody claims there are Windows 8 & 10 versions available - but I haven't yet located them.

Daz: Would this be the same as the SPC900nc I mention in my earlier post? If so, I may get some pointers to the appropriate driver(s) from the ad I found. Cheers, Mike

I just found a second hand Phillips SPC900nc CCD Webcam within my budget - does anyone have any views on this one?

This is not meant unkindly but there speaks someone who has yet to enjoy the state pension as his main source of income 🙂 Seriously, to deal with the "yet", I doubt if I shall ever again have such riches as to spend that kind of money on my hobby. My family kindly bought me the 'scope for my 80th birthday and, without them, I could never even have considered getting anything so good. I am stuck with a low budget and a desire to try Astrophotography whatever the level. I'll put up with something short of ideal and, if it doesn't do the business, then I shall retire gracefully from the arena and go back to getting frozen when I venture into the back garden with my 'scope.

Thanks for the quick responses. Unfortunately, photography is not a subject I have been interested in until now. My camera is a Kodak "Easy Share" Z1485 IS (at least according to what it says on the back). I don't know if that qualifies as a DSLR but it's all I have. I'm happy to restrict my astrophotography to the solar system, at least for the time being, so the limitations are not a problem right now. The equipment I have looked at online includes a Svbony SV205 Digital Eyepiece, an Orion StarShoot USB Eyepiece Camera, a Bresser Wireless Smartphone WiFi camera and a somewhat "iffy" candidate from Hong Kong called a "Telescope Electronic Eyepiece Digital Lens for Camera Camcorder WiFi 2MP" which creates its on WiFi hotspot and will transmit images to a laptop. However, this last item is just £36.20 including shipping and appeals to my financial status if not to my common sense. I'll await further responses with interest.

I guess this question must have been asked many times before so forgive me for doing so again. I've decided I want to try astrophotography and couple that with viewing targets on my laptop. I've looked at various cameras and items of equipment plus a few review videos but haven't really come away with any real concept of what I should buy. I have about £70 - £80 to spend and I'm not looking for anything super-professional - just something to get started. Own a Celestron Nexstar 127SLT and my laptop runs Windows 8. Can anybody please advise me on the kind of camera that I should be looking at?

That sounds encouraging - if all else fails, your method might be workable for me too. Once I've come back to the subject having got my new scope properly aligned, I shall probably start playing around with the camera - it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

I've downloaded the latest Meade Envisage package - thanks for the link - and now have to see if everything works. Before I get to that, however, I have to star align my new 127 Mak; the camera arrived a touch early in my new stargazing career!

You might need to run it in compatibility mode, specifying WinXP as the OS. I did this with some other old software and selected "Vista" - the software worked fine. I just need to know if I'll be able to use my "new" camera with my Celestron 'scope. Mike

I have just been given (lucky me!) a Meade DSI camera pack with all the associated cables, etc. and a copy of "Auto Star Suite" software. I don't believe it has ever been used but, from what I can see, it is 2004/5 vintage and I'm not sure whether that will work with my Celestron STL 127 Mak Cas setup. The 'scope is mounted on the Celestron Nexstar AltAz mount and I have the latest hand control and firmware. Can anyone tell me if I need to obtain or "do" anything for the camera to work? My laptop is running windows 8 and has the appropriate ports for the connections. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Mike