What's a good WebCam for Planetary Imaging

[KE400]

Hi

I'm just after some more info and know this is THE place to ask.

I currently own a Phillips SPC900 webcam but am wondering what other webcams are available that are specifically good for planetary imaging?

I've noticed in other posts/images, that the PGR Flea 3 seems to be held in high regard. I would imagine that the cost is quite expensive but can't seem to find a retailer in the UK, only US? Can anyone give me some more recomendations and rough estimates of cost etc?

Any advice/info would be greatly welcome.....

[Cornelius Varley]

Most of the sites I have looked at tend to say POA or you need to register to view the price. The PG Chameleon Point Grey Chameleon USB 2.0 Camera - Edmund Optics costs about £460 with the required USB cable so I would image the PG Flea3 is going to cost at least that if great deal more Flea3 models - Point Grey - Imaging and Machine Vision Europe

Peter

[beamish]

a bit misleading to think of the PGR Flea as a webcam TBH, as pPeter says in his link, it's a state of the art "machine vision" camera, great specs and not cheap

[KE400]

Apologies for the "webcam" reference it does seem to be some excellent piece of kit, any ideas on availability/cost for the UK?

[beamish]

available only thru PGR- register and email them- you are not obliged to buy their SDK as stated in some articles tho, but by the time you've bought peripherals and paid C&E VAT ( no duty- it's exempt) it's a bit scary it's not more than the Chameleon lets put it that way

[riklaunim]

You can also look at QHY IMG0H or iNova PLA-Mx designed by French astronomers both have the same CCD - ICX618 (as in PGR Flea 3) and seems to work correctly .

[KE400]

I've just had a nice reply from PGR regarding their Flea 3. There are a choice of 2 as you all no doubt know, Flea3 FireWire, Flea3 GigE, which is the one to go for?

Also,

(Beamish) - "but by the time you've bought peripherals" what are the extras needed for it to work on a Windows based Laptop? Apologies if these sound silly questions but it's all part of my research into the planetary imaging which I have a new found interest in.

[riklaunim]

You need a power suply and ethernet or Firewire 800 cable. If you choose Firewire 800 your laptop needs to have 9-pin Firewire 800 slot (many doesn't - then you need a SmartCard adapter with such FireWire slot).

If you go ethernet - check if the ethernet Flea is supported in software such like FireCapture. Ethernet cameras need good quality gigabit ethernet network cards (in my case I had to use one as a smartcard adapter).

And keep an eye on the Flea3 model you choose as there is many Flea 3 cams, not only with ICX618 ccd

[beamish]

I've just had a nice reply from PGR regarding their Flea 3. There are a choice of 2 as you all no doubt know, Flea3 FireWire, Flea3 GigE, which is the one to go for?

Also,

(Beamish) - "but by the time you've bought peripherals" what are the extras needed for it to work on a Windows based Laptop? Apologies if these sound silly questions but it's all part of my research into the planetary imaging which I have a new found interest in.

Rik's correct, either USB3 or the GigE Flea DOES not have the 618 chip , ican't recall off hand.

the peripherals are:-

Firewire 800 Expresscard for the lappy or PCMCIA type II card, this will allow the fast frame data transfers and then a good quality FW800 9-9pin cable and a power cable for the card (either via a 220v AC/DC transformer type plug or a ciggy cnxt to 12v

[KE400]

Thanks for the replies fellas, it seems like a very complicated set up to get up and running! Not sure if my knowledge and expertise are anywhere near that level yet. It certainly gives me something to think about and read up about anyways.

Thanks again