Meade LPI experience anyone ?

[John]

Does anyone have experience of using a Meade LPI ?

I know that they are not the best imaging solution available but I picked one up for a song recently and I'd like to give it a go. I've no imaging experience but I just want to have some fun with the moon and brighter planets.

Any good "1st steps" web sites for the LPI you can recommend ?.

Thanks,

John

[gsjag]

I was thinking about one some time ago but found that the FoV is equal to a 3mm ep. Using an EXT 125 this seemed to limiting so I didn't bother.

Gary

[John]

The manual says it's equivilent to a 6mm eyepiece which tallies with the view compared with an actuall 6mm eyepiece.

Judging from the lack of feedback (apart from yours Gary - thanks !) I reckon I'm on my own with this one !.

John

[Helen]

Hi John,

I've got one too - the picture of Saturn that's my avatar was taken with one. That was a complete fluke!!! I have been unable to replicate anything like it. I was hoping that someone would come to your aid and I could tag along... :?

Ah well... any insights you get I'd be grateful to know about

Helen

[gsjag]

6mm eh? Perhaps I would have been ok with one then; thanks for the correction John. I hope you enjoy it but would be interetsed to know how you get on.

Gary

[Mel]

Hello

I just posted this:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/77946-viewing-moon-meade-lpi.html

It may help though I think we already have an expert present looking at Helen's piccie - very nice, I can see Cassini's division in there.

I took this movie of Saturn and the Moon with mine - you may have trouble viewing it since it uses an MPEG2 codec, but you can get a free one if you search the web a bit.

Saturn-Moon occultation

Oops, just re-read my page and this sequence was from the DSI, but I was also using the LPI at the time.

Iain

[Psychobilly]

6mm is about right I have one and used to use it with the ETX105.. it can produce some reasonable images... it was my first "imager" ...

Peter....

[NickH]

Use mine for spectroscopy only...take off the IR block for that and it's nice..

For anything else, nope...(compared to a DMK. modded Toucam or Skynyx that is)

[centroid]

Sorry John, only just noticed this 'thread'

I've had an LPI for a few years now, and its exactly what the name says, a Lunar Planetary Imager.

I also bought a Phillips SPC900NC, and quite frankly, there's nothing much to choose between them.

It would be unfair to compare it with a modded webcam, Skynix or DMK, as it doesn't pretend to be any of those.

The LPI is nothing more than a CMOS sensor webcam, with a bit of clever software (sorting & stacking) thrown in with it.

If you accept it for what it is, that is for imaging the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and at a 'push' Mars, its Ok, but no more.

The biggest restriction with the LPI, and similar devices (Celestron etc), is the limited frame rate, without compression.

As you didn't pay a lot for it, then have a 'play' and you might find it useful.

I still use mine BTW.

Dave

[MrEd]

Hi John

Its a very simple device to use.

Ok its not up to the standard of the new cameras out there.

With a bit of patience and practice you could do some nice

enough images.

(Meade uses one of mine in their current catalogue)

PM me an email adress and tonight i will send you a simplistic guide i knocked up.....

Ed

[Merlin66]

Good for gaining experience with CCD type camera; and when you upgrade to the SBiG in a few month's time (!!?)...... you can use it as a guide camera!!!

[LaVey]

I have one.. all my images up until recently where taken with it..

I would forget the autostar suite/envisage for imaging and use K3CCD instead - I used martins guide here when starting out, it really helped!!

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/40665-primer-planetary-imaging-toucam.html - same principles for the lpi as the toucam.

Good luck!

Gonna try and use mine for guiding as soon as I manage to get both scopes mounted :S

Heres some stuff I got using the LPI:

[Psychobilly]

Very nice ste of images ...

I might dig mine out and give it another go...

Peter....

[NickH]

Dig it out, rip out the IR blocker, and point your broswer at Optics

[Psychobilly]

Nice idea but "too" scientific and pricey for me...

I used to have visiting rights to a ocean optics fibre optic spectrometer (300-1200 nm) and I am trying to persuade the new "boss" that I need another one for optical source testing and the filter test bench that goes with it for "transmission" measurements of optical safety glasses...

USB4000 Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer

Peter...

[Reggie]

Only thing with the LPI is that it can be a pig to get working in vista, depending on your tech skills (registry searching/edting), meade it would appear aren't going to be updating the lpi drivers any time soon, so you are stuck with letting it be recognised as a trust webcam and hacking through the registry to make it work.