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DIY all-sky cam?


msinclairinork

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Good looking lens that fujinon, but I've just found the price :icon_salut:

As to dome condensation, I've wound a few turns of resistance wire on the ali plate that centers the qhy5 in the enclosure, and run it off 12v, seems to do the job.

Did you write your own software in the end?

Huw

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HAs anyone used the maxim dl plugin for meteor detection and maxims ability to schedule video or ccd acquisitions to sdo this yet ?

I have a lodestar that does this well enough, failing that so does my DSLR but it would be good to only capture changes of a certain type.

The plugin is by John Winfield.

Cheers

Mike

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As to dome condensation, I've wound a few turns of resistance wire on the ali plate that centers the qhy5 in the enclosure, and run it off 12v, seems to do the job.

Thanks - will give it a go.

Yep, using my own software - it's very basic at the moment, basically initalising the camera in 'video' mode (in which it continuously takes and sends exposures without the PC requesting them), then a little bit of processing to remove banding.

I still have dark frame subtraction to do, I'll probably write another app to create a library at different exposure lengths and gains, and leave it running a few hours.

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The resistance wire is run in heatshrink tubing, and that glued to the ali sheet, seems a solid way of doing it.

Yep, using my own software - it's very basic at the moment, basically initalising the camera in 'video' mode (in which it continuously takes and sends exposures without the PC requesting them), then a little bit of processing to remove banding.

I still have dark frame subtraction to do, I'll probably write another app to create a library at different exposure lengths and gains, and leave it running a few hours.

Sound like fun, may I ask what you are programing in? I quite fancy having a play myself.

Huw

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So I managed to write a small program that subtracts a dark frame from a number of image files in the same directory, so that I could get rid of the worst of my hot pixels.

Heres the result from about a week ago:

Looks a lot better, though there were still a few stuck pixels on the original - I'm not sure they are visible on the youtube version though.

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Had a lovely clear night last night, so actually had some stars to play with!

Here's an unprocessed video (best watched full screen in HD):

http://vimeo.com/34172305

I've been playing with processing to get rid of noise and other unwanted bits (e.g. reflections), here's an example:

All-sky time-lapse 2011-12-23 (processed) on Vimeo

Note: there's a little bit of a jump a little way into the videos - I went out to mask some of the bright light sources, and then increased the gain from 10% to 30%.

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Very interesting :D What are the black curves on the processed video?

Must say, I'd love to get such a setup going here - we have almost clear horizons on well over 180 degrees.

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Very interesting :) What are the black curves on the processed video?

They're the path that bright objects (normally aircraft - but I did catch the ISS at around 6s in to the video) will or have passed through within the adjacent 9 frames.

I'm envious of your horizons! :D I'm planning on moving house in a little over a year, so keeping an eye out for an isolated house to do up with a good clear horizon, something like:

4 bedroom detached house for sale in Merrybent Cottage, Catlow Road, Slaidburn, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7

Fingers crossed will catch Santa tonight :) Merry Christmas!

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  • 2 months later...

Well, my son and I thought this might be a fun project 'cos I'm short of projects :) I've ordered a 1.8mm lens that's due to take six months or thereabouts to arrive, and a nasty cheap fake security camera housing.

The latter has arrived and has a small amount of scuffing on the top of the dome. I'll see if I can polish that out, but even if I can't it should be ood enough for a proof of concept.

Is there a consensus that if I want to put a webcam in then I need an LX-modded SPC880 to be able to pick up stars and/or meteors? Or would a lifecam/xbox camera do the job?

James

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

Excuse me if I mention things already tried here as I have only just seen this thread. I decided to have a go at setting up an All Sky Camera using a low light video board camera and dome.

I bought a Sony ExView B/W low light camera in a dome housing for around £80 on EBay. I also bought a EZCap USB video frame grabber for about £12. I bought a 1.9mm lens which gives around 170 degrees with the 1/3" ExView.

I bought a cheap dual core Pentium from Morgan with XP Pro and run it as server, there is no keyboard or monitor, so I just Remote Desktop to administer it.

I am now testing VideoCapture from COAA, it allows me to do frame integration (I am currently using 200 frames per image to give the effect of a long exposure) and then it stacks the images on the fly. I use around 50 images with automatic dark frame subtraction. During the day I use only 1 frame per image and don't stack any images or do dark frame subtraction.

200 frames per image with 50 images, stacked and with dark frame subtraction is good enough for me to see the planets and bright stars. I can see some of the common constellations, but would like to improve on it.

VideoCapture will also FTP the results to a website or other server and has a powerful script language to fully automate the process. I think it is about £21, money well spent.

To date I run my camera from a temporary location, uploading a picture every 10 minutes to a test website. I haven't finished the script for VideoCapture yet so it's only uploading 1 frame even through the night.

VideoCapture will work with any camera so you could use it for an SPC900 and also includes the LX drivers for popular cameras.

As soon as I have my camera working and uploading to my main site I will post a link.

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I found a UK-based company that sells the board lenses for less than £10 and they arrive within a few days rather than the six week wait from China. By the time you've added in postage the price is only a couple of quid more I think. The lenses look better quality, too. They have an ebay shop which is cheaper than their main website. They're called Stock Optics Ltd.

James

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Timely return of this thread :)

I'm also having a go using bits I already have plus a few extra bits. Plan is to use a mono DMK41 that'll be using for solar work.

I bought a cheap (£8) "fake security camera" off eBay for the dome and housing. Also got a 2.1mm C mount lens from eBay. Only £12, metal and glass, manual focus.

With that lot, a pile of silicone sealant, a big pole to loft it above the shed a little with my netbook in the shed doing captures overnight, I hope to get something useful.

I also hope to get it automated to capture and send images to a PC in the house, via WiFi. Will look into that.

It's that time of year, projects to keep the lighter evenings interesting :rolleyes:

Cheers

Ian

Edit, James, I got my C mount lens from Stock Optics on eBay. They were very knowledgable and helpful.

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Nice to know I'm not the only one still playing with this. I've just bought a fujinon 1.4mm f1.4 lens, not as expensive as the other fujinon, and it's a cs mount,

YV2.2x1.4A-2 | Vari-Focal | Fish-Eye | Security | Optical Devices | Fujifilm USA

I've mounted it onto the qhy5, and it works well compared to the the cheap little lens I previously used. I then went silly and tried the lens on my Starlight Exprss lodestar, now this is so far in advance of anything I've managed with the qhy5, In the image shown, you can see the plough on the left, and the bright glow is a crescent moon in light cloud, now that is dynamic range.

I just need to justify buying another Lodestar....

Now where did I put that lottery ticket

Huw

post-19412-133877765173_thumb.jpg

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A website name like "buythis.co.uk" just makes me nervous that it's a scam :)

Looks like it produces a nice image though. I've been trying out the 170 degree board lens I bought from Stock Optics today and whilst it produces a very nice bright image the thread on the lens is barely engaged in the xbox cam lens holder with focus at any distance. I might have to get it focused and apply a little glue to keep it in place.

James

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Hi All,

My DMK41 arrived yesterday so last night gave it a try for AllSky usage. Put on the 2.1mm C mount, f/1.2 lens and balanced it on the wall in the yard with a laptop attached. Image below is a 100% sized single frame, exposure was 5secs.

Seems to work well, just need to finish the enclosure for it and get it all nailed down for tomorrow night :)

Cheers

Ian

iwatkins-albums-other-picture17064-dmk41-c-mount-2-1mm-f-1-2-lens.jpg

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I like that. Bit overkill to devote a DMK41 to though :)

One of the lovely things about all-sky pictures is that they give you a completely different view of how all the star positions relate to each other.

James

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