camera assistance

[bugswisher]

i am in the middle of purchasing a omni xlt 120 refractor scope can anybody give advice on a camera and a camera mount for this scope

thank you

[Shibby]

Depends; what's your budget? Your 3 types of option are:

- Cheap: webcam, for planetary & lunar imaging

- Medium: DSLR

- Expensive: Dedicated CCD

[Shibby]

I should also mention that the slow focal ratio (f8.3) is far from ideal for DSO imaging, so you'd want to get a reducer if you're interested in DSOs. Great for planetary, though.

[bugswisher]

i am just doing planetary at the moment so would a webcam be ok for that

[ponytale]

do search for spc900 lots of info there

[todd8137]

before you get a cam ,what mount does the scope come with,?

[bugswisher]

hi todd this is the mount CG-4 German Equatorial Mount with setting circles and slow motion controls - to accurately locate and track sky objects

[Shibby]

Yeah a webcam such as the spc900 is ideal for planetary imaging. However, I don't think the mount is motorised which will make it awkward (though not impossible) to image planets.

When the field of view is very small, the planet will drift out of view very quickly. Because tracking manually introduces wobble, some imagers video the planet as it drifts past (you can still stack the avi in registax). Other than that, you can quite easily add an RA motor drive to your mount.

[Tinker1947]

These people do the SPC900, it appears to be in stock all though a phone call wouldn't do and harm, the other alternative being cheaper in a mob called "Morgans" but they appear to be really unreliable.

Telescope House Webcam Astro-imaging Kit including Philips SPC