Jump to content

How to get a good image with the philipsspc900nc


Recommended Posts

hi does anyone know or able to help me get a good picture of the planets and the satrs with the phillips spc900nc webcam and the skywatcher skymax 127 telescope. i new to all so just really want to know settings and programms to use but not registax cause does not seem to work on my netbook. I took some videos last night but they were very white and unclear. any help would be great Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All you need to worry about are the "exposure" and "gain" sliders. Find your target (!) with the both the exposure & gain more or less fully to the rhs (ie longest exposure and highest gain) - it will be horribly bright but at least you will probably see the out of focus planet!

As soon as you can see the planet drop the gain to half way (about 30) and then lower the exposure to get an image that is under control (the exposure moves in steps - it is not a smooth "slider"). Then carefully focus the image - spend as much time as you can to get this dead right. You may need to play with the gain to get a good image on the screen.

When you have good focus, set the gain back to 25-30 and set the exposure to the setting that is just a bit too dim ('tis obvious when you se the screen) and then use the gain to GENTLY get the image to a suitable brightness. The sky background should be almost black - if it is blue and has noisy lines across it the gain is too high!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi these are the settings i use with sharpecap.

1, colour space = yuy2

2, frame rate = 10.00

3, resolution = 640 X 480

4, exposure = -7

5, gain = 32

6, backlight compensation = 0

7, colour enable = 255

8, gamma = 0

9, saturation = -4

10, contrast = 23

11, brightness = 48

There can be slight adjustments made with exposure & gain, i normally slightly over expose just while im finding for example jupiter, then drop it done bit by bit until its clear...

hope this helps...

Regards Ady

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi does anyone know or able to help me get a good picture of the planets and the satrs with the phillips spc900nc webcam and the skywatcher skymax 127 telescope. i new to all so just really want to know settings and programms to use but not registax cause does not seem to work on my netbook. I took some videos last night but they were very white and unclear. any help would be great Thanks

Have you tried AviStack - it's another free one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can get a wider field of view by using a focal reducer, though based on my experience with views of the moon on an SPC900 in a 127 Mak I'm really not sure you'd increase the size of the field sufficiently.

Building up a picture as a mosaic is perhaps the best option.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just in case you are one of the many that thought you can capture Jupiter and it's moons in one go I thought it best to mention to concentrate on the planets exposure and forget about the moons/ stars. It is an easy mistake to make as a beginner but planets are bright so you have to concentrate on getting the exposure/gain/gamma correct on the planet. This often means the moons/ background stars will no longer be visible. A separate AVI can be captured for the stars and a composite made in PS afterwards if deemed necessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i normally go for about 1200 - 1400 frames. Somewhere theres a tutorial, i think its on astronomyshed website for using sharpecap which is quite good.

Just had a quick look on A/S but cant find it now...

Cheers ady

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the ideal is to go for as many frames as you can before you get distortion of the image due to the rotation of the planet. Depending on your exact configuration there's a maximum amount of time that you can grab images for before the rotation of the planet causes the surface features to appear to move in the image. Martin Mobberley (sp?) covers this in some detail in his book on imaging solar system objects. I have worked it out for my 127 Mak, but off the top of my head I can't recall the figures. I have a feeling it's about five minutes for Saturn and nearer three for Jupiter.

Given that time limit, the more good quality images you can capture for stacking the better, though that actually may mean that you capture fewer longer exposure images rather than more shorter exposure ones.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.