Help with new SPC900 !

[AstroJOE]

I cant seem to get any images through my new spc900 at night. Not sure if its the web cam or the software.... I removed the lens and have added a 1.25" nose piece. The webcam came with V Lounge and I've also tried using SharpCap but I'm just getting a blank screen.

When i pointed it directly towards some light to test whether it was picking anything up i did get some glow.

I did set it up during the day yesterday to try it on some terrestrial objects through the scope (SW 127 Mak) and managed to capture so fairly clear images of neighboring trees and houses (albeit i was expecting the colours to be a bit more vivid).

However when I've tried using it at night I cant seem to see anything.

When I use SharpCap the number of preview frames in the bottom left hand corner just keep adding up but doesn't stop

I lined Saturn up earlier using a 25mm e/p and had it centered perfectly in the guide scope. I replaced the e/p with the webcam quickly and re-aligned it in the guide scope but nothing....

ARGHHH - WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?

Can anyone help me out i'm desperate to get some images of Saturn one night this week and I doubt the clear skies by me will last very long!

JOE

[malc-c]

Joe,

What OS are you running and has the camera been flashed ?

Drivers for the spc900 can be downloaded from the Phillips website.

Using Sharpcap if it detects the camera and displays a 640 x 480 image top left, try changing the frame rate down to 10 and play with the gain and exposure sliders

[Jammy]

I have the SPC880 which is effectively the same camera.

As malc-c says you need to increase the gain greatly to find Saturn initially. I found that swapping the eyepiece out for the camera lost the image totally using a x2 Barlow in my scope. It took ages to find it again.

I eventually put the gain and exposure to max, and the scope out of focus so I could find the larger out of focus image. It took me nearly half an hour but I found it in the end. That might just be me though!!

[spaceboy]

If I may and please do not take this the wrong way.... but are you focusing the webcam after changing from the eyepiece ?? A webcam will require refocusing. The hard part is getting the image on the sensor as the SPC chip is very small so you need to make sure there is no slack in the eyepiece holder and that you have the planet centred in the middle of a high powered EP before swapping to the SPC. You then need the gain & gamma up some way while you fiddle with the focus. You should at some point notice a large white donut. You then focus until it becomes a point of light while making sure you do not lose it out of view.

HTH

[Jammy]

If I may and please do not take this the wrong way.... but are you focusing the webcam after changing from the eyepiece ?? A webcam will require refocusing. The hard part is getting the image on the sensor as the SPC chip is very small so you need to make sure there is no slack in the eyepiece holder and that you have the planet centred in the middle of a high powered EP before swapping to the SPC. You then need the gain & gamma up some way while you fiddle with the focus. You should at some point notice a large white donut. You then focus until it becomes a point of light while making sure you do not lose it out of view.

You put that much better than I did

[AstroJOE]

Joe,

What OS are you running and has the camera been flashed ?

Drivers for the spc900 can be downloaded from the Phillips website.

Using Sharpcap if it detects the camera and displays a 640 x 480 image top left, try changing the frame rate down to 10 and play with the gain and exposure sliders

Thanks for reply - I'm using Vista....... when you say 'flashed'... downloaded the software for vista from the phillps website when i first set up the camera...is that what you mean? It is picking up the camera on both v lounge and sharpcap and like i said it seemed to work fairly well during the day on the neighbours tree!! It worked perfectly in the dark in the living room before i modified it with the nose piece as well so I think it must be something to do with the settings i'm using on SharpCap judging by what you've suggested....

I'll give your suggestions a go tomorrow, thanks for advice

[AstroJOE]

You put that much better than I did

I had the image centred in the e/p and when i swapped it with the spc (quickly) i re-alligned it in the guidescope.

I did try refocusing the scope but must admit i probably wasnt as patient as i could have been! There was me thinking i'd just need to swap the e/p and the webcam over and that's it!

Thank you both for advice...i will try playing with the exposures and other settings as you have suggested and persevere!

JOE

[Tinker1947]

My Xbox Live cam when first used displayed a blank screen, this was purely due to it acting like a high power EP and the object wasn't in its FOV, all though i had centered with a low power EP, just needed a bit of juggling about to find the object...

[spaceboy]

The focus will be some way out but as long as you keep an eye out for the donut you can always adjust the mount to center the middle of the donut as it tightens. Sounds odd but you will know when you see it

[Phaser6]

The webcam is about the equivalent to a 6mm EP so you need to use a low mag EP like a 25mm to find the object then swap to a higher power one as near to 6mm as you have and centre it in that EP. You will then find it is a case of focusing and using the gain and expose settings on sharpcap. Make sure you are very careful when swapping between EP and cam as it won't take much of a knock to move the object out of the FOV.

[JamesF]

Agree with what everyone else has said. You only have to have the image in the eyepiece fractionally off-centre for it not to appear on the camera sensor at all.

I used to go down my eyepiece focal lengths until I got to about 6mm, recentering each time before I put the camera in. These days I use an illuminated reticle eyepiece. It's so much easier.

James

[spaceboy]

I found this to explain better the whole donut thing

You have to imagine the donut will be a lot bigger and the SPC may be pointing at any part of it no necessarily the centre.

[malc-c]

Thanks for reply - I'm using Vista....... when you say 'flashed'... downloaded the software for vista from the phillps website when i first set up the camera...is that what you mean? It is picking up the camera on both v lounge and sharpcap and like i said it seemed to work fairly well during the day on the neighbours tree!! It worked perfectly in the dark in the living room before i modified it with the nose piece as well so I think it must be something to do with the settings i'm using on SharpCap judging by what you've suggested....

I'll give your suggestions a go tomorrow, thanks for advice

If it was detected and installed on a Vista machine then it has had its firmware flashed so ignore that.

Reading the rest of the thread it would appear to be more of a case of loosing the target whilst changing from eyepiece to camera. With longer focal lengths this is more of a problem than with shorter ratio scopes. The image through a 127mak will be quiet dark as the scope is around f10/f11, so you need to have the gain and exposure up fully to get the target (other then the moon) visible on the screen, and then re-focus. Once focuesd, drop the gain and re-focus again, then play about with exposures and gain settings to get the best results. On planets, try to get the gain in the 40 - 50 % value, but without making the background sky blue.

One thing you mus have is patience, it can take a while before you are ready to actually start capturing an avi

[JamesF]

That's very true Malc, and can't be stressed enough. Getting good images can take a lot of patience and experimentation even after you've managed to find the object with the camera. Getting the tracking right, being able to get the best exposure length and capture length, getting the balance right between exposure and gain and finding a saturation setting that works nicely all take time. It doesn't help that for those of us in the northern hemisphere Saturn is pretty much getting more difficult to image all the time for the next few years.

If you'd like somewhere to start with camera settings that have worked for me with the SPC900 and 127 Mak, I've posted some of mine here:

http://www.tanstaafl.co.uk/solar-system-images/saturn/

James