simple imaging

[Radar2312]

time to pick at the collective knowledge......

have a skywatcher 130P supatrak, with the impending transit next week, my solar filter arrived today, just tested, all good. Also with the transit in mind and general moon/planetary use, am expecting delivery of an MS lifecam cinema HD 720P....... now the questions.....

1) Reading the write-up for modifying the cam for telescope use, it seems the lens is removed and basically replaced by the telescope. Billet parts are all out of their adaptors for this cam, but being in engineering I can 'knock one up', is the position of the chip relative to the focuser tube critical to achieve focus?? ie. do I need to aim to get the chip roughly where my eye would be using, say, a 25mm EP??

2) The instructions also say, for daytime use, the infra red filter should be left in place (if I understood correctly). Do I need this filter if I'm using a solar filter to take images of the transit?

Thanks for any input

Rick

[Bizibilder]

The telescope is focussed directly onto the camera chip - adapters can be bought here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/125-nosepiece-to-webcam-lens-thread-toucam-pro-spc900nc.html . You will need an IR blocking filter - the one that comes on the camera is no good and you will need to buy one http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/revelation-ir-blocking-filter-1-25_d3645.html , this should be screwed into the end of the adapter. Hope this helps.

[Radar2312]

certainly does, thanks

[Radar2312]

sorry to be a pain, but............

that adaptor wont suit the camera i'm expecting, but can make one myself.

Out of curiosity, what would happen without the IR/UV filter??

cheers

[Bizibilder]

You can make your own easily enough. Without the IR block filter you image will be very "pink" to look at - this can be corrected in a processing program like GIMP (freeware).

[Radar2312]

ok, just been reading and came to same conclusion. my main concern was that it might be detrimental to the camera chip, but if im right, no! If i understood what I read, without the filter I may also get a 'fuzzy or halo' effect from the different wavelength light being out of focus. so if this is correctable after the fact, an ir/uv filter is desirable, but not essential??

[Radar2312]

ok, mute point now, filter ordered, thanks for all info and help.