spc900nc / registax ??

[S Kehoe]

Hi guys,

I am about to embark on my webcam astrophotography "adventure" and got everything ready only to realise that it appears the spc900nc and registax6 are not compatible for transfering video files. I think the camera uses MPEG and registax doesnt. Unless I am being a total noob and not using it correctly. Are there any other freeware/commercial alternatives to registax6 I can download or do people use some kind of format convertor to change the mpeg to avi.

thanks in advance guys.

steve

[Rihard]

Hi guys,

I am about to embark on my webcam astrophotography "adventure" and got everything ready only to realise that it appears the spc900nc and registax6 are not compatible for transfering video files. I think the camera uses MPEG and registax doesnt. Unless I am being a total noob and not using it correctly. Are there any other freeware/commercial alternatives to registax6 I can download or do people use some kind of format convertor to change the mpeg to avi.

thanks in advance guys.

steve

Hi there,

you should be able to record AVI's using SharpCap, and these AVI's should work with Registax.

Hope this helps.

Clear Skies

[Steve Ward]

Ditch the VideoLounge software and D/L SharpCap as your capture software .

http://www.sharpcap.co.uk/

Would recommend Reg 5 to start with too.

[S Kehoe]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. let the adventure begin!

[Steve Ward]

Enjoy.......

[Pete Presland]

there are lots of tutorials for sharpcap and registax online well worth a watch before you start.

[JamesF]

I use an SPC900, SharpCap and Registax 6 without any problems (other than the occasional ropiness that Registax 6 has for everyone). I've never had a problem reading the video files though.

James

[Pandora]

Yup, that's what I do with a SPC-840K (similar to the 900). Use Sharpcap to capture and save and then stac with Registax. I also have a Canon DSLR 500 with a 'T' adaptor... but have not got round to trying that yet. I have only just started out on this venture myself and am in the process of loading up an old HP Compaq laptop to use EQMOD ASCOM... I just hope the laptop can handle all these progs running at the same time?

Oh, a noob question... how do you Guys insert the equipment script at the bottom of your posts... I checked out my profile, but can see no obvious option to include that?

[Rihard]

Oh, a noob question... how do you Guys insert the equipment script at the bottom of your posts... I checked out my profile, but can see no obvious option to include that?

Hi Pandora,

Click on your name, then "My Settings" and then "Signature".

Hope this helps.

Clear Skies

[Pandora]

Thanks TziuRiky... I found the 'signature' option It seems I need four more posts to be able to amend it though. I will nip round to B&Q and buy some...

Aplogies for hi-jacking this thresd

[cspindley]

Hi people I have an spc900nc I've been trying to view the sun using the laptop but when I see the image it's really big. How do I fit the whole picture in view?

[JamesF]

The short answer is to use a shorter focal length scope. Another method might be to create an image of the sun as a mosaic of multiple images.

The actual problem is that the sensor in the camera is too small for it to capture anything but a section of the sun from the image created by the telescope, so if you're not going to try to create a mosaic you need to make the image smaller or use a larger sensor. It is possible to reduce the image size by adding a focal reducer in the optical train, but quite possibly that's as expensive as buying another telescope. A shorter focal length scope will have a larger field of view and the sun therefore will appear smaller on the image plane. If you can make it small enough then it will fit entirely on the camera sensor.

To get a bigger sensor you'll have to swap the camera. You may well find that a DSLR works if you have one, or perhaps a modded Lifecam Studio would do the job as I believe it has a larger sensor than the Lifecam Cinema and SPC900.

What scope are you actually using for capturing these images?

James

[cspindley]

Thanks I'm using a Skymax 127 I do have a star traval 80mm but I'm selling that

[JamesF]

From other people's postings of solar images from the 127 I think you can just fit the sun in a full frame on a DSLR. I don't think much else is going to work for a single frame.

James

[Steve Ward]

Webcam equates roughly to a 6mm eyepiece , you'll not get full frame with the 127.

[JamesF]

Or look at it this way:

Image scale in arcseconds per mm is given by 206265 divided by focal length (in mm). For the 127 Mak, that works out at about 137.5 arcseconds per mm. The SPC900 sensor is about 3.2mm across the long side, meaning that in that scope the camera has a maximum field of view of 440 arcseconds. The sun is about 32 arcminutes, or 1920 arcseconds wide, so the best you can do with this camera and scope is to capture an image of just under one quarter of the width of the sun.

To image the entire sun in one shot with the 127 Mak you need a sensor almost 14mm across. As luck would have it, the Canon 450D sensor is about 22mm x 14.5mm, so it would just fit.

James

[Leo.A]

Interesting post.

I thought it was something I was doing wrong, which saw Registax come up with an error every time I try to process video from my SPC880.

Thanks everyone!