suitable webcam advice

[pallas15]

Yes, good point James. I found that to test the focus out properly a nearby tree or roof isn't far away enough, so even if the chimney focuses your still going to have to re-focus for the moon or a planet. This is when you will work out the placement of the cam in your scope. On my 130p the moon was nearly the limit, I had to focus right up to the scope - very little room left on the inward travel. You'll need a good target to experiment properly.

How are you getting on with it, chris?

Aenimagetting there....having a pain trying to upload a pic onto the forum...keeps saying server error..its only a 64k jpg...

[pallas15]

Yes, good point James. I found that to test the focus out properly a nearby tree or roof isn't far away enough, so even if the chimney focuses your still going to have to re-focus for the moon or a planet. This is when you will work out the placement of the cam in your scope. On my 130p the moon was nearly the limit, I had to focus right up to the scope - very little room left on the inward travel. You'll need a good target to experiment properly.

How are you getting on with it, chris?

Aenima

hi jay....couldnt get the board out to remove filter (crappy tools but finally got this ...really quick between rain and clouds..no barlow used..

run it through sharp cap...converted to mpeg and stacked with registax..then fiddled with it in gimp2..bad seeing not to sharp but at least im om my way....cheers bud..

[Aenima]

hi jay....couldnt get the board out to remove filter (crappy tools but finally got this ...really quick between rain and clouds..no barlow used..

run it through sharp cap...converted to mpeg and stacked with registax..then fiddled with it in gimp2..bad seeing not to sharp but at least im om my way....cheers bud..

HELL YES!

Nice1 man, thats a great 1st try!

Dont worry about the IR glass for now - though dont de-thread the screws as you will eventually want to take the stock IR filter out and replace it with one that screws onto the adapter (have you got an adapter 900nc type?) to protect that ccd chip (v fragile, dont let dust get on it as it shows up on image. Its easily damaged - keep it covered at all times, when not in use maybe screw the lens back on, unless that means taking the cam apart again.)

As for editing, the xbox records straight to avi. format and that will load into registax for alignment and stacking - there is a post I typed on the main Xbox live cam mod (Cliff) thread that gives brief idea of what to do in regstx6, there is a whole other world of processing software... for now just aim to get a few decent avi's sorted, as clear/clean as you can and tracked with steady hand, and the next few steps will be much improved.

Thats a excellent image considering the weather and troubles with webcam mod, but your definitely on the way!

Cheers

Jay

Ps.

I had trouble trying to figure out the 'Gallery' thing but you can just attach a pic to your posts easily enough, choose 'more reply options' and go to basic uploader to browse your harddrive for your pic.

[pallas15]

got quite a few pics on the go now..tried with jupiter but wasnt very good...would like a full moon pic but cant zoom out enough ,what can i do to reduce zoom as it were ?

[JamesF]

A DSLR would be an easier way to get an image of the full moon I think. Or you might be able to take lots of images and stitch them into a mosaic, though it's tricky to control with a non-GOTO mount.

Keep practising with Jupiter. You should be able to capture at least two minutes worth of video and stack it using Registax. If you're not sure what you're doing wrong post the images and someone may well be able to offer advice. Focus is the usual problem. It can take time to get the hang of getting the focus spot-on.

James

[pallas15]

A DSLR would be an easier way to get an image of the full moon I think. Or you might be able to take lots of images and stitch them into a mosaic, though it's tricky to control with a non-GOTO mount.

Keep practising with Jupiter. You should be able to capture at least two minutes worth of video and stack it using Registax. If you're not sure what you're doing wrong post the images and someone may well be able to offer advice. Focus is the usual problem. It can take time to get the hang of getting the focus spot-on.

James

last night was poor seeing but the avi had a red and blue circle spinnig around the disc and no detail as such..even at different exposures and gain.kinda hard to keep it still as well but the colour is the main prob..

[JamesF]

errm

James

[pallas15]

errm

James

[JamesF]

Ok, the blue and red halos are no big deal and can be sorted out in Registax using the "RGB Align" option. They're due to atmospheric diffraction, more than likely.

Otherwise I'd say perhaps the gain is up too high. I'd try taking a sequence of two-minute videos at different gain levels, perhaps with different exposure times as well. You can get SharpCap to record the settings for each somewhere in the options. Then try stacking them all and hitting them with the wavelets in Registax and see what comes out best.

James

[Aenima]

Hi there Pallas,

This is a good thread, you could do a lot worse than advice from James, from what I have personally experienced, and in general, he's v knowledgable and can always find time and advice for almost every situation in astro imaging.

That Jupiter is a good start regarding getting it on the chip and keeping it there enough to image it. There's defnitely over-exposure and you can probably tell te settings need a tweak, as James has mentioned, the gain can be taken right down near zero, same with things like gamma, brightness, contrast - although white balance is one that usually can be left on 'auto'

The colour rings are partly due to over bright and over exposed settings coz the atmospheric distortion gets amplified, though a lot of 'good' images still retain that halo effect, its normal but easily rectified in processing - RGB align reg6 - Also just aim for a little bit less gain/brightness than you'd normally use to see it on-screen,(the software can pull out dark parts but cannot rescue over exposed images) and the focus as best as possible (sharpcap has 'focus score' that shows a bar along the bottom telling you how it percieves your image's 'sharpness' , presumably around the edge of the object), use this, but also use your eyes and judgement, if you approach focus from one side the circle of jupiter should 'shrink' a bit and 'expand' as you go past proper focus, so use that to get the target as small as you can by going through focus and pulling back untill it looks smallest. Dont worry about details, reg-6 can retrieve it, best to work on the gain/exposure issue first. And if youb manage to get a minute or so's footage but the planet zooms around the screen a lot a free program 'Castrator' can center and crop it so its still a bit fuzzy but stays dead center within the frames, registax tends to prefer this over shaky avi's.

Damn good start, pallas, it took me ages to get to the stacking stage.

And consider, too, that your webcam cost a fiver - you really will be learning some excellent skillz to get a good planetary image on it.

Best of luck 4 next session,

Regards

Aenima

[pallas15]

Hi there Pallas,

This is a good thread, you could do a lot worse than advice from James, from what I have personally experienced, and in general, he's v knowledgable and can always find time and advice for almost every situation in astro imaging.

That Jupiter is a good start regarding getting it on the chip and keeping it there enough to image it. There's defnitely over-exposure and you can probably tell te settings need a tweak, as James has mentioned, the gain can be taken right down near zero, same with things like gamma, brightness, contrast - although white balance is one that usually can be left on 'auto'

The colour rings are partly due to over bright and over exposed settings coz the atmospheric distortion gets amplified, though a lot of 'good' images still retain that halo effect, its normal but easily rectified in processing - RGB align reg6 - Also just aim for a little bit less gain/brightness than you'd normally use to see it on-screen,(the software can pull out dark parts but cannot rescue over exposed images) and the focus as best as possible (sharpcap has 'focus score' that shows a bar along the bottom telling you how it percieves your image's 'sharpness' , presumably around the edge of the object), use this, but also use your eyes and judgement, if you approach focus from one side the circle of jupiter should 'shrink' a bit and 'expand' as you go past proper focus, so use that to get the target as small as you can by going through focus and pulling back untill it looks smallest. Dont worry about details, reg-6 can retrieve it, best to work on the gain/exposure issue first. And if youb manage to get a minute or so's footage but the planet zooms around the screen a lot a free program 'Castrator' can center and crop it so its still a bit fuzzy but stays dead center within the frames, registax tends to prefer this over shaky avi's.

Damn good start, pallas, it took me ages to get to the stacking stage.

And consider, too, that your webcam cost a fiver - you really will be learning some excellent skillz to get a good planetary image on it.

Best of luck 4 next session,

Regards

Aenima

hi mate,,,was a surprise how quick jupiter moved...was more bothered bout keeping it in frame...i do have more avi"s at a lower exposure but i cant seem to get a disc,,after processing banding is visible but ive lost too much shape in the poor atmospherics and dodgy settings hehe....my moon shots have improved though..hope jupiter will too..

got some jupiter avi"s and stacks too but obviously theyre just a bright disc....i want saturn..and a better camera hehe...

[Aenima]

hi mate,,,was a surprise how quick jupiter moved...was more bothered bout keeping it in frame...i do have more avi"s at a lower exposure but i cant seem to get a disc,,after processing banding is visible but ive lost too much shape in the poor atmospherics and dodgy settings hehe....my moon shots have improved though..hope jupiter will too..

got some jupiter avi"s and stacks too but obviously theyre just a bright disc....i want saturn..and a better camera hehe...

It will all come together, though not without a lot of trial and error. You may be able to work registax a different way and get a result that way, but the important bit is mostly to get a good original avi. and practice with the software.

Well done on the lunar shots, though. I find the moon to be a bit fussy when it comes to getting detail and good colour contrast - but it might just be me, it doesnt like me but its a good target to start with.

Looking at the time Jupiter will be just showing its face above my particular horizon - earlier every night.

How are you finding your new scope? Takes a while to get used to it.

Regards

Aenima

[JamesF]

i want saturn..

Saturn is much more of a challenge, believe me. Sadly for us northern hemisphere dwellers it will remain so for a number of years, too.

James

[Aenima]

Saturn is much more of a challenge, believe me. Sadly for us northern hemisphere dwellers it will remain so for a number of years, too.

James

YEARS?

Oh bleep!.

It was actually just high enough a few months ago, but it slowly slid under the skyline. But not back for several years? That does suck, maybe its possible to upload an avi file onto SGL, so at least someone who missed the planet can try getting a result by stacking the footage from scratch?

Maybe, it'd be good to work on some elses raw footage - see what happens and learn to use the software. It's a thought anyway.

Regards

Aenima

[pel]

This may be useful. When I sell an SPC900NC webcam, I normally send the following 3 URL's to the person who buys one.

2 are links to items on ebay sold by Sky's the limit (Great seller, he sells the BST Explorer EP's) A 1.25 adapter and IR filter. The other url shows how to fit them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Webcam-adapter-Medium-Reach-Acetal-Copolymer-/380435210390?pt=UK_Telescope_Adapters&hash=item5893b4a096

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-IR-Filter-infra-red-blocking-filter-CCD-cams-/380426029736?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item5893288aa8#ht_3281wt_1255

http://www.astronomylog.co.uk/2007/07/13/how-to-add-astronomy-adaptor-to-the-philips-spc900-webcam/

[JamesF]

It will be back, but lower in the sky in each successive apparition for a number of years. Combined with the fact that it's smaller than Jupiter and almost twice the distance from the Sun, it's going to be an increasingly difficult target for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

James

[pel]

Ok, the blue and red halos are no big deal and can be sorted out in Registax using the "RGB Align" option. They're due to atmospheric diffraction, more than likely.

Otherwise I'd say perhaps the gain is up too high. I'd try taking a sequence of two-minute videos at different gain levels, perhaps with different exposure times as well. You can get SharpCap to record the settings for each somewhere in the options. Then try stacking them all and hitting them with the wavelets in Registax and see what comes out best.

James

In addition to James's advice. I've got Sharcap profiles for finding the Planets and focusing, then a general imaging one. The one for finding the planets has very high Gain and Gamma. The general imaging one needs adjusting as the gain required will depend on the planet and how much magnification you are using (Jupiter will be a lot dimmer when using x5 barlows as opposed to a x2 one).

Perry.

[JamesF]

I always have the gamma backed off as far as possible. In my experience I don't think it improves the capture process at all (and if it does, it can be done in processing later), whereas it can make things more difficult.

James

[pel]

I always have the gamma backed off as far as possible. In my experience I don't think it improves the capture process at all (and if it does, it can be done in processing later), whereas it can make things more difficult.

James

Yes, I only use the Gamma for finding the planets and focusing.

[Aenima]

Agreed, I have found high gamma and saturation can often ruin the colour while first capturing the image, my trouble is that I know less about the processing software than the actual capture programs so its vital for me to get as best an image during initial capturing generally to cut down on error correcting afterwards.

I got a copy of 'serif' photoplus 10. (JAN. 2012 Sky At Night mag) - not sure what it is, could be a photoshop cut down version or thereabouts - and it seems very extensive and functional, but I can only use basics at best. Its layers that confuse me mostly, and colour mixing too. Need to do some homework!

Anyhow..Pallus, be patient and work on capturing good avi. and if you can use gimp2 thats more than I can - just need to fill in the middle parts when getting your image from A to B and you'll be fine.

Regards

Aenima

[Aenima]

It will be back, but lower in the sky in each successive apparition for a number of years. Combined with the fact that it's smaller than Jupiter and almost twice the distance from the Sun, it's going to be an increasingly difficult target for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

James

Ah. So does that mean we'll still get a shot at saturn next year? As long as our horizon isnt brutally obstructed, for instance?

Hoping so, anyway.

Regards

Aenima