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web cam vs dslr

Bruce Ramage 85

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RikM

RikM

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I think with the Astromaster 130eq, your only chance of achieving focus would be via a barlow lens. This would give you a focal ratio of F10, so would really be better suited to lunar and planetary imaging. A webcam would probably be best. Do you have the motors for your EQ mount? Without motor tracking you will struggle to get any kind of image I am afraid.

Welcome to SGL by the way :)

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pvaz

pvaz

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You should start imaging planets with a modified webcam, the Philips SPC 900 is the standard. There are lots of tutorial about using the SPC 900 combined with sharpcap and registax.

A DSLR is used for deep sky objects. There are lots of threads from people with the 130eq that can't bring a DSLR to focus on their scope (not enough in travel on the focuser). Imaging DSOs with a DSLR also requires a good equatorial mount, such as the Skywatcher HEQ5 or better, to achieve good results without much hassles. I have seen great results with cheaper mounts but, judging by the praises the authors get from experienced astrophotographers here, I'd imagine it's about as easy as turning water into wine. ;)

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RikM

RikM

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As Paulo says, a webcam is best for solar system objects (though they can be further modified for long exposures).

The moon is probably the best starter. It is plenty bright and you should be able to find it. That's not meant as a sarky comment ;) with a webcam in the scope instead of an eyepiece it can be really difficult get the telescope on target. Webcams only have a small chip, so they don't show a lot of sky. The often quoted comparison is that they will show about the same field as a 6mm eyepiece, and with a 2x barlow, only as much sky as a 3mm eyepiece. With planets, you can try using an eyepiece to line up first and then swap to the webcam, but you might still find that by the time you get the camera in and focussed, the planet has moved out of the field of view.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Ty guys. so fast aswell. i will try a webcam i think. i was realy hoping to get andromeda

is that out of the question? If so can u list some easy targets for me.

Andromeda (and other objects like M42,M45 etc) can be imaged using a DSLR camera on a fixed tripod (no scope involved). You wont get the images you see online but you can certainly manage them. You just take as many short exposures (to compensate for ther lack of tracking) as you can and then stack them using free online software and they start to reveal themselves.

Here is an image i took of Andromeda, using only my Canon 450D on a tripod. Its about 7 images, each about 10 seconds long and then stacked together. It really is starting to show. If i added more exposures it would come alive even more. I dont get the magnificaction because i didnt have the camera hooked up to a scope. But then again, i do love widefield images.

Here's another image i took using only my Canon 450D on a tripod. Its Jupiter. It is a single image that i cropped and magnified:

I guess my point here is that a DSLR can be used for both DSO imaging and solar system imaging. Depending on what results you will be happy with.

A web cam will only get images of the moon and planets. A DSLR will get you images of DSO's.

Your scope/setup is best suited to a webcam. But a DSLR on a fixed tripod can get you images of DSO's.

Lets call this a third option....................depending on what results you would be most happy with.

post-5361-0-57712800-1348447472_thumb.jp

post-5361-0-74960300-1348447625_thumb.jp

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Scott

Scott

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i was going to make a similar post to paul. the only difference being mounting the camera on the telescope mount without the telescope. this way, with the addition of an ra motor you can get longer exposures or use a longer lens.

i too love widefields. the milky way is stunning with very few stacked short exposure images with a few darks

Scott

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pvaz

pvaz

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You have broken my heart. But such is life i will photo the moon sun and planets and i will take it from there tyvm friends

Sorry :/

It certainly is possible to experiment about with a DSLR on a tripod. You can do stuff such as landscapes with star tails or even some widefield photos. I have done quite a few experiments but to be honest they are the kind of thing I would only show my wife.

I been an amateur photographer for about 6 years now so I might say the kind of results that would please me, demand a lot of time, effort and some money.

Anyway here's my 2nd attempt at star trails. This was achived with a Canon 60D on a regular camera tripod. Still a few things I would like to improve, but recently with a new born son and lots of extra work, I haven't been out enough time to do this sort of stuff.

post-17317-133877721561_thumb.jpg

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Aenima

Aenima

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2ND 06 09 AS2 try.tif

Hi Bruce,

If you need advice your certainly in the right place, these guys know their stuff.

There is a lot of fun, hours and hours depending on how obsessive it becomes :) - with a webcam and in all honesty the tracking is possible by hand, I have no motors but still get chuffing results from imaging moon and jupiter - see attached - to begin with the xbox webcam ( i know its not that good but for a fiver......) can be easily modded for scope use and will quickly tell you if thats what you'd like to do. You can get a decent webcam later.

DSLR's are really the only option for any deepsky objects - galaxies, clusters, nebulas etc. and a cheap 2nd hand canon will cost around £100-£200 depending where you look, though tracking will then be essential.

Here are some examples of xbox and spc900 with a 130mm and 200mm newts. None of them motor-tracked. :)

All the best of luck

Aenima

post-18772-0-32454500-1348489196_thumb.p Xbox eg.

2ND 06 09 AS2 try.tif

post-18772-0-13251500-1348490176_thumb.p

My 200p with spc900

post-18772-0-06640000-1348489441.pngXbox ex.

Capture 27_05_2012 22_58_14..bmp

A shot from 130p

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pvaz

pvaz

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Here are a couple of shots. One is the milky way with the 60D on tripod and a 16mm f/2.8 lens. The exposure time was only 30s and ISO was up to 12800. I did quite a bit of curves adjustments and pulled the saturation for the purples all the way up to bring out some of the North America Nebula.

The other is Jupiter taken with a modified SPC880 (with SPC 900 firmware) and an 8" dobsonian, with manual tracking. I was only able to track for less then 1 min so I'm afraid there's not much detail there.

post-17317-133877684691_thumb.jpg

Jupiter 11 11 2011 00 46 41

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pvaz

pvaz

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Amazing milky way shot! Bleep, thats IS nice!

I do like the shot, however you can notice a bit of trails, should've kept the exposure time down to 20s. There is also too much noise to print it, but the low resolution I used to upload, kind of masks that out a bit. I also think I overdid the saturation, it looks somewhat fake on the north america nebula but if I pull it down then the nebula is barely visible.

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Aenima

Aenima

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I cant see any signs of being fake looking, but I cant really tell the difference sometimes as I'm not familiar with images that well captured. I'm no expert, for all I know it could be a hubble shot with photoshop finish! I just know it looks amazing. :)

Regards

Aenima

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Aenima

Aenima

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Thanks Peter, useful to know that as I was having the same problem before now, cheers.

Wow, that Jupiter shot with DSLR is amazing! How does that work, then? Was it stacked singles or movie footage stacked...?

Really impressive!

Regards

Aenima

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Atlas

Atlas

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Thanks Peter, useful to know that as I was having the same problem before now, cheers.

Wow, that Jupiter shot with DSLR is amazing! How does that work, then? Was it stacked singles or movie footage stacked...?

Really impressive!

Regards

Aenima

Stacked movie footage.

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