Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Best SPC900 Image

earth titan

By earth titan
in Discussions - Cameras

Recommended Posts

earth titan

earth titan

Posted
Posted

I've been working on getting the best image of Jupiter I can. Still someway to go until I'm happy, but I'm eager to compare results people get, with mine.

I want to know if I'm getting the best from the camera and if I can improve.

I'm taking another capture tonight so will post an image of mine, along with camera settings.

Care to share yours?

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 39
  • Created
  • Last Reply
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

To a certain extent it will also depend on which scope you're using. I'm guessing you'll be working with the C9.25. These however are the best images I've ever managed with the SPC900 and my 127 Mak...

First, images of Jupiter from last month:

jupiter-2012-10-14.png

And from somewhat earlier in the year, Mars:

mars-2012-03-17.png

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
earth titan

earth titan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Wow. They look good!

Well here is mine, as promised.

Couldn't get a capture tonight as the clouds closed in (again) so I'll post my best yet.

Not good seeing so lacking a bit of detail.

Run through Virtual Dub to get rid of trashed frames then Registax followed by PSP.

post-6511-0-07955700-1352417445_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

I'd say that's not too dissimilar to my images from a couple of nights ago when I was hunting gaps in the cloud and the seeing wasn't that good. You've perhaps caught a little more detail than I managed:

jupiter-2012-11-06.png

I'm capturing about 1800 frames at 10fps using SharpCap, cropping using PIPP and then stacking with both Registax v6 and AS!2 to see which does the better job, finishing off with wavelets in Registax 6 whichever application I used for stacking. I don't tend to do much fiddling after that. I've tried to tweak things in Photoshop, but usually end up making it worse.

When you get to about this point I think you're starting to chase the seeing really. When I captured those first Jupiter images the seeing was near perfect and I probably reaped the benefit that evening. From now on it's just a question of getting my head down and doing as much imaging as possible when the weather is good enough to see what results I get.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FarSide

FarSide

Posted
Posted

Great images guys. James, your images look as if they were drawn with pastels; a little smudgy. Why do you think that is? I get them every so often and i think it's ether down to too many frames captured and so i'm getting rotation smear or because of the seeing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

I'm only capturing three minutes worth of video for each image and at little more than half the aperture you're using, so I don't think it's a rotation effect in my case. Variability seems much more down to the quality of the seeing to me.

I expected there to be far more people posting Jupiter images this autumn given the amount of interest in webcams over the summer but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. In fact I'm not even sure there are as many as there have been in previous years. I'd love to see more because it really helps to to see where there's room for improvement. I think I'm probably close to the limits of the 127 Mak and SPC900 now, but if there were a few others posting images with the same kit then I'd have a better idea of whether that's actually true.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Thinking about it, if I were using more aperture I could perhaps pull the exposure time down a bit which might well help with the seeing. But that's going to have to wait a while. I don't really want to take the gain much higher than I already have it, so keeping the exposure time up is the only way to maintain image brightness.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
FarSide

FarSide

Posted
Posted

As soon as we get a good night i'm going to get the Flea3 out and see if i'm getting the same quality as i do with my SPC900. I've not used it yet so i'm hoping for a bit of quality increase. If not then it is certainly my technique as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
themos

themos

Posted
Posted

Mate that's spectacular.....!!!

I was as gobsmacked as you are by it! Most of the time I would end up with something like this. It's all down to getting lucky with the seeing (which means you have to try again and again)

post-774-0-61677100-1352474140_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

I was as gobsmacked as you are by it! Most of the time I would end up with something like this. It's all down to getting lucky with the seeing (which means you have to try again and again)

That one looks like Registax 6 hasn't done a very good job of stacking. Was that what you used?

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites
earth titan

earth titan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks chaps.

Themos, that's fantastic!

I began to doubt myself and my kit over the last few weeks. But I'm happy with where I am now I've seen others.

Looks as though my images are representative of the standard you can get with a webcam. Looks as though 'seeing' is the key, as I suspected.

I'd love to try a good camera, to see what the difference is though :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stephen_usher

stephen_usher

Posted
Posted

My best set of images using my Celestron NexImage (which is a rebranded Philips in an astro-friendly case) was similarly October last year (15th to be precise). There was exceptional seeing.

6249788648_980bc3acd2_z.jpg

At the same time I managed to take a large number of images and make a time-lapse movie. I even made a "making of" video and stuffed it on YouTube! :-)

http://youtu.be/i9SROEO09HM

Link to comment
Share on other sites
eyepod

eyepod

Posted
Posted

I've had a lot of luck with the dear old spc900 so here is my best taken in excellent seeing on the 4th September 2012 I think i could get even better than this now as Jupiter is much closer... If only the weather would improve..

regards

jason :smiley:

post-14595-0-84243500-1352813321_thumb.p

post-14595-0-65450700-1352813330_thumb.p

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bus_ter

bus_ter

Posted
Posted

I expected there to be far more people posting Jupiter images this autumn given the amount of interest in webcams over the summer but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. In fact I'm not even sure there are as many as there have been in previous years. I'd love to see more because it really helps to to see where there's room for improvement. I think I'm probably close to the limits of the 127 Mak and SPC900 now, but if there were a few others posting images with the same kit then I'd have a better idea of whether that's actually true.

Me too. It seems everyone and their dog were trying to get a cheap webcam for planet imaging, but for whatever reason they're not all uploading Jupiter images. I'm interested in the idea of limits of the equipment. I don't think the SPC900 is often the limiting factor. You often see images submitted from significantly more expensive cameras that really aren't much better. Even at 640x480 you'll be doing very well to out resolve the pixel resolution with your focussed image. Light sensitivity is not such a limiting factor either, planets are plenty bright enough. The frame rate is more of a factor, as you're essentially stuck at 10fps and you can only record for a couple of minutes. However fast frame rates are only really for the benefit of getting frames of moments of good seeing. I would take 10 fps in excellent seeing, over a 100fps in bad seeing any day!

My previous scope was a MAK127, and what an excellent scope that is for the price. For the cost there is no better planetary scope IMHO. Paired with an SPC900 the value for money as a planetary imaging system is exceptional. What I've tried to find, without result is a comparison of images produced on the same night, with the same equipment between an SPC900 and a dedicated imager, just to see what the difference really is.

I've been trying to improve my planetary images this year and decided to invest in a new scope (C9.25"), it's big, it's expensive, and surely should have the possibility for much better images. Unfortunately so far it's been a slight disappointment (I have a thread on the subject). However it's quite possible I just haven't had a good nights seeing with it yet.

I notice you also have a C9.25" is your sig. How's that compared to the MAK127? Do you have any imaging advice for using the C9.25?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.