Could I suggest...

[Twiggles]

Ok, lots of browsing, googling etc suggests to me that at some point it may be worth trying to start taking pictures, both to keep as a record and help show up details that may have been missed during observation. The easiest way to do this again appears to be by way of a webcam, free software and a laptop. This seems to require a little bit of home hacking to remove the webcam lens, adapt/create a mounting point etc. This then leaves you down to a simple matter of deciding which webcam to go for.

What I would like to suggest (I couldn't see one while looking around) is that someone with experience in this area write a sticky that can be easily found for all newbies like myself to layout this process, perhaps with some pictures showing how the cam was modded or links to the various youtube videos out there. Yes, I realise that some may feel this may just be a repeat of information scattered across posts here, or accessible via youtube, but surely it cant hurt to have a comprehensive but easy to follow guide listing the basics of what you need and possibly the minimum specifications you need from your choice of webcam. As I'm considering doing this myself in the near future I certainly don't mind having a go at writing one if people think its worthwhile and keeping a good visual diary as I go. Just need someone to reply or PM me to make sure I have the basics down please! Still at the browsing for webcam stage, do I go for one with high res thats a little more expensive, or go with something cheap that can be easily replace when I smash it in my gorilla like paws?

Anyway, there it is, can we have a sticky for newbies on mounting and using a webcam as an intro to astro photography.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

It kind of depends what you want pictures of. If your after planets, a webcam is the first choice. If your after DSOs, most beginners choice would be a DSLR.

There is the book 'Making every photon count' available here:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

which was written by someone who is a member on SGL, and kind of details everything you said above, and doesn't need the internet to read it.

[Capricorn]

Another aspect is that a description will explain how to modify one webcam, how about the other 20 varieties? One guide will not cover the Philips SPC, Lifecam and Logitech webcams, they are all different..

Also a proper guide is literally every step, willing to guess that what may take 10-15 minutes to actually do will take 8 pages of explanation and a list of several tools. I have written guides and they are always 5x bigger then you expect and take 10x longer to produce.

If you want an idea go look at www.astro-baby.com and look at the guide she has produced to service an HEQ5. Several chapters.

Would be good to have guides but do not think that producing one is a 5-10 minutes job that can be done as you perform the modification. A statement of "Lever the cover off with a screwdriver" requires type and size of screwdriver and if applicable where to do the levering or a statement of there is no specific place to lever the cover off, and a picture. For a picture of you levering the cover off requires someone else to take the picture. So the simple 7 words instruction is now a couple of paragraphs, 3 pictures, one before one during and one after and another person. Grown a bit.

[Twiggles]

Yes I know it won't cover everything, but since a lot of other subjects are covered in the imaging forums in stickies, I just thought I'd suggest a basic guide to show it can be done and the sort of results to expect. For those newbies on a budget some may choose to follow what camera is used, and I notice that one or two people on here have had good results using the xbox camera.

[Scott]

I know this is a massive thread but it might help you?

Scott

[Twiggles]

Certainly will Scott, thank you for the link. Lots of reading in that one but a lot of really good info if you take the time to dig through the filler. notice that it was also suggested in that thread to tidy it up and collate the useful stuff to a newer post.