First GRS with SPC900 - 11-Jan-13

[ilove1995]

First opportunity I've had to image GRS with SPC900. 2000 frames stacked with Registax 6. Just got in there before the clouds rolled in!

[Catweazel]

Nice image, GRS is always a bonus

[JamesF]

That's not bad at all. You have it left-right inverted, but we don't care about that sort of thing Well done.

James

[WaveSoarer]

That's a nice image.

[ilove1995]

That's not bad at all. You have it left-right inverted, but we don't care about that sort of thing Well done.

James

Oops!

[Chris]

nice one:)

[JamesF]

Oops!

I really wouldn't worry. Those strange Australian types think the south pole belongs at the top, too

James

[scoobee]

liking the image, was this taken with your 4se?

[ilove1995]

liking the image, was this taken with your 4se?

Thanks, yes this was taken with the 4se.

[Pete Presland]

very nice image, like the colour balance and you have captured plenty of detail

[scoobee]

Thanks, yes this was taken with the 4se.

I have been using my 4se but not producing such like, waiting to use my X2 barlow with some extension tubes, onwards and upwards I guess

[ilove1995]

I have been using my 4se but not producing such like, waiting to use my X2 barlow with some extension tubes, onwards and upwards I guess

I use a 2.5x Revelation barlow when imaging Jupiter. The SPC900 really makes all the difference though, so glad I bought this webcam.

[Virgoman]

Very nice image. Plenty of detail captured.

Best,

Ralph

[kingboya]

First opportunity I've had to image GRS with SPC900. 2000 frames stacked with Registax 6. Just got in there before the clouds rolled in!

hi

Lovely shot. Would there be any chance of posting a quick screen capture of your settings in Sharpcap, if that's the software you used to capture this image? I am struggling a bit to get reasonable results with my SPC900 webcam

[ilove1995]

hi

Lovely shot. Would there be any chance of posting a quick screen capture of your settings in Sharpcap, if that's the software you used to capture this image? I am struggling a bit to get reasonable results with my SPC900 webcam

Here you go... I found upping the number of frames I capture from 1200 to 2000 makes quite a difference. JamesF gave me a good tip about keeping the Histogram around 70% which I control with the gain setting.

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera]

Frame Divisor=1

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-4

Brightness=64

Contrast=32

Saturation=5

Gamma=0

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=35

[scoobee]

I use a 2.5x Revelation barlow when imaging Jupiter. The SPC900 really makes all the difference though, so glad I bought this webcam.

i have a SPC900 from a flashed SPC880, anyway thanks for your above post

[JamesF]

Lovely shot. Would there be any chance of posting a quick screen capture of your settings in Sharpcap, if that's the software you used to capture this image? I am struggling a bit to get reasonable results with my SPC900 webcam

As a rough guide, because settings will vary depending on the scope, magnification and so on, I'd leave everything alone except gamma (set it to minimum), exposure (set it to maximum) and gain (pop up the histogram filter and move the gain so the data in the histogram comes about 2/3rds of the way across the graph) and then work from there.

James

[kingboya]

Excellent! Thank you all for great advice. Hopefully Sunday night I can have another go!

[Ultrapenguin]

Easily one of the best webcam shots I have seen loads of detail in the storms comming of the GRS and nice definition on the bands too, very good shot!

[ilove1995]

Easily one of the best webcam shots I have seen loads of detail in the storms comming of the GRS and nice definition on the bands too, very good shot!

Thanks, glad you like it.

[mikehab]

That's a great shot. My attempts of Jupiter using the 4SE with either a modified xBox or Microsoft VX-5000 webcam aren't a patch on that.... I can see now why the SPC900 is the webcam everyone's after ;-)

[ilove1995]

That's a great shot. My attempts of Jupiter using the 4SE with either a modified xBox or Microsoft VX-5000 webcam aren't a patch on that.... I can see now why the SPC900 is the webcam everyone's after ;-)

Thanks. I was getting frustrated with my other webcam so bit the bullet and bought a Philips SPC900. It wasn't cheap but the images I'm now getting are a lot better so it was worth it.

[Ultrapenguin]

Hi all, just thought I would add a little something to this conversation. Although the SPC900 is truely a great camera for planetry use I found its cost was crazy with people charging nearly £90 for essentially second hand goods. So I spent a long time looking and found the Creative Live Cam VF-0060 (now be carefull there are lots of cameras in teh range and only a few have the right spec) This camera is USB2 (yes real USB2) and has a 640 x 480 CCD sensor full product number is 73VF006000000. For comparison I have posted below a picture taken with the webcam and a SW150PL, sorry for posting in someone elses thread but I get really anoyed when I see profitering just because astronomers have so few choices. Also I have found this camera is still freely available from international suppliers although it is dicontinued in the UK.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great detail for such a small scope. Very good colour balance too

[ilove1995]

Great detail for such a small scope. Very good colour balance too

Thanks very much. Trying to get as much out of this scope as I can before I think of upgrading.