Planet imaging using webcam

[Charlie_132]

Hello, some of you may remember me from last year, I was trying to do planetary imaging for quite a while with no decent results.

I was using registax 6, and from watching a few tutorials ive now unistalled that version and installed registax 5.

I'm using a 130p dob. I need to buy a new webcam as I didn't get on very well with the one i currently have (Modded Logitech Quickcam 4000) I'm going to get a xbox cam.

Before I do this, does anyone know of/can anyone supply a few .avis of some planets the same quality as I would expect to get through my 130p scope/a tiny bit better (or does anyone know of any websites where different quality planetary .avis are avalible for download) so that I can practice with registax to see if I can get the hang of it ?

Thanks.

[nephilim]

This is my best attempt ( only had 3 tries due to cloud!) with my 130m, this was using the motors though so it'll take practise with the dob. Btw this was with the Xbox cam

Steve

[nephilim]

This is my best attempt ( only had 3 tries due to cloud!) with my 130m, this was using the motors though so it'll take practise with the dob. Btw this was with the Xbox cam

Steve

Mis read ur post there, unfortunatley I havnt got the origional avi anymore.

[Charlie_132]

Thats a great image ! I would be happy with something like that.

Could you show me the settings you used with your xbox cam so that I can just put my settings to that ? (I want to make it as easy as possible for myself - would those settings work with saturn ?)

I have .avi videos of a lot of planets from my previous webcam, but theyre all far too long, when I didn't have any idea as to what I was doing. the planet goes off screen a lot and registax just doesn't like them, so I'm going to have to start from scratch.

[cgarry]

Thats a great image ! I would be happy with something like that.

Could you show me the settings you used with your xbox cam so that I can just put my settings to that ? (I want to make it as easy as possible for myself - would those settings work with saturn ?)

I have .avi videos of a lot of planets from my previous webcam, but theyre all far too long, when I didn't have any idea as to what I was doing. the planet goes off screen a lot and registax just doesn't like them, so I'm going to have to start from scratch.

Run your old AVIs through PIPP. It will centre the planet and discard frames where the planet is not completely on the frame. It can also split the AVI into shorter ones if you like.

Cheers,

Chris

[Charlie_132]

I'm going to sound silly now, but whats PIPP ?

also the images are slightly off focused, but they are as good as I could manage with the webcam I was using at the time. The saturn ones seem okay though, But they are a little bright.

[cgarry]

Not silly at all! http://sites.google....site/astropipp/

This example should give you an idea of how to use it, though ignore the colour debayering bit:

http://sites.google....uasge/example1B

Out of focus cannot be fixed, but a bit bright is not a problem if you have not overexposed pixels.

* Processing Options->Enable Histogram Stretch = Checked

Will set the histogram to a good value.

* Processing Options->Reject Frames With Overexposed Pixels = Checked

Will discard and overexposed frames, though be warned that that could be all the frames!

Cheers,

Chris

[Charlie_132]

Thanks for that, I'm just off out now, but I will have a play about with it later, see what I can do, then post results.

[nephilim]

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=25.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-7

Brightness=161

Contrast=72

Hue=16

Saturation=67

Sharpness=67

Gamma=187

WhiteBalance=3566

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=112

These are the settings for that image BUT they arnt set in stone, it all depends on the 'seeing' conditions, also keep in mind that this was taken last December & Jupiter was a lot closer to us then than it is now (its getting further every day) your best bet, although Jupiter will still be great, will be Saturn. Also note, that I used a 2x barlow for this & with Saturn you'll definatley need one which could prove tricky without the motor drive.

Steve

[nephilim]

Thats a great image ! I would be happy with something like that.

Could you show me the settings you used with your xbox cam so that I can just put my settings to that ? (I want to make it as easy as possible for myself - would those settings work with saturn ?)

I have .avi videos of a lot of planets from my previous webcam, but theyre all far too long, when I didn't have any idea as to what I was doing. the planet goes off screen a lot and registax just doesn't like them, so I'm going to have to start from scratch.

As for Saturn, the settings are different every time so what works one night may not yield the same reults the next.