Which mod? dslr IR or CCD LX? ?

[Aenima]

Hoping someone with more of an idea than me about imaging and mods can help,

I have a canon 300D which I only occasionally use with lens, and a spc/toucam webcam - both unmodded. I really want to make my long exposure images so they arent missing that huge chunk of red-ish colour and/or detail that unmodded dslr pictures always show (not helped by my limited exposure times ~ 30sec - 60sec).

So i'm hoping to work out whether to mod my dslr IR filter, and hope to capture the missing wavelengths (also hope to still use lenses?) or to get my webcam long exp modded and (again, hoping) use it instead of the canon, but not really sure of the quality and colour of a LX webcams DSO imaging...

As im into planetary too the idea of replacing the ccd chip popped into my head but with a small budget I have to prioritize my options and better dso images are needed more.

Can anyone help?

Thnx

Regards

Aenima

[Tim]

Even if you mod the 300D, you might only find you get extra detail by getting longer exposures. The Hydrogen wavelengths of light are quite faint in most places, and although the standard camera blocks it more or less completely, even a modded camera needs plenty of exposure to get any detail.

Just something else to consider

[Aenima]

Thanks Tim,

Due to using an EQ5 with the 200p weight has been something ive been conscious of when hanging the canon body from the focuser - I think this is part of the reason I'm thinking about using a lx webcam to begin with. They are lighter even with extra circuitry than dslr's so maybe with decent pol-align my exposure times will increase...

Another way to try improving my set up is guiding, but this is another area where my limited knowledge is making me slow to decide - is giuding worthwhile on a EQ5 goto (possibly with lx spc900 coupled to my 9x50 finder) especially weighted down with the 200p?

I think this is why im having trouble working out where to make improvements, so many things that can use a upgrade with rather limited budget - Its hard to know which to focus on first. (!)

Appreciate the input tim thnx

Regards

Aenima

[leelee970]

The only thing I can say is maybe go for the LX mod on the webcam.

I’ve done the LX mod and CCD mod as well as peltier cooling and the AMP off mod and it added some weight (due to rehousing the webcam into a new case).

But I can switch between normal and LX so get the best of both worlds.

You’ll have a more versatile camera that can also be used for guiding if you choose to use the Canon as the imaging camera.

I’ve done hardly any DSO imaging as I’m not fully kitted out for it but below is an unguided run I did a while ago to see what the SPC LX could do.

[leelee970]

oops, forgot to add......

[Aenima]

Thanks,

Thats a really good image, nice colour too! Was it 30min uninterrupted single exposure or several stacked?

U sed unguided, can I ask what mount? Also, how easy was the lx mod to do? My skills are limited and experience even less, so im hesitant to risk ruining it.

There are so many hindrances in my set up when it comes to imaging that its difficult to know how to proceed. Ideally id love to get it all working with long exposure and planetary both as good as theoretically possible, but for now my budget leaves me very much having to compromise - but in which way?

A finder guider with a modded webcam would be my first guiding attempt if I can work that out, and getting my canon modded sounds like it'd improve things there.

Anyway, thank you for the input - every little helps

Regards

Aenima

[leelee970]

Thanks,

Thats a really good image, nice colour too! Was it 30min uninterrupted single exposure or several stacked?

U sed unguided, can I ask what mount? Also, how easy was the lx mod to do? My skills are limited and experience even less, so im hesitant to risk ruining it.

There are so many hindrances in my set up when it comes to imaging that its difficult to know how to proceed. Ideally id love to get it all working with long exposure and planetary both as good as theoretically possible, but for now my budget leaves me very much having to compromise - but in which way?

A finder guider with a modded webcam would be my first guiding attempt if I can work that out, and getting my canon modded sounds like it'd improve things there.

Anyway, thank you for the input - every little helps

Regards

Aenima

I’m not sure of each exposure duration but it went something like - group one 10 lights + 10 darks, group two was longer with 10 lights and 5 darks and final run was even longer exposures of 10 lights and 5 darks. All were taken by Wxastrocapture (which is also good for none LX planetary work). Then each image was extracted by Iris and saved to be stacked by Deepskystacker (it cannot stack AVi files – hence using Iris). This gave a total of 30minutes of exposure. (unguided)

I used my Heq5 pro mount and Orion 200 Europe scope. The biggest change to my set up was building and observatory – saves SO much time setting up.

The LX mod was ok for me – but I’ve 28 years in electronics repair and maintenance so soldering was not an issue (although I did destroy my first SPC900 while doing the mod – slipped with scalpel and damaged an IC beyond repair ). There are a few really good tutorials about modding the webcam. All you really need is a soldering iron and small tip, an eyeglass to magnify makes thing easier, a scalpel to cut a few circuit board tracks and some wire. There are other things that need to be done – amp off circuit build (only a few components). Myself I went the whole hog – replaced the CCD, amp off mod, Peltier cooling, rehoused it all and made it switchable for both normal use and LX. I made it possible to attach normal camera lenses .

Good luck, it really is worth it, but be careful if you do try the mod.

Lee

[Aenima]

Thanks lee,

Yeah I really like the M27 the framing looks like the chip kinda magnifies the nebula, unless its cropped, but even so my canon shows it as quite small with a lot of room round the edges - this isnt that great with the 200p giving massive coma over everything except the few centimeters squared in the middle of each image. Cos of this the small sensor on the webcam might keep the coma down a bit, and as you mentioned it could be used for guiding later on.

I looked at the how-to guides, ouch - probably beyond my skill level even for the basic lx conversion, not the most nimble or technical person

Appreciate the feedback, thank you

Regards

Aenima

[Guest]

oops, forgot to add......

Here is my version of that image with 21 mins (7x3min subs) exposure time with an unmodded canon 1000D, will be even better now i have modded my canon.

MM