Here we go... First attempts at the moon.

[m37]

Hi all

Cheers for the kind welcome int he Introduce Yourself section.

Brief recap, got a Skywatcher StarTravel 102 on Synscan AZ GOTO, hooked up to laptop & Stellarium for GOTO, Skywatcher Auto Focuser, basic eyepieces (10mm, 20mm, 2x Barlow) and a junk skype webcam (£5.99) crudely modified, and a Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD webcam modded with the Billetparts housing.

Bit of clear sky last night so had a crack at some imaging. Few GOTO alignment issues but I'll put those in a different section as this one is for imaging.

I'm a bit unsure about some things so I'll try and ask in as concise a way as possible!

1. Consistently the view through the eyepiece is better than either webcam. I expected this so I assume it is normal unless you have a super awesome CCD astronomy camera (broaching subject with wife as we speak).

2. The junk cam is a very cheap webcam I bought for Skype. I basically ripped the lens out and stuck a drilled-out lens cap on with superglue. Lifecam was modded as per the popular instructions/billetparts housing. It seemed the junk cam gave consistently sharper images and I was able to focus it more precisely. Is this normal or am I missing a trick? I would expect the HD cam to be better at 1280x720dpi than the junk cam at 640x480dpi.

3. Could any of this be down to the fact that the junk cam still has the UV/IR filter on the chip whereas the Lifecam had this removed as part of the conversion process?

4. Seemed to be getting a bit of dew on the primary. Never had this with my Newtonian and I believe Refractors are more prone to it. Dew system not too expensive so will probably invest in one soon.

For comparison I took a snapshot with the junk cam then with the lifecam immediately afterwards. Also did a couple of small stacks in the same manner so seeing/cloud was as standardised and consistent as possible. Is it me or are the junk cam pictures much sharper?

Cheers for any thoughts or advice, I had a really good time taking these shots!

Christoph

[JamesF]

Eyes and cameras work in very different ways, so your perception of what you're seeing at the eyepiece and on the display attached to the camera may appear to have little in common. Probably the most important things to get right with the camera are focus and framing. Once that's sorted you can use the histogram to sort out the exposure and if the image doesn't look too hot on the screen I'd not worry about it for the time being.

On the Moon I'd expect the Lifecam to perform well. If you don't have an IR filter however I think you're going to run into trouble. Webcams are typically quite sensitive to IR and I found the Cinema to be particularly so. Unfortunately the IR also comes to focus at a different place from visible light and that's going to make the image appear fuzzy or out of focus more than it should. The IR also tends to cause the image to be overexposed. I'd fit an IR filter and give it another go.

Dew can be quite a problem and it doesn't help that the nights have been quite chilly this summer. If all else fails, very gentle heat from a hair dryer can be used to get rid of it for a while. Don't overdo it though.

Looking at the images I think the Lifecam ones actually have more potential if you can sort out the niggles.

James

[m37]

Thanks James/

Super Giant !

That's set me on the right track. I've seen an IR filter for about £30 or a kit of filters that includes one for £75 so I'll look into those.

Christophcheers again