Web cam

[Bugfly]

Looking fo a webcam for my dobson 8inch telescope for taking pictures or filming are they any good for the doson . If so wich ones to look for

[Skipjack]

Normally a Dobson-setup won't allow any serious photography. But I am not really into it at all - although I hook up my DSLR to the alt/az SCT at times to shoot Quazars. With the tracking switched on, I can take 28-30 sec exp without any star trails. Good enough for these objects. For serious deep-sky you'll need more exp. time than that though. For plantetary work you might get away with the dob and a webcam, shoot in AVI-mode and stack several frames. You'll get a better answer soon I believe. Good luck.

[SkySurfer]

Go for the Philips Toucam Pro webcam, but make sure you go for one that has had the latest firmware update, so it will work with all windows versions, that have a very sensitive CCD sensor that's what makes them so popular.

:)

SS

[Joseki]

I'd go for an Xbox 360 webcam/camera.  About £8-10 on ebay, easy to convert with plenty of info about doing the conversion on this forum (can be as simple as removing the lens and gluing on an old 35mm film canister (another ebay shop, ~ 99p), total 10 minute job).  - It's only for lunar and planets but that's really all I think you can aim for with a dob base anyway.  Based on my own attempts I think manual tracking will get frustrating quickly though so you might get better results with a camera or smartphone adapter and take better resolution single shots even though in theory webcams are the way to go I think that theory falls down without a tracking mount.

[Mick J]

Hi Bugfly, look at other threads on here, cheapest will be the xbox as above, Philips are hard to find and can seem expensive, there are other options........  but it would be worth your while to check if you can get focus with your dob - exactly what dob is it, someone will have some idea's or a play with the xbox cam for under 15 quid may not be to bad an option, moon and stuff may be interesting.  

[SkySurfer]

Trust me when I say there is no comparison between the Xbox camera and a Philips toucam, if you get the Xbox one, then I will almost guarantee yo will upgrade within a few weeks.

:)

SS

[SkySurfer]

Try for something like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-NexImage-USB-Solar-System-Imager-Camera-for-Telescope-No-Reserve-/281562966989?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item418e75ebcd

You never know, worth around £60

Worth a bid

SS