What budget webcam?

[Earl]

Im looking to dabble wirth a webcam on my etx 125 for a bit of luna imaging and im looking at the budget options rather than getiting a ZSO.

Whats hot and whats not these days?

[nightfisher]

whats your budget, if you can get one the philips spc900 is still good but dont pay more than £50..........i dabbled with an spc 210 a while back and it will do lunar but you might want some thing a little better

[JamesF]

With the ETX125 I think a webcam with a small sensor is going to give you a very restricted field of view.  I suspect the full disc would be too big even for a single frame with an APS-C DSLR.  A used Canon 1000D seems to be relatively cheap (less than £100) these days.  Perhaps that would be the best option for lunar imaging?

James

[Alien 13]

As a completely off field option the Celestron microscope camera https://www.firstlightoptics.com/microscope-accessories/celestron-usb-2mp-microscope-imager.html could work, I have one and it works fine with Sharpcap which I use for microscopy but I have considered using it for astro it comes with an adapter but it doesn't quite fit a std 1.25 fitting (too small) but adapting it would be simple. The only other issue is that some features are auto only i.e. gain.

Alan

[JamesF]

You'd need a few other bits to use the 1000D.  T-ring adapter, possibly T-to-1.25" connector depending on the visual back of the ETX, USB cable and a copy of something like AstroPhotography Tool or Backyard EOS to control the camera (the former is free for a version with a slightly restricted feature set).

James

[Earl]

the days of budget spcs looks gone, best i have found is £30 from Holland, i have a EOS 60D but thats a heavy bastie and a large sensor.

Ill have to keep looing for a cheap SPC or livecame

[nightfisher]

how about A-focal with a camera bracket and a pentax optio camera plus cheap infra red remote for camera

 

[JamesF]

31 minutes ago, Earl said:

the days of budget spcs looks gone, best i have found is £30 from Holland, i have a EOS 60D but thats a heavy bastie and a large sensor.

Ill have to keep looing for a cheap SPC or livecame

The ETX125 appears to have a 1900mm focal length.  That gives you a little over 100 arcseconds/mm on the sensor, which for the SPC900 gives a field of view somewhere around 390 arcseconds by 290 arcseconds.  The Moon is around 1,800 arcseconds across (it varies depending how close it is to us), which makes a single SPC900 frame roughly 1/5th x 1/6th of  the Moon's diameter (assuming I've done my maths correctly).

If you're happy with that then the SPC900 would probably work for you.  From memory a modded Lifecam would give you a little more field of view.  Perhaps one of the old-style QHY5 cameras might be good too, though I'm not sure what they go for these days.  The sensor is much larger than either of the webcams.

By comparison I reckon if the camera were angled suitably you'd get a full "disc" lunar image on the 60D sensor in a single hit most of the time (assuming it will fit between the forks), so I'd still suggest that's worth a try.

James

[Earl]

yeah spc framing is ok, yeah not brill, but its never a brill setup with a fork etx125.

been pondering about this.

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/product_detail/15594/EMTEC-Advanced-300K-VOIP-Kit-Webcam-Headset/

might be worth getting a screw driver too it

 

 

 

[nightfisher]

you would be better getting this, take the stand of, ping the lens out and screw in a nose piece then it should plug and play 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-SPC300-N-C-PC-Camera-/222100992747?hash=item33b64032eb:g:sA0AAOSwAKxWYMKe

 

[Steve Ward]

A good range of budget cameras available these days , try FLO ModernAstronomy or Altair  ,  prices these days are good enough to eliminate the hassle and disappointment involved in faffing about with unsuitable "webcams" ... 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras.html

http://www.altairastro.com/planetary-imaging-autoguiding-cameras/

http://www.modernastronomy.com/product-category/cameras/lunar-planetary/