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Planetary Photography with a not quite right DSLR


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Hello there,

Well after some research I think I'd really like a Zwo ASI120MM and filters / filter wheel. Alas this is beyond budget at the moment which is a royal pain! However I did read the excellent "planets with a dob" sticky and that got me quite excited as I am using a manua, eq3-2 at the moment (yet another thing on the upgrade list!).

My problem is, and this based on extensive reading so correct me if I'm getting my wires crossed, that my DSLR may not be quite up to the job. I've got a Canon EOSM3, one of the new smaller breeds with the M mount, I've had a play with "camera connect" and it turns out that while I can see a live view I can't actually take videos from it, which is a pain, just pictures (found this info buried deep deep deep on canons. Website) I'd considered investing in backyard eos but it turns out they don't support my camera. Now, this is where I get a little fuzzy but I'm led to believe that you need to be able to record either a) utilising a smaller portion of your sensor or b. At a 100% crop to make your pixels a useful size - and while I can make it zoom on liveview I can't make it record.

is there something obvious I'm missing? I know I can still record video direct from the camera but I kind of think if I'm going to all this effort I don't want to produce something that is going to be mediocre before I start? Is there a cost effective way out of this pickle?!

many thanks folks.

niall

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You want videos rather than stills, as you need thousands of frames rather than dozens or even hundreds.

Personally, if I was you I would get a decent webcam as a stop gap, they have smaller pixels (not a problem for nice bright planets).

The Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD is easy to convert by removing the lens, and fitting it into a body of a cheap barlow or similar.

The Lifecam totally wipes the floor with the Canon 450D for planetary, although my ASI120MC is another big step up.

 

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17 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

You want videos rather than stills, as you need thousands of frames rather than dozens or even hundreds.

Personally, if I was you I would get a decent webcam as a stop gap, they have smaller pixels (not a problem for nice bright planets).

The Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD is easy to convert by removing the lens, and fitting it into a body of a cheap barlow or similar.

The Lifecam totally wipes the floor with the Canon 450D for planetary, although my ASI120MC is another big step up.

 

That's interesting - and cheap too, that might work well thanks.

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5 minutes ago, SilverAstro said:

I suspect there may be lots of different models/updates/versions of it ? Do we need to be careful of which ?

I know the lifecam cinema HD specifically works well:

5968a23b2c815_Jupiter45to47.thumb.jpg.6ac533ccca2650ff6211367d927347df.jpg

But the ZWO works even better:

5968a2b54b917_JupiterIoEuropa25May17Winjupos.thumb.png.6b8331617acc4a4b15004d0a4c6f7787.png

 

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45 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I know the lifecam cinema HD specifically works well:

5968a23b2c815_Jupiter45to47.thumb.jpg.6ac533ccca2650ff6211367d927347df.jpg

But the ZWO works even better:

imageproxy.php?img=&key=bdf8b2134cef9d8b5968a2b54b917_JupiterIoEuropa25May17Winjupos.thumb.png.6b8331617acc4a4b15004d0a4c6f7787.png

 

Both great captures ! I tried a short video of Jupiter recently ( about 20 seconds with a Canon DSLR on T adaptor ) in registax and it wouldn`t load the format , either because it was AVI or too big ... If this where I went wrong , is there a software program that can shrink or convert to usable format ? 

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22 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

I tried a short video of Jupiter recently ( about 20 seconds with a Canon DSLR on T adaptor ) in registax and it wouldn`t load the format , either because it was AVI or too big ... If this where I went wrong , is there a software program that can shrink or convert to usable format ? 

Thanks, yes there is it's called PIPP (Planetary Imaging Pre-Processor) it takes bit of practice, but if you choose the 'planetary image' defaults you won't go far wrong. It will find your planet and place it in the middle of a smaller square frame.

I then use AS!2 (Autostakkert) to stack the frames and Registax to RGB align and sharpen with 'wavelets' - you can set an option in AS!2 so that if Registax is open it automatically sends the result of a stack to Registax.

<edit> those images are with a 150Pl + ~3x barlow so your 200P should work well

 

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2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I know the lifecam cinema HD specifically works well:

5968a23b2c815_Jupiter45to47.thumb.jpg.6ac533ccca2650ff6211367d927347df.jpg

But the ZWO works even better:

imageproxy.php?img=&key=bdf8b2134cef9d8b5968a2b54b917_JupiterIoEuropa25May17Winjupos.thumb.png.6b8331617acc4a4b15004d0a4c6f7787.png

 

Wow, but I must say that is a depressingly massive difference, great shots btw.

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2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Thanks, yes there is it's called PIPP (Planetary Imaging Pre-Processor) it takes bit of practice, but if you choose the 'planetary image' defaults you won't go far wrong. It will find your planet and place it in the middle of a smaller square frame.

I then use AS!2 (Autostakkert) to stack the frames and Registax to RGB align and sharpen with 'wavelets' - you can set an option in AS!2 so that if Registax is open it automatically sends the result of a stack to Registax.

<edit> those images are with a 150Pl + ~3x barlow so your 200P should work well

 

I was looking for this info as well, thanks!

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3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Planetary Imaging Pre-Processor

Many thanks for that information ... I have downloaded that PIPP now and need to screen cap the rest of that information for future reference ... I`ve done hundreds of lunar shots over the last few years and it would be great to progress to planets as well ...

RE The 200P , it only arrived yesterday and I`ve just about figured out how to get the dust caps off it so far ... 

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5 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Really?? So i shouldn't expect better with my dslr than with the modified Webcam?

The problem with my DSLR is two-fold. The pixels are 5.2nm instead of 3.1nm, roughly three-times the area so capturing 1/3 the detail for the same optical setup. Secondly, my 450D doesn't capture video and to get good results you need thousands of frames.

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