What is the current trend for eaa/va

[shirva]

With the weather being poor posts and threads are a bit slow so here is something to discuss that may help others that are into VA or wish to get into VA.

What camera/cameras are you using now and what did you start with initially.

Did or do you use analogue cameras or did you start solely on usb cameras.

 

[shirva]

Myself personally it's been a roller coaster ride.

Started off with a Philips webcam and used sharpcap back in 2010/2011

Moved on  Samsung scb2000 with a usb grabber and sharpcap for longer exposure images

Phil dyer camera next as it doubled the exposure time of the Samsung, still using sharpcap software

Moved to usb with the qhy5lii colour,, must be the only camera I didn't like ?

Always wanted a watec 902h, so I got one just to compare with cameras I already have,,and I love the sensitivity and easy use of it.

DSLR cameras were my next port of call, buying the canon 400d ,but struggled with lack of live view,, canon 450d was next step and things improved big time and invested in two canon 600d cameras and moved from canon utilities to backyard Eos and astrotoaster software.. bought a canon 450d modded camera to add to the collection.

The DSLR choice was because the weather hasn't been great for Astronomy so by buying a DSLR I could use it for plain photography.

I have recently moved on to the zwo asi178 and sharpcap pro.

Still have all my camera's apart from the canon 400d

What do I like best,,  them all,, they all have quirks that I like ?

[Peter Drew]

I started with Maplins board cameras mounted into camera shaped bodies, even made a few commercially as the results were very exciting for the time. Next upgrade was an Astrovid 2000 which produced excellent solar system monochrome images. Tried colour with a Maplins three stage board camera, fine again for solar system but not sensitive enough for DSO's. DSO imaging took off with a Mintron with 125 integrations coupled to a 12" SCT and .33 focal reducer, amazing images in around 10 seconds exposure. Upgraded again from that with the Watec based StellacamII with 256 integrations. Final upgrade was a Watec120n with unlimited integration potential and a SCT upgraded to 16". Not being a computer fan and the relative demise of analogue equipment has currently put EAA on the backburner but still tempted.       

[RobertI]

Having been a casual observer with my C8 for many years,  I started to dabble with imaging in 2012 with an EOS 1100D coupled to 72mm frac. I got a Lodestar mono guide cam and had some nice initial results with guided imaging, but living in a light polluted village, I had to travel to nearby dark spots to image. I was getting fed up with this when I heard about 'Lodestar Live' software which allowed you to use the Lodestar for observing, even from a light polluted location. Seemed like the answer to my problems so I gave it a go and, compared to normal imaging was an absoluted piece of cake, yielding surpisingly good real time results, even when there were three horribly bright street lights within fifty feet.  I have thought about upgrading to something like an SX Ultrastar or Atik Infinity, but they aint cheap, and I'm still finding plenty to do with the Lodestar. Now I have moved to a house with a darker, but not perfect, back garden, I'd like to try the EOS with BYEOS and astro-toaster. Might be asking @shirva for some advice when I do!

[leo82]

6 hours ago, shirva said:

 

Moved on  Samsung scb2000 with a usb grabber and sharpcap for longer exposure images

Phil dyer camera next as it doubled the exposure time of the Samsung, still using sharpcap software

Hi all,

I don't do va/eaa but I'm kind of interested in it.

I was thinking of getting an scb2000 but now I'm thinking of skipping that and going for the Phil dyer camera. Is it an overall better camera or just longer exposure times.

This brings me to my next question would I need an eq mount? I currently like the star discovery set up, a 150mm newt but on a goto altaz mount.

 

[shirva]

1 hour ago, leo82 said:

Hi all,

I don't do va/eaa but I'm kind of interested in it.

I was thinking of getting an scb2000 but now I'm thinking of skipping that and going for the Phil dyer camera. Is it an overall better camera or just longer exposure times.

This brings me to my next question would I need an eq mount? I currently like the star discovery set up, a 150mm newt but on a goto altaz mount.

 

Hi, probably difficult camera to get now I think, they were made by huviron,, and became more know by most as the pd1, it doubled the exposure time of the scb2000,  was it a better camera,, debatable,, never got the intregration up to the 1024 mark as it blew out objects long before that exposure in my case,, but with the improvements in software,,, sharpcap in particular it may be worth pulling out the old analogue camera's and giving them a go,, I know I fancy giving my watec 902h another bash.

Mounts,

As long as it's driven AV is more forgiving than astrophotography, and alt az is commonly used,, results will vary according to price and make, I have the Skywatcher allview and az gti and meade etx80 ,, eq3 pro and heq5 pro and have to say I prefer the heq5 pro best, I still have the Rowan belt mod to fit and it should make it even better,, if I had an observatory I would probably even PhD guiding if it helped,, 

Scope wise,, tricky subject ,,, no one scope does it all ,

I have the sw explorer 200p D's and like using it on the moon due to is large aperture.

But my preference is the sw ed80 and sw 0.85 focal reducer/flatner,, short fast scopes are ideal for VA,, but that's my humble opinion and with focal reducers most scopes can do a job,, yet again it depends what type of VA you wish to do, planets,solar,lunar,deep sky

[leo82]

Thanks for your reply shirva.

My main interest would be to see dso’s in near real time,

An scb 2000 costs £89 and a pd1 costs £109. What other things would I need to complete the camera set up?

[shirva]

£89 is steep for the Samsung,, given it's a good few years old now,, I got one of mine for £25 years back, £50 would be more realistic,, the scb2001 was it's upgrade so if you can get one of these cheap dive in,, you need to remove the factory built in infra red filter,, it is blocking the spectrum of light we want, can get Astronomy ones from modern Astronomy or Flo,

Wow ,you can still get the Phil dyer camera,, I'm shure it went out of production years ago,, make shure it's the one with the blue band ,black band one is no good. Still at same price as when I got mine,,  I would look for cheaper or look at a zwo with a newer sensor to be honest,, if you can get a watec 902h with the 1/2" sensor cheep even better these can near enough see in pitch dark.

Few options for connecting up cameras

Bnc to RCA adapter, RCA cable and into a tv.

Bnc adapter,RCA cable and into a usb capture device,,  and into  a laptop or computer usb, you can then record images,,I used sharpcap software to control settings, you can also add a UTC controller ( up the coaxial ) and control camera menu remotely

I recommend genuine easycap usb capture  device stay away from  theone of cheap eBay ones,, some don't work and others can throw up banding on your image on screen, this can also happen with a cheap power adapter.

A flip mirror is a great bit of kit, use a 6mm eye piece and it helps to get camera in focus,, it's actually quite hard to find focal point at first,I found but the flip mirror makes it easy

[shirva]

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391914128153

Samsung scb2000 second hand £35

Best be quick ?

[shirva]

15 minutes ago, shirva said:

£89 is steep for the Samsung,, given it's a good few years old now,, I got one of mine for £25 years back, £50 would be more realistic,, the scb2001 was it's upgrade so if you can get one of these cheap dive in,, you need to remove the factory built in infra red filter,, it is blocking the spectrum of light we want, can get Astronomy ones from modern Astronomy or Flo,

Wow ,you can still get the Phil dyer camera,, I'm shure it went out of production years ago,, make shure it's the one with the blue band ,black band one is no good. Still at same price as when I got mine,,  I would look for cheaper or look at a zwo with a newer sensor to be honest,, if you can get a watec 902h with the 1/2" sensor cheep even better these can near enough see in pitch dark.

Few options for connecting up cameras

Bnc to RCA adapter, RCA cable and into a tv.

Bnc adapter,RCA cable and into a usb capture device,,  and into  a laptop or computer usb, you can then record images,,I used sharpcap software to control settings, you can also add a UTC controller ( up the coaxial ) and control camera menu remotely

I recommend genuine easycap usb capture  device stay away from  theone of cheap eBay ones,, some don't work and others can throw up banding on your image on screen, this can also happen with a cheap power adapter.

A flip mirror is a great bit of kit, use a 6mm eye piece and it helps to get camera in focus,, it's actually quite hard to find focal point at first,I found but the flip mirror makes it easy

This is my heavily modified Samsung scb 2000 , 40mm cooling fan fitted internally removing heat from sensor, 40mm fan on top drawing heat from camera body and an 18mm fan on each side doing the same,, without the fan on the camera heats up about 10 degrees after 20 minutes and shows dropped frames in sharpcap,, fans on keeps camera at ambient temperature and no frames dropped,,, it has my flip mirror attached in this picture

[shirva]

29 minutes ago, shirva said:

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391914128153

Samsung scb2000 second hand £35

Best be quick ?

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401418324251

Watec 902h ,, very sensitive mono camera ,one left, I offered £37 and won it ,, put in a cheaper offer and you may get lucky,, £40 is a steal for these cameras

[leo82]

I missed the watec, am I right in thinking I don't need the lens with the scb? 

[shirva]

2 hours ago, leo82 said:

I missed the watec, am I right in thinking I don't need the lens with the scb? 

Not for fitting to a scope ,, c to t adapter or c to 1.25 nose piece..

Pity you missed out on the watec,, can still get ones from China at £40,, just need to wait a month to get it though,, what about the Sammy,, 

[leo82]

I’m seriously thinking about it, although I know nothing about it yet lol. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/low-profile-125-nosepiece-c-threads.html

is that the nosepiece I’d need?

would I need a focal reducer on an f5 reflector?

[stash_old]

Modified Web Cam (Microsoft HD etc) ,Samsung scb2000,LN300 and know 2 Canon 100d (one modified,one not). Plus a ZWO 120mm which I hate with all my sole. I am not a photographer but use camera's to see the Sky so my pictures are not very good but they do show what is there. Would not have the patience to do 2 hrs plus - a pro I heard about did 400 days (not all at once LOL) on one subject  - to each his/her own i guess. Cant make up my mind for next purchase (next yr) as Davy says masses of kit out there for EAA - some we dont know about. Still think analogue had one massive plus - once set up you could see without USB cables and laptops etc. Manu need to provide a unified interface so that we can attach camera's to a Gadget and just have a screen and perhaps a remote TV type control for settings 

[shirva]

2 hours ago, leo82 said:

I’m seriously thinking about it, although I know nothing about it yet lol. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/low-profile-125-nosepiece-c-threads.html

is that the nosepiece I’d need?

would I need a focal reducer on an f5 reflector?

That's  the chappy,, I'm not shure on second part, some reflector scopes don't come to focus with DSLRs, but i have only used the 8" sw explorer and a while ago , mainly used dslr on mine,

[leo82]

Damn it I missed that one too! 

[shirva]

At those prices,, you have to move quickly,, 

[Robrj]

I guess my first foray into it was with my cell phone (moon and Jupiter).  I'm a relative newcomer to it though.  My first video astronomy camera was an ASI185MC using Sharpcap 2.8 (around May 2016).  Then I won an Ultrastar-C at an OPT raffle (SCAE 2016).  I liked Starlight Live so much that I bought a Lodestar X2M and a Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel ($200 used) and started doing narrowband video astronomy.  I recently bought an ASI224MC as it was on sale for $250.  My ASI185MC is pretty much just used for guiding (if I do it) and for polar aligning with Sharpcap 3.0.

[shirva]

 Samsung scb 2000 for sale on 

Facebook,,,  second hand Astronomy equipment UK

£50, comes with a coaxial cable and a utc

[HiloDon]

Hi All,

I started into video astronomy about five years ago with an scb2000.  I built my own remote controller from some plans on a forum.  Kept looking at more analogue possibilities, but came across Nytecam’s work with his Lodestar and Paul’s Lodestar Live software.  I got the new Lodestar X2 mono and it change my life in astronomy.  Martin Meredith’s work was also an inspiration.  I bought an X2c as soon as it came out and eventually bought an Ultrastar C and M.  Paul updated his software to Starlight Live and I’ve been a happy camper ever since.  I now am involved with outreach at the VIS on Mauna Kea.  We also do a weekly broadcast on Night Skies Network.  I can get great views of DSO’s in less than a minute and the audience loves it.  Paul’s incredible software has a remote image window that is almost a must for outreach work.  Attached is our card for the weekly show.

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, HiloDon said:

I now am involved with outreach at the VIS on Mauna Kea.  We also do a weekly broadcast on Night Skies Network.

Your posts and broadcasts are inspirational Don, views I can only dream of, one day I'm going to join you at the visitor centre for one of your live shows. 

[HiloDon]

Thanks, Rob.

Please do join us.  Let me know when you make your plans to visit.  That goes for all out there.  It is a wonderful place for astronomy.  Always plan for a new moon or late moon rise phase to enjoy the really dark skies.

Don

[shirva]

2 hours ago, RobertI said:

Your posts and broadcasts are inspirational Don, views I can only dream of, one day I'm going to join you at the visitor centre for one of your live shows. 

Keep missing broadcasts on nsn, find it's not as busy as it used to be,, some of Dr Dave's and Simon in SA were amazing,, used to sit most Saturday mornings watching ken in snake valley broadcasting,, now that's video Astronomy at it's best watching live on nsn

[2STAR]

On 10/28/2017 at 22:10, leo82 said:

Hi all,

I don't do va/eaa but I'm kind of interested in it.

I was thinking of getting an scb2000 but now I'm thinking of skipping that and going for the Phil dyer camera. Is it an overall better camera or just longer exposure times.

This brings me to my next question would I need an eq mount? I currently like the star discovery set up, a 150mm newt but on a goto altaz mount.

 

If you are doing EAA then a Alt/AZ mount is fine, I use the  Mount for both my OTA's with the Atik Infinity and it tracks without 'Star Trails' easily up to one minute, some have done longer but I prefer stacking short exposures for longer.