Newbie seeks help trying out AP

[mantrain]

Hello all,

My name is Nicholas, and while I have been doing visual astronomy for a while, I also have always wanted to dabble in AP. I  have just not been sure how to get started. So I went on AStromart and I put a bid on an auction for $75, and to my surprise, I won.    Looks like I was sent three CCD cameras (rather redundant) and some adpapers, plus an Meade LCD screen and a DVD install for Starry Night.  What I would like to do is be able to power some of this equipment up, especially the Minitron, and record some images using the screen.  But I have no idea what connects with what. Does anyone have any knowldege of any of this type of equipment? Thanks so much!

 

 

 

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[mantrain]

[bottletopburly]

Nice bargain ,someone will be along that has the answers you require ,may be worth posting the model numbers of the meade cameras.

[Cosmic Geoff]

You might have done better to buy one of the no-brand USB video cameras with 1.25" nosepiece, which can be found for only a few dollars if you want to dabble, or the ZWO ASI120MC which is a serious piece of modern kit and quite affordable.

Best of luck with finding out what to do with your purchase. Some of it may be analog rather than digital, which means it will still work but you will struggle to find a way of getting the image on the monitor into your laptop for storage or processing.  Try messaging the seller to ask what to do with it - at worst you will get a 'no reply'.

You will also find that getting the setup aimed and in focus is quite an art in itself. ?

[ollypenrice]

Most manufacturers have the instruction manual online, usually in PDF format. That would be my first line of enquiry.

Olly

[mantrain]

Thank you for your replies. there seems to be a scant amount of info available. There are a couple of terse youtube videos.   

 

[symmetal]

The Mintron camera looks very similar to one I bought in the early 2000s. It was one of their 'starlight' mode CCTV video cameras which worked down to around 0.001 lux by integrating the video frames which would give a new frame every second (in its most sensitive mode).  There was a five button panel on the back to select the operating modes and a mini-DIN socket for RS-232 remote control. Modern Astronomy do a more recent model here and their rear panel is similar to mine. I can't see the buttons on your picture though. Mintron did many models for different uses. The Mintron site in Taiwan doesn't mention these models anymore though.  Hopefully yours has a 'starlight' mode. I probably have the manual for mine somewhere which also gave all the command syntax for remote control.

I was going to use mine as a live all-sky camera onto a video monitor but I must have shorted out the RS232 link or put too many volts down it as the remote control doesn't work anymore, although the rear control panel works OK.

You could post a message on the 'Video Astronomy' section of the forum with the model number, in case they don't see your post here, as they have more experience of these cameras there.

The Meade square cameras look like their DSI model 2 deep sky imager. Again made in the early 2000s. I bought one of those too. If it has a metal back with bumps on, it's the model 2. These have very small chips by todays standard, though they are quite useful as guide cameras. I don't think there are drivers for later models of windows though.

I don't recognise the 'eyepiece' size camera though it may be a 'planetary' imager of some type.

Alan