Jump to content

NLCbanner2024.jpg.2478be509670e60c2d6efd04834b8b47.jpg

DSO images with a webcam

mike.brightmore

Recommended Posts

mike.brightmore

mike.brightmore

Posted
Posted

I know that deep sky isn't the best territory for a webcam but until I get the right kit for proper CCD imaging I'm loving playing around with the webcam and the images suit my purpose for the time being. Here is a recent one of M1 - about a 30 sec. AVI stacked in Registax with a little tweaking of brightness / contrast in Photoshop. Any ideas for improvement in taking or processing such images would really be appreciated - especially sharpening up the 'bloated' stars.

Thanks

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites
brendant

brendant

Posted
Posted

Mike, don't know anything about webcams and their capabilities for DSO's but that image has turned out well regardless.

30 seconds exposure for DSO's is incredible, I would expect to spend hours with a DSLR to get similar. Re the bloated stars an IR blocking filter may help if you are not already using one.

Brendan

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Psychobilly

Psychobilly

Posted
Posted

I wasn't trying to take anything away from the image but didn't want people to think its was a standard webcam that's all.. I was watching a DVD of images taken with one of M57 M27 M13 and a few other targets and they looked very interesting....

I think its been called assisted observing elsewhere...

Billy...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mike.brightmore

mike.brightmore

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Not sure what to call it now. The Watec is very light sensitive and, terrestially, it can virtually see in the dark. As I said it will take half decent DSO images with 30 seconds of AVI (for some reason Registax won't accept anything much longer than that) and 5 mins. processing at most. In the last entry in the Published Members forum S@N) I did mention using it with a TV set for assisted observing. Anyway I'd love to be able to improve the images. Does anyone know how to stack gigabyte+ AVIs. Like I said I keep getting an error message in Registax - 'cannot process'. As with this image of NGC 891 I imagine it needs a much longer exposure time.

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites
beamer3.6m

beamer3.6m

Posted
Posted

I think to stack gigabyte AVI's you need to for example split a 1gb avi into smaller chunks.

Then run each through registax and when you get the final images run these through registax as well and stack them together.

To split the AVI initially use VirtualDub.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Trevor

Trevor

Posted
Posted

Mike

If you right click your Avi it will give you the file size, with registax keep the Avi just below 1gb of data, take several Avi’s of the object and when you select your Avi in registax hold the ctrl key down and select several Avi’s to open, as long as the total frames selected does not go over 10000 you should be fine.

Trev

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mike.brightmore

mike.brightmore

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for all this. I got tweaking the collimation in another forum and an IR filter and Virtualdub in this on so far. Really good stuff. The camera captures at 25 f.p.s. but I always get a lot of dropped frames (is this due to the video grabber?). Usually the stack size in Registax is 500 to 700. I haven't tried LRGB filters yet for colour but have clocked a very useful looking primer on this site. This image of the Swan (M17) is one of my favourites, quite etherial in B & W.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Helen

Helen

Posted
Posted

How are you capturing Mike? I found that setting a frame rate of 0.1 meant that it only captured the 10s image once, and that reduced the file size to more manageable proportions (I used K3CCD for mine I think - its about 18 months since I used it)

Helen

PS Billy, I can bring mine to the S Wales meet if you want to try it :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mike.brightmore

mike.brightmore

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Helen

Capture is through a cheapo video grabber (USB) into the laptop. I am using the software that came with the camera - Cyberlink Powerdirector. There are numerous possible settings but I just leave it on the default ones. Once capture is started it will go on for as long as you want.

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.