webcam imaging?

[groot]

Hello folks! anyone doing the webcam thing for imaging? i just converted the HP HD-4110 and am waiting for my IR cut filter to ship and for some clear nights to try it.

[Demonperformer]

Webcams are quite popular for lunar/planetary imaging, where you are after lots (thousands) of individual images that then get converted into one final picture ("lucky imaging") and often provide a "toe in the water". Although webcams that have been modified to take long (multi-second) exposures can be used for DSOs, and these can produce quite creditable results, I think most people very rapidly move on to a dedicated ccd or cmos camera. You will now be inundated with hundreds of members telling you that I am wrong about that and they still use a webcam for DSOs!

[Owmuchonomy]

6 hours ago, groot said:

Hello folks! anyone doing the webcam thing for imaging? i just converted the HP HD-4110 and am waiting for my IR cut filter to ship and for some clear nights to try it.

Hi there. Checkout the Video Astronomy section on this forum for the sort of info you are looking for.

[Cosmic Geoff]

I am aware that people used to convert webcams for astronomical use.  However one can now buy a USB video camera intended for astronomical use for under 10 pounds on Ebay.  Are they any good? Probably not very, but I started with Celestron's entry-level branded camera, the Neximage, and I was not  impressed with that.  It did not escape my attention that there were devices on Ebay at a third the price that looked the same.

I upgraded within weeks to an ASI120MC and found it worked a lot better.  I got this for little over 100 pounds, not much more than the Neximage.  Many other imagers use the ASI120MC with good results.  When introduced, it sold for around 250 pounds but is now discontinued (the USB3 version should still be available).