Observatory monitor webcam

[RyanParle]

I'm looking for a decent HD webcam that has Pan & Tilt, zoom would also be useful but not essential (All Pan / Tilt / Zoom functions must be mechanical/optical and not digital) and is sensitive enough to monitor the inside of an observatory at night, connectivity is not too important, i would be happy with either USB or Ethernet.

Any recomendations?

[PhotoGav]

Interesting request, I've been wondering the same just recently - I'm following to see what people recommend.

[hughgilhespie]

 

Hi Ryan,

This is the camera I use in my observatory. It is an Ethernet camera with POE although it came with a POE injector as well. It is not the smallest of cameras but it has been completely reliable and I like the ability to have a number of preset views - dome drive, shutter drive, scope, etc. I have had it since November 2017. I bought from Amazon, about £200. 

One other feature is that to get the views I wanted I had to install it 'upside down'. The software then lets you show the image the right way up.

R eolink PTZ PoE IP Security Camera 4 Megapixels Super HD 2560*1440 Pan Tilt 4X Optical Zoom High Speed Dome Outdoor Indoor RLC-423

 

HTH

Regards, Hugh

[RyanParle]

Thanks Hugh. That camera looks pretty good although it's listing at £280 at the moment in Amazon there are some cheaper versions, I'll have to look through & see what's what.

 

Do you know if the camera is compatible with MaximDL V6's or The SkyX observatory camera feature? It's no problem of not, but sometimes it's nice to have everything in one place. Especially when working remotely.

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Ryan,

I'm afraid I have no idea if the camera is compatible with Maxim or TheSkyX. In fact I didn't know you could even use CCTV camera with these programs. I just use the Reolink software and it works fine for what I do.

Regards, Hugh

[RyanParle]

They will both show a video feed from a webcam for observatory monitoring, I think it needs to be a WDM video stream. I'll do a little more research in to what cameras & streams they will accept.

[edit] MaximDL V6 requires a DirectShow video stream.

I did a test with my old SPC-900NC a few weeks back, works fine but 640x480 is not really good enough quality to see what is going on.

[discardedastro]

DirectShow requires a USB connected camera directly to your PC - fine for indoors, but not a whole lot of use if you want a remote camera pointing at the obsy from outside. For that I'd probably look at a USB CCTV camera type thing like https://amzn.to/2XEbGf3 or similar. But you're not likely to get PTZ on USB without bespoke software etc.

The Dahua cameras are pretty well regarded and cost effective, eg https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/IPC-HDW2231R-ZS-2MP-Starlight-IR-Eyeball-Network-Camera-2-7-13-5mm-varifocal-lens-IPC/1200032_32884384754.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.11743d8aLmrqrp - obviously think about focal length but they've got a whole load of different options including PTZ versions. They're all IP cameras, so you can get a h.264/h.265 video stream, MJPEG too depending on model. If you're just aiming to get that displayed on a monitor then you should be able to pick it up with VLC or any of the "standard" ONVIF-supporting CCTV management software packages out there. The PTZ control is likewise fairly standard. PTZ will cost more, though - even getting cheap cams from China you'll be looking at £250 minimum I think. Don't forget power over Ethernet or 12V power for your camera if you go this route.

[RyanParle]

21 hours ago, discardedastro said:

DirectShow requires a USB connected camera directly to your PC - fine for indoors, but not a whole lot of use if you want a remote camera pointing at the obsy from outside. For that I'd probably look at a USB CCTV camera type thing like https://amzn.to/2XEbGf3 or similar. But you're not likely to get PTZ on USB without bespoke software etc.

The Dahua cameras are pretty well regarded and cost effective, eg https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/IPC-HDW2231R-ZS-2MP-Starlight-IR-Eyeball-Network-Camera-2-7-13-5mm-varifocal-lens-IPC/1200032_32884384754.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.11743d8aLmrqrp - obviously think about focal length but they've got a whole load of different options including PTZ versions. They're all IP cameras, so you can get a h.264/h.265 video stream, MJPEG too depending on model. If you're just aiming to get that displayed on a monitor then you should be able to pick it up with VLC or any of the "standard" ONVIF-supporting CCTV management software packages out there. The PTZ control is likewise fairly standard. PTZ will cost more, though - even getting cheap cams from China you'll be looking at £250 minimum I think. Don't forget power over Ethernet or 12V power for your camera if you go this route.

Thanks, that answers a lot, I guess I need to do a little more research, MaximDL / TheSkyX connectivity isn't a necessity but it would be nice.  

[Oddsocks]

When adding night vision webcams to monitor the inside of an observatory be aware that many use a built-in automatic IR light source that floods the dome with IR as natural light levels fall.

While modern LRGB and LP filters are very good at blocking IR they may not be 100% efficient and there is always the possibilty that some stray IR may leak into the imaging camera light path while your guide camera may have no IR blocking at all leading to a poor guide star S/N ratio when the webcam is active.

Should you pursue photometry with Johnson & Cousins UV, V, B, Rc, Ic filters note that the Rc and Ic filters specifically pass IR and your photometry data would be erroneous if contaminated with IR from the webcam.

Bottom line: Any webcam used for observatory monitoring should have remote switchable IR night vision illumination, not automatic, or, no built-in IR source at all and use a separate switchable IR source that can be turned off when imaging is in progress.