Advice needed - how to quickly check the condition of a camera

[jeffwjz]

I have a question regarding testing the condition of a newly acquired camera. So whenever I purchase a new astronomical camera, it's quite normal to try to see if it works properly. Obviously the first "test" is to put in the power cord and see if it powers up and and if the cooling fan works. But in UK the weather condition isn't very ideal all the time so there is a large chance that I am unable to check the actual image quality of the camera for quite a while until the sky clears up.

I'm wondering if there is a way to focus the astronomical camera at home (not sure how.. maybe using barlow lens?) so that I can at least use it as something similar to a normal webcam, and have some sensible images coming up on the laptop. In this way I can at least tell if there are anything seriously bad on the camera pixels, or if there are any cracks/scratches that are hard to spot by just looking at the camera. Any ideas?

[DaveL59]

depending on the camera, you'd need a lens that can mount to it, M12/C/CS etc and then you can focus it and see what sort of image it gives. Could you not fit it to the scope and aim at a distant terrestrial target as that'd save buying a lens specifically just to test with?

[geordie85]

Sear ih YouTube for atik cameras, there's one that says if you out a small hole in a bit of tinfoil and put it over the sensor, you'll be able to get an almost in focus image without the use of any lens like a telescope or dslr lens

[newbie alert]

You can do darks or bias and have a look at those 

[Adam J]

On 24/05/2020 at 23:29, geordie85 said:

Sear ih YouTube for atik cameras, there's one that says if you out a small hole in a bit of tinfoil and put it over the sensor, you'll be able to get an almost in focus image without the use of any lens like a telescope or dslr lens

Yes that is what I did when I purchased a ATIK 460 a while back.