Daytime sky monitoring camera?

[tooth_dr]

Hi

I have a Starlight Xpress Occulus camera that I use for night time all sky image capture.  Over the past couple of days I've been working on a website, and plan to stream my feed live.  I have noticed however that the occulus camera is totally over exposed during the day.  I am using AllSkEye software and have the min exposure set to 0.  Even with a 0.01s exposure it's completely blow out.

So my question is - can the occulus camera be used during the day with software adjustments.  If not, can anyone recommend a suitable cheap camera that I can use for day time imaging and revert to the occulus at night.  The camera needs to be suitable that a muppet (me) can get it to upload to a server via FTP.  I've seen a few really nice colour day time all sky cameras, and this is where I would like to go if I can.  I cant spend very much on the daytime camera, and it needs to include an enclosure too.  The webpage isnt current refreshing properly, but Michael at AllSkEye is helping me with the coding side of this. 

TIA

Adam.

 

https://www.deepskywalle.com/livecam.html

 

 

[RayD]

26 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Hi

I have a Starlight Xpress Occulus camera that I use for night time all sky image capture.  Over the past couple of days I've been working on a website, and plan to stream my feed live.  I have noticed however that the occulus camera is totally over exposed during the day.  I am using AllSkEye software and have the min exposure set to 0.  Even with a 0.01s exposure it's completely blow out.

So my question is - can the occulus camera be used during the day with software adjustments.  If not, can anyone recommend a suitable cheap camera that I can use for day time imaging and revert to the occulus at night.  The camera needs to be suitable that a muppet (me) can get it to upload to a server via FTP.  I've seen a few really nice colour day time all sky cameras, and this is where I would like to go if I can.  I cant spend very much on the daytime camera, and it needs to include an enclosure too.  The webpage isnt current refreshing properly, but Michael at AllSkEye is helping me with the coding side of this. 

TIA

Adam.

 

https://www.deepskywalle.com/livecam.html

 

 

No you can't use Oculus in the day, Adam.  The sensor is too sensitive and just over exposes.

I spoke with Terry about mine when I got it and he made it very clear, it is an ultra sensitive night sky camera.

[tooth_dr]

13 minutes ago, RayD said:

No you can't use Oculus in the day, Adam.  The sensor is too sensitive and just over exposes.

I spoke with Terry about mine when I got it and he made it very clear, it is an ultra sensitive night sky camera.

Thanks Ray - new camera it is then!!

[festoon]

As a simple solution, maybe you could just use an commercially availble security cctv wide angle camera dome for day time sky monitoring

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, festoon said:

As a simple solution, maybe you could just use an commercially availble security cctv wide angle camera dome for day time sky monitoring

I was thinking that, there are a lot of cameras, was wondering if there were specific examples.  Maybe anyone would do?

[RayD]

Exactly what I did.  I used an old camera, put a ASI120MM in the housing and it works a treat.  There are various heaters available, or just a couple of resistors (as with he Oculus) will work fine to prevent dew.

[tooth_dr]

18 minutes ago, RayD said:

Exactly what I did.  I used an old camera, put a ASI120MM in the housing and it works a treat.  There are various heaters available, or just a couple of resistors (as with he Oculus) will work fine to prevent dew.

Thanks Ray. I have a spare 120 but it’s mono.  Is it simple enough to then get these images to upload automatically onto a server to go onto a webpage?

[RayD]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

Thanks Ray. I have a spare 120 but it’s mono.  Is it simple enough to then get these images to upload automatically onto a server to go onto a webpage?

Mine is the mono too, Adam, and it works fine for me just monitoring weather/cloud etc.

Once you have the data from it there are various ways you can stream it.  I don't know what streaming software you are using, but I think most should recognise it.  I believe you can also stream directly to your host using VLC, but I've not tried that.

[tooth_dr]

43 minutes ago, RayD said:

Mine is the mono too, Adam, and it works fine for me just monitoring weather/cloud etc.

Once you have the data from it there are various ways you can stream it.  I don't know what streaming software you are using, but I think most should recognise it.  I believe you can also stream directly to your host using VLC, but I've not tried that.

Thanks Ray.  Yeah, i know it works, I just prefer the look of the colour when its day time #firstworldproblems

I have to admit I dont know much about streaming, VLC etc.  This may be a post for another thread!  I'm currently using AllSkEye software with my Oculus.  I have the FTP settings to direct the latest image to my domain, and I open up the page on a web browser and I can see the latest image.  I wouldnt know where to start if it wasnt being done through AllSkEye camera, but it may indeed support the 120 now?

 

I guess I was thinking that I could use a security camera, which has an IP address, and I could somehow tell a website page to 'see' that IP address.  This way I could open up my website anywhere and see the cloud conditions.  Is this even possible?

[festoon]

I've built a RPi security camera before that had a built in FTP server and used MotionEyeOS

https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki/Features

https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki/Screenshots

** Edit: really useful tutorial  https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2017/04/raspberry-pi-cctv-camera-with-motioneyeos/ **

Edited July 16, 2020 by festoon

[RayD]

Yes I know what you mean. I originally used a colour camera but then repurposed it back to its original planetary imaging use.

I'm not an expert in that field either unfortunately,  Adam. As you say, another thread will, I'm sure, get you a ton of ideas.

I would say definitely yes with IP camera as I use them myself, but exactly how to configure that to your own ftp server I wouldn't know............but someone here will.

[tooth_dr]

@festoon thanks for this.  I have a networked pc free where I will use this camera so I think it would be easier to go find that route for now.  But hats off to you, I have a new found respect for people who have taken time to understand this language. 

[tooth_dr]

10 minutes ago, RayD said:

Yes I know what you mean. I originally used a colour camera but then repurposed it back to its original planetary imaging use.

I'm not an expert in that field either unfortunately,  Adam. As you say, another thread will, I'm sure, get you a ton of ideas.

I would say definitely yes with IP camera as I use them myself, but exactly how to configure that to your own ftp server I wouldn't know............but someone here will.

Cheers Ray. I’m going look into it later and know better what I need to ask. 

[RayD]

Will be interesting to see how it works out.  I'll keep an eye out.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I wanted something cheap & simple, with a minimum cost outlay, till I worked out what I wanted for a better system with additional weather data etc., so I bought one of these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32550636905.html, using the free software iSpy https://www.ispyconnect.com/, which has worked out well reasonably well....

[AngryDonkey]

4 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I have to admit I dont know much about streaming, VLC etc.  This may be a post for another thread!  I'm currently using AllSkEye software with my Oculus.  I have the FTP settings to direct the latest image to my domain, and I open up the page on a web browser and I can see the latest image.  I wouldnt know where to start if it wasnt being done through AllSkEye camera, but it may indeed support the 120 now?

Hi Adam, yes the ASI 120 is generally supported in AllSkEye. If it is an older version ASI 120 though it can sometimes be problematic because the driver for these cameras was never really fixed and seems to fail a lot with some setups. It is really dependent on your computer and USB cable though so still worth a try if you want to go down that route.

Mike

[tooth_dr]

Updating this - I had a camera that I thought wasn't working - I had tried hooking it up to a Ethernet cable and a 12v power supply a few weeks ago but it didnt turn on.  So I just put it away in the cupboard.  I tried it again yesterday but this time I connected the camera via a 240V adapter, that allows POE.  Well it powered up ok  It's a 2MP colour camera, made by Arecont.

Here is a test shot with a wide angle lens - seems to be just what I was after.  I just tried it there tonight on the sky, and nothing but a black image (as expected).  So I'll have this for the daytime images and the Oculus for the night.

 

Now just need to work out how to incorporate this into a webpage.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by tooth_dr

[RayD]

Perfect, Adam, and a pretty clear picture.  What a result!

[DaveL59]

I did something similar in the el cheapo thread, used a CCTV module and dome and inverted it to see the sky. Be careful that water ingress doesn't happen as that causes a layer of water drops inside the dome. I added a large neoprene washer and a replacement clear dome on the one I modified and it's been fin for a good while. The smaller one tho unfortunately did seep, so I've since cleaned that up and used clear silicone between the dome and the metal clamping ring so that water doesn't find its way in and past the seal. So far that's worked ok too.

Also Silica gel sachets to keep moisture level down, problem is monitoring those and replacement, but not seen any issues so far. Gina's solution with a jar holing the dessicant is a great solution to this tho but she's running a cooled camera.

You might be able to tweak the CCTV module settings to lower the shutter speed and up the gain a little to pick out some stars but only the bright ones really as shutter just won't go that slow on these. What you get will depend on how dark the sky is around you, I was able to pick out Orion though and the Plough, video captured and stacked. Not that great compared to the output from a proper astro cam but more than I expected off a cheap CCTV module.

[tooth_dr]

Progress: I took the insides out of an old camera dome and was able to use the old camera cradle to fit my new camera. A quick test shot looks great.  It has a moonlight mode that increases exposures to 0.5s (I think) and this certainly helps image quality as it needs less stretching.

[tooth_dr]

Getting a decent enough image today:

[RayD]

Absolute result, Adam 👍

[tooth_dr]

Just a quick comparison of the day time and night time cameras.  Not fair given the different exposures and limitations of the daytime camera, but still there you go, the day time one is a lot better than the oculus during the day however.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by tooth_dr