Choosing a Webcam help

[Astrid 33]

After a few months of getting used to my new 8 inch beast, I decided to start astrophotography (luckily today is Black Friday in most tech shops in my country). So I decided to drop the idea of buying a DSLR and started thinking about getting a webcam. The thing is that I want to try deepsky AP, so i was wondering, is there a webcam that could get me good results for DSO AP? Don't worry, I don't want anything too fancy because I'll be happy with entry-level images. (i saw some nice Andromeda pictures with 20GBP cameras on this forum so I'm confident that it would work).

My budget is ±100 GBP, which in my opinion is more than enough for a good webcam . So... is it worth getting a webcam? Or is there something better? Should I wait and raise more money for a DSLR?

 

Thanks a lot!

Astrid 

 

 

[SmokeyJoe 90]

Hi Astrid,  I don't know what country you are in but here you can buy a decent secondhand DSLR such as a Canon 450 for £60-£80, you will get far better results for deep sky than with a webcam..  There are companies on the Internet that specialise in buying and selling second hand camera equipment usually they give a 12 month guarantee. Web cams tend to be better for planitary imaging, if you do go down this route I had good results with an xbox 360 webcam if you can still find them, should cost nearer £20 than £100.

[tooth_dr 8,156]

Everything else aside, the field of view of a webcam is really minuscule for something like andromeda

Below shows the comparison of Canon DSLR versus webcam

 

[Astrid 33]

On 13/11/2020 at 15:15, SmokeyJoe said:

Hi Astrid,  I don't know what country you are in but here you can buy a decent secondhand DSLR such as a Canon 450 for £60-£80, you will get far better results for deep sky than with a webcam..  There are companies on the Internet that specialise in buying and selling second hand camera equipment usually they give a 12 month guarantee. Web cams tend to be better for planitary imaging, if you do go down this route I had good results with an xbox 360 webcam if you can still find them, should cost nearer £20 than £100.

update: found a great deal for a 2nd hand Nikon DSLR, but dropped it because it was already sold and I heard that Canon cameras are better for AP than Nikon. Instead, found a good BlackFriday deal for a Canon 2000D (it doesn't have an articulated screen or other fancy stuff) but the sensor is the same as in the 800D). 

[SmokeyJoe 90]

Not sure about the merits of indervidual cameras but I have also heard that canon are better than nikon.  Articulated screen is more of a luxury than a necessity.   I think if you are just staring out it doesn't matter that much which DSLR, there are many other things that will effect the quality of your images and you will probably end up wanting a dedicated astrocam.   Which ever camera you get don't forget to get the correct T ring to connect it to your scope. 

[Astrid 33]

3 hours ago, SmokeyJoe said:

Not sure about the merits of indervidual cameras but I have also heard that canon are better than nikon.  Articulated screen is more of a luxury than a necessity.   I think if you are just staring out it doesn't matter that much which DSLR, there are many other things that will effect the quality of your images and you will probably end up wanting a dedicated astrocam.   Which ever camera you get don't forget to get the correct T ring to connect it to your scope. 

Yeah... at the moment i'm a bit confused regarding which T ring I need, but I'll do more research.

[riklaunim 544]

On 13/11/2020 at 13:12, Astrid said:

was wondering, is there a webcam that could get me good results for DSO AP?

Actual webcams no as they don't support longer exposures nor good image quality. There are some cheap entry level dedicated cameras like some QHY/ZWO/Svbony models and that's better used with a lens or very short focal length APO refractor. 8" Newtonian will give a very small field of view (only DSLR for that) plus small pixels of such cams don't help either (quite quickly you will run into guiding problems for 8" telescope - requiring guide setup and way more precise mount setup assuming it can track well). Even if you are getting a DSLR - try imaging with like a 100 mm lens first (all attached to the EQ mount, no telescope) - that's way less sensitive to tracking errors.

[SmokeyJoe 90]

46 minutes ago, Astrid said:

Yeah... at the moment i'm a bit confused regarding which T ring I need, but I'll do more research.

It depends on the camera you buy.  Any decent astro shop will tell you the correct one if you drop them an email or just ask here, someone will point you in the correct direction. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by SmokeyJoe