Spectroscopy - webcam or DSLR?

[TheThing]

I'm thinking of investing in a cheapish 2nd hand DSLR - the Canon 300d fits the bill nicely - for general photography, family snaps etc and possibly some astro work.

I already have two unmodified webcams - an Orion SSSII and a Philips 'flashed to' SPC900 as well as a long exposure modded 'flashed to' SPC900.

Would the DSLR be any good for spectroscopy with the Star Analyser 100 and a 200mm SW newt or am I better off sticking with the webcams?

I'm going to purchase the DSLR anyway, so it's not a real problem, just curious if I would get better results with one or 'tother and my set up?

Thanks in advance.

[jsandse]

My opinion would be that DSLR is best:

- bigger field of view

- less noisy

- capable of taking longer exposures

The only minus is the filter on the camera restricting you from getting the full optical range - but you can always get a mod for that

cheers

John

[Merlin66]

The DSLR works well with the SA100. It allows larger distances between the grating and the chip and still have the zero order and the full spectrum in the frame. The small pixel size on the DSLR also helps.

Well worth using, modded or unmodded. There was a couple of Vega spectra (courtesy of Jack Martin) uploaded on another thread which shows the results.

[TheThing]

Thanks gents. Always excellent answers for us newbies.

Camera should be with me by Wednesday, so just need an adapter and a clear night!

[Merlin66]

A Canon T2 adaptor on the body and a 1.25" to T thread adaptor to fit the focuser.

The grating just screws into the front and you'll end up with a distance around 80mm - a good starting point...