CCD imaging

Re: Beginner CCD

WABarry — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:30:22 GMT

For what it's worth, here is my advice:

Use your 9.25" SCT for the moon and planets...........and use your 100mm for deep sky. The 9.25" has a very long focal length......your field of view will be too small for most deep sky objects. Conversely, the long focal length will be an advantage for solar system imaging......where you want to be up close and personal with the planets....they are tiny targets.

Use the shorter focal length 100mm for deep sky....to give you a much wider field of view. A wider field of view will also reduce the effect of tracking errors.

Your DSLR will make a great deep sky camera. NOTHING you can buy for anywhere near the same price will produce images as good! Meade DSI's and Orion StarShoots are great guide cameras, but they will not come close to a DSLR in image quality!

You can certainly go for a high-end CCD, if the budget will allow, but a DSLR is VERY hard to beat.

The secret of astro-photography (deep sky and solar system) is aligning and stacking multiple exposures! Even the Hubble Space Telescope uses this method. With a webcam, you are going to capture an approximate 1-3 minute video clip......about 2000 frames give or take. With your DSLR, you are going to capture multiple exposures (depends on your tracking accuracy) of 15 to 300 seconds each. The more the better, generally. In both cases, software then aligns and stacks the individual frames to create a single image.

Re: Beginner CCD

mustachemurder — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:41:20 GMT

Thank you! I really wanna find that webcam.

Re: Beginner CCD

chipdatajeffB — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:51:43 GMT

For planets you want to avoid the CCD and go with a webcam.

You can still find the Philips SPC900NC on Astromart.

Join the QCUIAG group on Yahoo for the latest news on planetary webcams.

Another option is a Lumenera or a DMK/DBK USB camera. These are available in higher resolutions than the webcams and also produce video streams for use with programs like Registax.

Another route is the NexImage from Celestron or the StarShoot from Orion.

I use cameras from Astronomy Cameras dot com (formerly The Imaging Source) and webcams.

You should check out this link and this link, to learn more about the DMK/DBK cameras. They can be used both as solar, lunar, and planetary imagers at high frame rates, and in long-exposure mode for DSOs.

A good source for other cameras is Adirondack AstroVideo online here.

And just about any sort of adapter you'd need is available here.

Beginner CCD

mustachemurder — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:40:24 GMT

Well i have decided to try and do some CCD imaging. I have been doing prime focus with my D40 for awhile and been pretty happy with the results. I just purchased a 9.25" SCT and now would like to use my 100mm refractor for a guide scope. Also would like to use the CCD for planetary imaging since the dSLR sucks for it. I dont wanna go and spend top dollar on a premium CCD just yet i would like to test the waters alittle. Anyone have any suggestions on a budget CCD? I have thought about webcams but i wasnt sure what one that is still available would work. Thanks guys.