I am looking a buying one of the webcams below since Celestron will not update the drivers to be used with Vista 64 bit for their Neximage webcam.

Which one would work best with my 1.25 barlow and a Nexstar 130 SLT? What are some good free software to download that can be used to place images on top of each other and combine exposures?

 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7831563&type=product&id=1142296157528

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7831554&type=product&id=1142296157450

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8703094&type=product&id=1199495403693 For the Dynex I will have to cut some kind of plastic pipe that is the same size as the barlow.

i doubt any of those cams are light senstive enough for astro work- why cant you get the vista drivers?- i thought you could

A lot of the newer web cams might be sensitive enough in low light conditions, but the question remains whether or not you can remove the lens to replace it with the Mogg adapter. And if you can remove the lens are you also removing the UV/IR filter, if so you will need a 1.25" UV/IR filter. If not just for better color it will also protect the sensor chip.

When buying hardware for your computer be careful. Just because it says Vista compatible doesn't mean it will be Vista 64 compatible. My Desk top and Laptop are both 64 bit machines, fortunately I still have a 32 bit XP laptop.

tasco-60mm:

i doubt any of those cams are light senstive enough for astro work- why cant you get the vista drivers?- i thought you could

So you can get Vista 64 bit drivers for the Celestron Neximage? Where?

StarScape:

 

 

tasco-60mm:

i doubt any of those cams are light senstive enough for astro work- why cant you get the vista drivers?- i thought you could

So you can get Vista 64 bit drivers for the Celestron Neximage? Where?

Save up a few extra dollars and buy an DMK (or even a Lumenera Skynyx), you'll be happy you did.

Robert

i did a web check- i found links to 64 bits vista drivers- however i didnt follow any and dont if this is just talk or what- in the neximage group though ( one link pointed to) i looked and it said vista driver download, however under a separate 'doc' one was listed as vista 32bit driver install, so beats me- i just keep an old computer with XP in the garage for astro- the nexiamge isnt a bad camera at all- why dont you just get a used XP laptop el-cheapo for capture, then process it on your new comp?

 I found this posted on Celestron's web site.

Celestron:

****NOTE: There are no Vista 64 drivers for NexImage.

They will come out the 64 bit device drivers just as soon as computer technology steps up to 128 bit machines.

If you're interested in a comparison between a couple "webcams" and a "machine vision" cam, read the quick comparison posted on the BAUT astrophotography forum by one of the planet photographers:

http://www.bautforum.com/astrophotography/92860-webcams-jupiter-images-compared.html

Robert

The cheapest, simplest answer would be to buy an old, used XP machine and the NexImage.  It will be far less hassle than the other alternatives.   Then, you have everything you need......camera, adapter, and capture software that was all designed to work together.   Download processing software (Registax v5) free.  

i have to comment of this, even it should be in the CCD forum, i see alot of posts wanting to image the moon and planets, usually on less substanial equipment and wanting to know the best webcam, even though the imaging source mono and color (and others) are the premier choice cams, id recommend the neximage or the SPC900nc to start off with, the later still available if you find the right sources, really though- youd need aperature, long focal length, and tracking to produce any reasonable good planet images-- as far as the moon goes, high power craters shots do well in almost any cam,though i seldom see a full framed lunar shot as well details as a high meg DSLR, now the planets do need a webcam, but no without the equipment as i mentioned earlier, trouble is, saturn does well in almost all cam, but past the ring divisions and belting , theres not a whole lot you can do with it, a nice 'cheaper' cam like the neximage or ToUcam will produce a fine image, mars is once again nearing its over 2 year opposition, but a little over 14 arc seconds, your gonna decent optics at over 6000f/l if you hope for anything, so if you consider the easiness of saturn, mars very rare larger oppositions, the only canditate left is jupiter which would warrant a high end camera, that is if you got the equipment to utilize the camera

Here are some suggestions:

1. Is there any way you can avoid imaging from a balcony (it will likely enhance ANY vibrations from the floor, either in your room or adjoining ones, including things like washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. that happen to be running at the time)?
2. Is there any way you can avoid imaging OVER a tree? Trees respirate and lose energy to the surrounding air at night and roil the seeing.
3. You need more image scale ... so employ a barlow, or a larger barlow.
4. Your image is not perfectly focused, but that very well could be a result of poor local seeing if you're imaging over the tree.
5. I normally image a bright object like Jupiter with the gain set at minimum ... clearly that's not working for you and I wonder how much difference there would be if you cut your setting in half ... ? Try setting your gain so that you can't see Jupiter's satellites and still focus on detail in the planet itself.
6. Your frames per second setting is too high for capture. I normally use 15fps or 30fps only while focusing and adjusting settings, then drop it to the minimum setting for capture. At higher frame rates the camera's compression software will add more noise to the video (the compression algorithm is more "lossy" at higher frame rates). Try some captures at lower frame rates and see if they improve.
7. Color settings: I don't have the Celestron software, but have used the standard software that comes with each of my Webcams and also K3CCD, which gives me more control. Here's what I do for color: (a) Set color balance to Outdoor (you're shooting reflected sunlightm, essentially); (b) Set Hue to midrange (or whatever point the particular software uses as "zero")--hue basically changes the "tint" of the color scheme, making things warmer (redder) or colder (bluer), so you want midrange (minimum change); (c) Set Saturation to minimum, then adjust until you just barely can see color--on my cameras this is still very near minimum; (d) Adjust final color in Registax by first adjusting the RGB colors independently (match the toe points of their individual graphs) and then tweak as needed in the Final step using Registax's controls for saturation (I increase this setting on Jupiter by a few points on the scale, up to about 10) and hue (I almost never change this) and brightness (once you get your capture settings down right, you'll never need to increase this more than a few points.

I think your trouble is mostly seeing, and you need to do all you can to move your setup to where it's shooting through clearer air. If you can't do that, then you just have to wait for better imaging conditions.

I do a fair amount of this and have run across all the above problems except the balcony one myself. When Jupiter is low to the southern horizon (from Texas) and I image from home, I'm forced to image for no more than a couple of hours per night because the only clear view to the southern horizon is down my driveway, between the edge of my roofline and two oak trees on the opposite side of the driveway. I can't image over those trees due to the turbulence in the air above them.

If you watch this animation made from that location, you'll notice the effect of "tree" seeing I mentioned. As the Great Red Spot rotates into view, Jupiter has moved over those trees and the seeing goes to pot:

 The animation was made by stitching together in a GIF animation program all the final stacks from 45 AVI files made at 5 fps using a 6" refractor and a 4X Powermate for a total effective focal length of 4,800mm. Here is a single frame from the animation that is a stack of the best 500 of 600 frames made when Jupiter was centered between my roofline and the trees, so shooting through the clearest air space:

It's much better when I can get out in the prairie miles from town and pick a spot away from trees, buildings, and pavement--thermal radiation from which will rob your images of fine detail.

my advice is- let the brightness alone, keep it in the middle and use Auto color, frame rate between 5 and 10, - no. the uv/ir filter will not bring out color- the CCD is sensitive in this range so the filter will help give a better focus,- there isnt a setting for the moons and planet, you need separate images then compose them-- finally- ditch the AMcap, even though its near identical to other capture software, it doesnt write R5 avi's very compatible

StarScape:

Would a UV/IR filter bring out the color in the black and white image?

A UV/IR filter is worth a try on Jupiter. In my case it was definitely helpful. The planet emits its own internal source of infrared radiation, which can cause your image to appear saturated. The IR component translates into a strong red signal on my camera.

StarScape:

Someone from a local store said that one of these cameras should be able to see the colors that the human eye cannot. Does these White Balance setting set the Webcam to see these colors? Does the Hue setting after you process the image in Registax bring out the color the eye cannot see?

No, the white balance does not do that. The white balance and the hue setting is like turning the color wheel. you are shifting the reds toward green, the greens toward blue, the blues toward red. So this can really mess up your colors. Leave it at zero. The white balance is like using automatic hue adjustments. If the camera is in auto white balance, its trying to tune the colors automatically. Usually this is no good for astrophotography. try switching it off. But sometimes I do use them. The only way to know for sure is to test and examine results of using different features while imaging.

i believe what you are looking for to bring out more color is "saturation". In Registax this is done on the "Final" tab.

StarScape:

In addition, I had an over exposed image where I tried to get the moons in the picture but I lost all the detail. Is there any setting to capture the planet and the moons in the AmCap software? I tried to get neptune to the upper right but it only came out as smug.  

The camera can only see a limited range. If you crank up the exposure and gain to see a fainter object, the bright ones get overexposed. They are beyond the range of the camera.

Where's Neptune? Did you remove it? I can't quite see it on my laptop. Smudges are very important in this business...