Mallincam

Just came across this amazing device over on Cloudy Nights forums. €1000+

My first impressions were OMG! I want one!!

But the more I think about it the more I feel that it just negates the whole point of buying a scope to see things with your own eyes. If we didn't have a need to see things with our own eyes we'd all be happy to see pictures of saturn on our computer/tv screens

Sure, its like increasing your apeture by upto a factor of 10. All these DSO in Glorious detail and full colour

but....but....you are looking at them on a screen. Sure I can have Starry Night running on the laptop beside the scope and pull up Hubble images of the object I am looking at and for all intents and purposes its the same thing. An incredibly detailed image of the object I am pointing at. Except one is live and one was taken god knows when. Yeah but its live??? Sure but DSO's are not renowned for their dynamic changing nature second to second, minute to minute. Lets get real not even millenia to millenia!!

Some might say that astrophotography is the same. Why invest thousands on expensive equipment to take pictures of DSO's, when one can just look at a professional Hubble image. But without even getting into astrophotography myself yet I can see the attraction. I imagine the joy comes in learning and developing the skills of astrophotography and the satisfaction of knowing that although your astrophoto might not be as good as a hubble pic, you did it all by yourself on your humble telescope and not on a billion dollar orbital telescope platform.

So in short, although initially excited by the idea I think I'll give it a miss. The extent of my plans are to get a motorised EQ platform for my 12in Dob, build a laptop table onto the scope base, integrate Starry Night Pro with my scopes computer. I will then be able to point the scope by using the scope as a giant mouse moving a crosshairs on the starry night screen. I'll be able to pull up oodles of info on the object. and learn as I view. Get a real eyeball view and then zoom in on Starry night and get to see a still photo of how the object really looks rather than a 'live' view of the object through a mallincam.

What are everyone elses thoughts?

Am I missing some other benefits of the Mallincam?

Admiring a photograph of the night sky is just like looking at a photograph of your girlfriend......while your actual girlfriend is sitting in front of you.
Same for photos of mountains lakes,glaciers etc.
A photo is but a pale shadow of the reality.

These are the video cameras that let you see what the scope is looking at on a crt screen but are fairly sensitive? Would be good for public viewing sessions.

Admiring a photograph of the night sky is just like looking at a photograph of your girlfriend......while your actual girlfriend is sitting in front of you.
.

I think that may depend on how many years ago the photograph was actually taken :lol:

The crescent moom,an old flame of mine, looked particularly impressive last night through 25 x 100 binoculars. (I don't mind if she looks about 4.5 billion years old.).

Hi Keith
The MallinCam video system (in which each unit is hand crafted and certified) is just another tool in the astronomer’s toolbox, just like telescopes, eyepieces CCDs, Cameras, telescope mounts, software and other video systems etc etc. It’s really down to what the astronomer wants to do, what goals or areas of interest he/she has in mind and what equipment is necessary to achieve those goals within their budget.

The MallinCam video system would be ideal as John said for public viewing sessions / educational reasons, it would also be good for people perhaps that have failing eyesight and have lost a degree of sensitivity at the eyepiece or perhaps the amateur astronomer that has mobility / disability issues whereby he/she can still perform astronomy but by remote means with live images that can also be recorded onto PC for later analysis.

I use a Meade flip mirror system on my SCT whereby I can observe through the eyepiece as normal and then if a video sequence is required for recording, i.e., an occultation event, then the video system can be used for this purpose, this is useful science that most of us here can do. The video system is also ideal for integrating video frames to show DSOs which would be otherwise to dim for me at the eyepiece. Because such systems are far more sensitive than the human eye it can pick up details and events (perhaps that mag +17 supernova) that I would have missed otherwise ! You can also use freeware such as Registax to bring out even more detail from the video sequences and to have a digital record of your very own work.

I think you have taken the correct path in spending your cash on upgrading your existing equipment Keith; this will be very useful if you wish to go down the astrophotography route perhaps at a later stage. Also the Hubble won’t be up there for too much longer and with the Euro / Dollar exchange rate as it is at the moment, it may not be a bad buy after all! Here is a link to the MallinCam site for other people that are perhaps unfamiliar with this system: mallincam.tripod.com/index.html

Clear skies
Mike