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imaging without motor drive?

  • davema
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16 years 11 months ago #59985 by davema
imaging without motor drive? was created by davema
Heyho,

Is it possible to image using a webcam on a telescope without a motor drive?

What I mean is, if I keep the object centered as best I can manually, can registax take the fact that the object is not always in the exact same place into account when stacking frames? Or will it discard them?

I figure this would be unfeasable for objects at high magnification, but what about things like planets, that take a while to drift across the viewport at low magnifications?

I have a logitech quickcam webcam at work which I don't mind hacking up to try this, but I won't bother if it just won't work...

Dave

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16 years 11 months ago #59988 by paulevans
Replied by paulevans on topic Re: imaging without motor drive?
Yes Dave, it works, I've done it many times with planets - figure out the direction of drift, start on one side and let the planet drift across - Registax will follow it pretty easily.

It does limit your capture to 30secs or thereabouts so your images won't be fantastic but it's great learning!

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16 years 11 months ago #59995 by dave_lillis
Replied by dave_lillis on topic Re: imaging without motor drive?
Hi Dave,
Go for it, its very do-able, it just requires a little more work.

Dave L. on facebook , See my images in flickr
Chairman. Shannonside Astronomy Club (Limerick)

Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me,
but what a way to go. :)
+ 12"LX200, MK67, Meade2045, 4"refractor

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  • davema
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16 years 11 months ago #60000 by davema
Replied by davema on topic Re: imaging without motor drive?
ok, thats good news - i think i'll give this a go.

How about this idea for taking longer exposures - I start recording, let the object drift, recenter, let it drift, recenter, etc... etc... eventually stop recording. I realise a lot of frames will feature shake/motion blur, but would it be able to pull out more good frames in this fashion?

I'm sure this would all make sense if I just try it out anyway :-)

Dave

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16 years 11 months ago #60103 by Seanie_Morris
Replied by Seanie_Morris on topic Re: imaging without motor drive?
You will need short exposures when using (what I call) drift-capture photography. A small scope like e.g. the Skylux will allow you to take longer short exposures while the objects drifts by than a larger aperture instrument. But you are on the right track (geddit?) with your theory of align + stop -> capture + drift -> align +stop -> capture + drift, and so on. Remember, you want pictures, not streaks!

Seanie.

Midlands Astronomy Club.
Radio Presenter (Midlands 103), Space Enthusiast, Astronomy Outreach Co-ordinator.
Former IFAS Chairperson and Secretary.

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  • davema
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16 years 11 months ago #60108 by davema
Replied by davema on topic Re: imaging without motor drive?
Ok, so I have my webcam (one of the logitech quickcams, that looks like a golf ball) - do i need to modify it before hooking it up to my scope?

I saw one site where they removed all the optical components to leave a bare CCD, and then glued half a fuji film canister onto it to make it fit into the eyepiece hole....

Anyone got a link to a site that explains what i should be aiming to do?

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