Jupiter

Hi Frank,

If you looking to invest in this area of imaging go for a very good high speed webcam weather it be a DKM / lumenera / flea3 preferably mono.
You need to be imaging Jupiter at around 30FPS 50 SEC on each filter due to the speed of the rotation the planet moves. When imaging Jupiter it needs a lot of gain in the exposure of around 30 to 40% all the extra noise is removed when processing. If you don't have the gain going into processing your image will be full of noise after processing losing a lot of detail from the image you will not be able to get back. Hope this makes sense invest a lot in your camera and you will get the rewards.

Carl.

well, the spc is limited compared to todays modern planetary camera, its good as a cheap means of dipping your toe in the water.
I was going to get some new eyepieces and a dmk, but instead I used the money on something I know I'd get alot more use out of, a new tv.

btw, you are that sad, :devil:
and so would I have been if I hadnt been soo tired.

@Dave :laugh:
I'm sad but happy.

@Carl
Thanks dude.
I was runnin' the spc @30 FPC.
Grabbed a 1min AVI (with no dropped frames!?)
But my biggest problem is that I'm bone lazy and going the RGB road
may not be for me...
I did read a review and seen some test shots by Pete Lawrence a few years back
when he tested a colour DMK against a Skynux
and it was very close to call.
Bottom line...
I've dipped my toe with the SPC,
now to get knee deep, with a colour DMK me thinks.
I'm just after some quick n nasty shots TBH,
I'll leave the killer shots to you pros...
My gear isn't up to it either.
Some day when I recoup the savings I had for the C14 I'll get the filter set up.
Damn this recession...
Stuff is cheap but bucks are tight...
ugh.

Carl

If I can ask a dumb question - why does increasing the gain on a webcam help?
Is it that one can't get a high frame rate (which I see as desirable as we wish to capture moments of good seeing) without setting the gain high because its the gain setting that effectively determines the exposure time?

Mark C.

mjc wrote: Carl

If I can ask a dumb question - why does increasing the gain on a webcam help?
Is it that one can't get a high frame rate (which I see as desirable as we wish to capture moments of good seeing) without setting the gain high because its the gain setting that effectively determines the exposure time?

Mark C.

HI Mark,

It totally depends on what camera you are using I'm using a lumenera mono 2.0 so one has to use filters LRGB in the L channel gain can be up to 30% by the time you reach the blue channel the gain could be up to 50/60% it all depends on Altitude and transparency as I said in my post above for some reason Jupiter needs a lot more gain as does Mars. This is one thing I found out from imaging with Damian Peach and David Tyler If the image does not enough noise/gain going into processing the end result will be a noisy image.

Hope this clears things up a bit every Planet you image has It's own challenges.

Carl

Nice image Frank, well done. I'd like to see a larger one though!

Seanie.