Toucam Equivalent ISO

[davewaldo]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to decide if I would find a Toucam (with Long exp mod) valuable as I already have a Canon 20D.

I don't really plan on getting into planet imaging.

I was wondering how the sensitivity/noise of the Toucam compares to a 20D (or 300D as its similar).

Does anyone know what the equivalent ISO of the Toucam would be on say medium or high gain setting?

What I really need to know is.. Will I have to expose the 20D much longer than a Toucam to get similar brightness of image?

Cheers,

Dave.

[Merlin66]

I've got the std webcam, SC1 moded webcam and a 350D.
The webcam seems to be more sensitive but with such a small chip I don't see a competition between the two.
The Webcam is for the planetary and the DSLR ( with DSLRShoot!!) for everything else.

[iceman]

No question - keep the DSLR.

The ToUcam CAN work for DSO's (see Ken's work with it), but the DSLR is far less noisy, MUCH bigger resolution (8mp compared to 0.5 or something), and much longer exposures without amp glow etc.

You have the tools you need - definitely don't bother with the Toucam unless you want to do planetary imaging.

[davewaldo]

So really I would only need one for planetary imaging or guiding.

Thanks Everyone!

[[1ponders]]

That's right Dave. It would be a great little guide camera. At exposures of 1-1.5 sec you should have np finding a guide star at just about any point of the sky. The longer exposures also help to even out the seeing. With shorter exposures the mount can sometimes be chasing the seeing as the star jumps all over the place. A longer exposure allows you to use less gain, which means a cleaner signal, as well as "averaging out" the stars motion due to seeing.

Remember though you need to have a parallel port to run one for long exposure

[ballaratdragons]

Dave,

I have fairly good success on DSO's with my modded Toucam, but I am trying to save so I can upgrade to a DSLR.

That must tell you something ;)

I can't answer your 'ISO' question, coz I don't even know what an 'ISO' is

The advantage of the modded Toucam is that you can get a great amount of DSO detail in about 120 seconds, whereas a DSLR may take 5-10 mins to get the same result, but the difference is in the finished quality. The DSLR gives fantastic quality in comparison, lower noise, waaayyy lower amp glow, more dynamic range, etc etc .

[davewaldo]

Thanks Paul & Ken!

The only other thing I was hoping to do with the Toucam was use it a bit like a Gstar to give another dimension to my viewing. I was thinking of doing 1-2min exposures with the toucam just so I can see some colour and detail in DSO that my eye can't. See this thread: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=22162

I have a feeling that my 20D won't be able to do this style of imaging very easily, as the finished raws would need converting and a dramatic curve applied just to see the image; whereas a toucam gives a nice image straight up. Is this correct?

[[1ponders]]

If that is the sort of thing you are after than I suggest a DFK 21AF04.as. That would be a much better option than a long exposure ToUcam.