Hi all,
I've had a chance to play around with my new 8" f/4 dobbie set onto a Crossbow Equatorial Platform the last two nights, and a coupled my video camera to it. I got to view M42, the globular NGC 2808 and Eta Carina. I've attached screenshots from my computer. I also viewed these three using my kids' DVD monitor, and the image quality is down a noticeable amount on the computer compared to a live monitor image. But difference in aperture and focal length from the first lot of pics is remarkable. The second image of M42 is a photo I took directly of the TFT monitor.
Again, this is just showing what a video camera is capable of doing live. These screenshots I've just fiddled with a little detail to clean up the screenshot image to better resemble the direct monitor image. I need to work a little more in refining my alignment routine, which will come with some more practice. I'm also hoping to be able to adjust the amount of saturation around the stars. Might be an artefact to do with the camera too.
Ooooh, I can't wait until I've got my 12" and 17.5" dobs on this platform!!!