first attempt at imaging

[joe_smith]

Here are some images I took with my new Mintron K series ccd camera with a Vixen 2.4 extender C-mount The telescope is a Celestron SLT 80. I used Virtual Dub to capture and edit the AVI’s. Then I put the AVI’s into Registax played with the wavelets. After that I used Astra Image to bring out some detail over did them a bit. Then Paintshop Pro for the eye candy frames. I could only get small resolution pics about VCD quality 352x 288 not the full 542x586. I think it’s my cheap video capture card might have to invest in a better one. The stuff/lines at the top of the image is from aligning the images in registax as the image was jumping all over the place, as I haven’t fully work out how to track with the scope. This is my first attempt at astro imaging :)

[[1ponders]]

Great first go, Joe. :thumbsup: Welcome to the slippery slope of imaging :lol: Enjoy :)

[joe_smith]

Thanks Paul, cant wait to try it out again. I was glad the camera work out. I got the idea from the VIDEO SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS & VIDEO ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY web site and also heard the Mintron cameras were OK so I took that path instead of the usual Toucam path.

[[1ponders]]

When can we expect to see a shot or two of Jupiter :D



How did you find Virtual Dub for image capture? I've never considered using it.

[joe_smith]

Man I cant even get Jupiter on the ccd chip, I tried but I think the cheap red dot finder is not accurate enough. I am getting a proper crosshair finder scope then I’ll try again. I had no choice using Virtual Dub as it was the only one that worked for me. The free version of K3CCDTools wouldn’t display properly I think it’s the capture card, as my Canon video camera works with K3CCDTool when connected by firewire. Yeah Virtual Dub worked pretty good, and I was used to using it because I used to convert my VHS tapes to DVD with it.

[asimov]

Top stuff Joe! :thumbsup:

[joe_smith]

Thanks John :)

[[1ponders]]

Your not going to get much image scale for Jupiter with an 80mm refractor, though a 5X teleview will give you 3000mm which won't be too bad, but your resolution may not be up to it.

You don't happen to know the chip size and pixel size of your minatron do you?


I've just had a bit of a squizz at VD for capturing and it has some great capture options. I really like the wide histogram and preview acceleration for helping with focusing. I'm keen to try out some of the filtering options as well. I wonder if its possible to capture directly as bmps rather than avi?

[[1ponders]]

Wow I just found the ROI cropping during capture :cool:

[joe_smith]

Here is a link to the specs from the place I ordered it from. I should of got the smaller one but forgot to mention it when I ordered it :doh:
http://www.secuvision.com.au/p_full_body_camera/full_body_camera_k_series_w.html (http://www.secuvision.com.au/p_full_body_camera/full_body_camera_k_series_w.html)

ROI cropping during capture ?

[Harpspitfire]

your 1st attempt already passed me up!- LOL

[[1ponders]]

ROI; region of interest. If you can crop the region of interest during the capture process you end up with hopefully less compression to get it down the pipe because the whole field isn't used. It also leads to smaller avi files. Plus it makes less work for registax when processing the avi.

[joe_smith]

Oh I get it now I knew what croping was dident know what ROI was, but do now ;) Virtual Dub has some good filters you can run at capture or after to clean up the AVI's some are here http://neuron2.net/mine.html

[ballaratdragons]

Very good Joe. Better than my first attempts.

I LOVE the eye candy frames!!! I never thought of framing any of my pics. Have to give it a go LOL

[joe_smith]

Thanks Ken, the real reason i did the frames was to make them seem a bit bigger than they really are ;)

[ballaratdragons]

Hehehe,

I couldn't wait. I had to try a frame around one of my pics! Not as flashy as yours though Joe.

Where do I find how to do them in PaintShop Pro? I did it a hard way.

EDIT: - Oops! Just noticed that I wrote a 12 foot GS Dob in the info :rofl:

[joe_smith]

Good pic Ken :thumbsup: I did the frames the hard way as well. I will do a howto if you want so you can see how I did it, its easy as. I used the selection tools and flood fill you can save the frame as a template so you dont have to keep doing it over and over again then just frame your image and past it into the frame template sounds hard but its not :)

[ballaratdragons]

Made a template for my pics! Thanks for the idea Joe.