Does anyone here know if...

[ianB]

I know its more related to the astrophotography forum but i am hoping to get more of an audiance here.

I am looking at getting the Celestron Nextimager CCD camera for $90 to try some basic astrophotography with the planets, but what i need to know is will this camera be compatiable with my laptop, I use Windows 7 and it is a 64 bit system.

If anyone here knows if this neximager CCD camera will be or will not be compatiable can you please let m know.

Many thanks.
Ian

[noeyedeer]

hi Ian,
you could download the manual and see it's requirements from http://www.celestron.com/support/manuals-software

and reading this thread says it will work on win 7 64bit.
http://www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=2364

matt

[mak15]

Hi Ian
I definitely know that it won't work with Windows 8, no idea with 7
STew

[Amaranthus]

Yes, it works with win7 64-bit

[ianB]

Thank you all for your answers ( and link ) they are very helpful.

Many thanks & enjoy your evening.

Ian

[OzStarGazer]

One thing you should probably also consider is that it is a discontinued product, so if something happens it will be hard to find spare parts. At least I have been thinking about this, as I am also considering buying a Celestron Neximage and cannot decide on the version. On the other hand because it is cheaper you might want to take the risk.

[Camelopardalis]

The original Neximage construction doesn't lend itself to serviceability...but neither do most small electronic gadgets.

[ianB]

Thanks for pointing that out for me.

[RAJAH235]

...If it is a discontinued product.....


Buy 2?
;)
or something more recent that has spares & serviceability.

[OzStarGazer]

Celestron also has a cheaper imager (cheaper than the Neximage 5) that is still on the market (I think it is relatively new).
http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/astroimaging-cameras/neximage-solar-system-imager
It costs about 100 USD. Has anybody here tried it? Unfortunately I don't think it is sold here (not yet?) which means high postage costs + basically only store warranty because the US Celestron warranty doesn't apply to Australia.

[ianB]

Thanks Oz.

[OzStarGazer]

I just found this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Eyepiece-for-Telescope-View-and-Record-to-Computer-/330698417350?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cff2964c6

Probably not very good quality?? The seller has 100% feedback though. And the imager is covered by 1 year warranty.

Any thoughts?

Edit: No... 16 FPS is not good...

[julianh72]

I suspect it's fine for basic lunar and planetary work etc for a beginner. Remember, the Celestron NexImage is "just a webcam" with no special hardware modifications (other than taking off the standard webcam lens), and so is this. If the supplied software doesn't work, you can probably drive it through any standard webcam software such as the venerable AmCap etc, so you should be able to play with exposure / frame rate / etc, and then process through RegiStax. Shooting at 16 fps is probably fine for its intended use, anyway, because you can grab a few hundred frames for stacking in a few seconds of video capture.

The listing talks about imaging galaxies, but I'd take that claim with a grain of salt. (Probably a handful of salt, actually!)

The only thing I couldn't work out is exactly how it attaches to the telescope - there's no close-up of how it fits onto the focuser or onto an eyepiece.

It says it attaches "to any telescope" - presumably including terrestrial spotting scopes which don't have removable eyepieces. I think that unlike the NexImage (which shoots with the sensor at prime focus), this one could be shooting afocal through a standard telescope eyepiece, rather than fitting straight into the focuser, because the three adapters provided are stated to be:

Size of Ocular Tube: 17mm, 25mm and 30mm (using included adapters)

There's apparently no 1 1/4" or 2" adapter which would be needed to insert into the focuser (unless these are poor metric conversions?), so I'm wondering whether maybe these "ocular tubes" clamp onto your standard oculars (eyepieces)? That is, I suspect this device is a lot like shooting through the eyepiece with a webcam or your phone camera, but probably a lot easier to get set up for well-aligned shots and video.

EDIT: On browsing around eBay, I see there are dozens of these "Digital Eyepieces", including some which DO have standard 1 1/4" focuser tubes; e.g.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-0MP-DIGITAL-EYEPIECE-for-TELESCOPES-FOR-All-OPERATION-SYSTEMS-PCs-50P-BNB-/141269165951?pt=UK_Photography_Tele scopes&hash=item20e44c677f&_uhb=1
I'm still not sure about the one which OzStarGazer linked to, though.

[OzStarGazer]

Thanks, Julian. There are actually more photos of the one I linked to (9 altogether), including photos of an adapter, so it should be fine. I would like to see pictures taken with the camera though.
I had seen the one you linked to, but the Buy It Now price is much higher, and the bids for this one will also go up in the next few hours. I bought from that seller before by the way. The camera has a high resolution, but only 7.5 fps...

[OzStarGazer]

OK, I have found this thread:
http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/137167-g227-digital-eyepiece-anyone-tried-it/
There is a guy (an Aussie who could also be here) who has used the G227 (the one I linked to) and thinks it is great. So maybe it is really an option considering the price.

[ianB]

I actually saw that a while ago but was not sure what to think about it at the time.
Ian.

[julianh72]

Well, I just picked it up for a final price of AU $105 plus postage - it just goes to show that sometimes you CAN pick up a bargain!

I'll report back on how it performs in a couple of weeks when it arrives. (I'll even test it out on a few galaxies, but I won't hold my breath in expectation of any results! :) )

[OzStarGazer]

Yes, let us know... :) I am still thinking about what I should do.
Strictly speaking the new Celestron webcam (the one which is not available here yet) is also the same price and also 3MB. The reviews are not so good though, while astonishingly they are very good for the cheap Chinese one. Maybe people expect too much from Celestron? I guess they cannot expect it to perform like the Neximage 5...
Yesterday I also got a T-ring which I can use with the Barlow adapter for my camera. I tried to connect it and I was happy to see that the camera doesn't seem to be too heavy for the focusser, at least for a short video or a quick shot I guess.
But of course there are clouds all around here right now, so I cannot really test it.
How is the magnification when you use a camera in prime focus??

[julianh72]

At prime focus, it just uses the telescope as a telephoto lens, so if you have a 1,000 mm FL telescope with 200 mm aperture (f/5), say, it becomes a 1,000 mm focal length telephoto lens with fixed aperture of f/5, or 5x the magnification (1/5 the FoV) that you would get with a 200 mm lens, for example.

[OzStarGazer]

Thanks, that's pretty cool. I cannot wait to test it!

[OzStarGazer]

Sorry if this is a basic question, and I don't want to hijack Ian's thread, but I was just wondering what the advantages of a webcam over prime focus would be? Of course it depends on the webcam and the DSLR camera, but in general...?
:thanx:

[julianh72]

A webcam-based planetary camera is cheap and light, and just fits straight into the focuser like a normal eyepiece, but it is not very sensitive so it is limited to bright "planetary" targets. Individual exposures are short, but you can stack the frames from a video to make a better quality composite image. (An unmodified webcam with its original lens can be used for afocal photography through a standard eyepiece, just as you can shoot with pocket digital camera or smartphone, but a webcam-based "digital eyepiece" for a telescope has no lens and is used with the sensor at "prime focus".)

Dedicated astronomical CCD cameras work in much the same way, but have sensor cooling and different (more expensive!) hardware to allow for direct long-exposure shooting onto the sensor.

Using a DSLR at prime focus is much bigger and heavier than a webcam-based camera, so it demands more overall rigidity in the mount and focuser than you can get away with a webcam, and may also require some adjustment to your telescope's counterweights to compensate for all that weight hanging off the focuser, but it allows you to use the bigger sensor, longer exposures, higher ISO sensitivity, etc that the DSLR permits.

[Amaranthus]

Has anyone successfully used a webcam + registax for the brighter DSOs, e.g M42, Eta Carina, Omega Cen etc.? I was thinking of mucking about with this option using my Neximage 5 (only done planetary so far...)

[OzStarGazer]

Thanks, Julian! :)

[ianB]

Thats ok Oz, ask whatever you want i am following the conversation and will look out for the review in a few weeks.

[Camelopardalis]

One of the problems is FOV...which is a factor of the dimensions of the chip. Planetary cameras tend to feature small chips and run at high frame rates. For DSOs you want the opposite...large chips and long exposure. Exceptions disregarded of course!

I once tried to get a DSO in the FOV of my QHY and it was futile! It's roughly the equivalent of a 7mm eyepiece which with a C8 is almost 300x.

[OzStarGazer]

You should get it soon. I got one of their items in just a week...
I hope clouds won't spoil viewing and that you will be able to let us know how it works soon. :) :thumbsup: