Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackWidow
 Hi MO76.. this subject has been talked about alot on this forum. Most people will advise that the best option is a Web cam to take video. Then use Registax (free version) to process the video for you into a single image.,. It's very easy to do and will give you far far better results than even with an exspensive DSLR.. |
As the song goes.... "It ain't necessarily so..."
It depends entirely on what you wish to image. If you want magnification, then shooting with a planetary or web video camera typically equates to viewing with a 6mm eyepiece. This allows tight fields of view and will perform well when imaging craters or other smaller features. Only major issue when imaging with webcams is their completely paltry resolution - a necessary evil in order to maintain the frame rate. 640x480 or even 1024x756 - not really stupendous.
Even an cheaper entry-level DSLR will, with the aid of the appropriate barlow, give great whole-moon or part-moon vistas. Single-frame captures at ISO100 (or as low as your camera allows) are possible because the moon is incredibly bright - even in partial phase. Given the far greater resolution, far more detail is available to you, even in colour. If the seeing conditions are good enough and your optics sharp and flat, single frame images of great quality are not difficult to render.
Here are a couple I've done, some with an 8" newtonian and others with a 102mm refractor and barlow. I've used the same camera here in all the shots - a cheap entry-level Nikon D40 DSLR. Almost a giveaway on eBay these days. Each image is a single frame - no stacking involved - just a nice still night with good seeing.
Added in is a single-frame (repeat - single) shot of Jupiter through my 102mm refractor and the same Nikon D40 6Mp DSLR.
A half-resolution version of the first shot:
http://www.macastro.org.au/home/inde...geViewsIndex=3
Have fun with the moon - it's a fantastic target and is always changing. Just don't try and do much at full moon - you have far less contrast to play with.