Which ToUcam to buy

[batema (Mark)]

Just some advice required on which would be better. Will use it for guiding through an ED80 or similar and also for AVI of planets. South Australian shop advertises Phillips ToUcam ProII PCVC840K as standard but then they say modified for long exposures for $275 or SPC 900NC also modified for long exposures for $285. Is one better than the other. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Mark.

[Kal (Andrew)]

Hardware wise, the 840K is exactly the same as the 900NC. Software wise, the 900NC has a different firmware on the camera, a different computer driver, which allows a better codec to be used for lower compression when transferring the video stream to your PC. Less compression when transferring the data to your pc is important when planetary imaging.

It is possible to update the firmware on the 840K to make it a 900NC, I have done this to my camera, but I'm unfamiliar with the long exposure mod so I can't say for certain if you can do this on those cameras.

For $10 extra, you are probably better off just getting the newer 900NC camera straight up.

[iceman (Mike)]

That sounds like a lot - you can get 900nc's off ebay or online shops for like $90 these days can't you?

For guiding, you might want it long-exposure modified so there's extra cost there of course.

You might be better off getting a DBK21AU04, which is also a better planetary webcam and a better guide camera.

[batema (Mark)]

Thank you for the advice
Mark

[AlexN]

I bought my 900NC from telescopes-astronomy in SA for $285 with long exposure mod... long exposure helps a lot for auto guiding as the camera will resolve alot more stars in a 1second exposure than during a 5fps video...