What other webcams?

[that_guy (Tony)]

what other webcams are appropriate for astrophotography with a dob other then a philips toucam pro 2? I can't seem to find a site were it sells them!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Tony, are you after a ToUcam 900?

Try http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com.au/ Matthew may still have them. I think you can order them from somewhere in Hong Kong but I don't know the details.

Other webcams you could consider are the Celestron Neximager, thought its basically a rebadged ToUcam. You could try a Meade LPI but I wouldn't wish that on anyone starting out. Then the prices really start to jump up to the DMK, DBK and DFK range of cameras (See:
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/cameras.asp
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm search for DMK, DBK, DFK)

Apart from that you could consider a GStar but it will depend on what you want to do with the camera. What type of imaging are you thinking of doing?

[that_guy (Tony)]

is there a way to mod it for long exposure with out buying the moded version??

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

There is, but others will have to explain that process. What do you want to image. What are you going to image through? Knowing that will go along way to working out what camera for you to use.

[that_guy (Tony)]

i know that dso are hard to image on dob but i'll give it a go but mostly for planetary..

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Have you read this article? Astrophotography with a Dob It should give you the heads up on what you'll need to consider

[that_guy (Tony)]

read it 'bout 5 times now!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ok so you know how hard it is to do Deep Sky with a Dob. Even planetary imaging is not easy. So knowing that, my suggestion is... Get a ToUcam 900, download Craterlet from Stark labs to capture with, download registax for image processing and start with the moon, Mars (nice and bright now) and Saturn. That way if you get a liking for it you can consider upgrading either your camera or your mount. I'm betting it will be your mount

[that_guy (Tony)]

yep yep! possibly getting a heq5 mount by the end of this year for my dob

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

If you can afford to save up for an EQ6. For astrophotography it will carry the load of even an 8" Dob much better than an HEQ especially for DSOs.

[that_guy (Tony)]

how does the meade lpi compare with this? even though it is lunar and planetary, can you do deep space as well?

[Logieberra (Logan)]

I'll secound that. Would love to hear comments from those with Meade LPI hands on experience. Dad got it for free with his LX90 years ago and hated it. Threw it to me. All I know is that in combination with my old ETX90 it was complicated.

[that_guy (Tony)]

from what ive read its basically the same as digital cameras and can't do deep space.