As I haven't got a clue regarding astrophotography (but like to have a go), my questions are...
1.Are these lenses good for anything?
2.If so,could they fit onto a DSLR body?
3.Is an EQ3C mount + RA drive adequate for driven wide field shots of the milky way?
4.What is the best/budget DSLR for taking wide field shots?
5.Or, should I just get an old Pentax or generic camera body!!?
To cut a long story short, I want to take wide field and telephoto astro-shots and would like to know the best way to get into it on a budget!!
Cheers and thanks in advance of any replies!
Doug
I took this image with a Toucam! and it is cropped!! I have stacks of widefields in my Lappy of Milky Way, Virgo, Scorpius, Saggitarius etc. all done with my Toucam
I forgot to mention how I take widefields with the Toucam.
I don't use a scope, lense or anything. I just use the Toucam straight out of the box. Point and shoot.
Oh, I do use the 'Long Exposure Mod' mode though for the widefields. My widefields are captured using a single exposure in 'Desire' at around 35 seconds.
I forgot to mention how I take widefields with the Toucam.
I don't use a scope, lense or anything. I just use the Toucam straight out of the box. Point and shoot.
Oh, I do use the 'Long Exposure Mod' mode though for the widefields. My widefields are captured using a single exposure in 'Desire' at around 35 seconds.
Pardon my ignorance Ken
That is a great shot - exactly what I want to do!
Cheers
Doug
Ken, you do what.. gees that shot is great for just the Toucam with no lense/telescope. I have a neximage. Whats this long exposure mod, is it permanent hardware fix or software controled. Can it be reveresed. And what capture software did you use? I want to try this.
The Toucam can be modified to take long exposures (about $150 I think) which enable it to take images as long as you want. Even hours if you like the look of hot pixels
and the Meade LPI can take exposures up to 30 seconds (correct me if I am wrong please) and I think the Neximage can also take long exposure (about 15 - 30 seconds).
The long exposure mod is a conversion done to a Toucam. Yes it can be reversed simply by unsoldering the modification, but why would you want to. I have heard of people in Cloudy Nights doing the conversion themselves, but it is very fiddly. Best left to the right electronics bloke.
The capture program I use is 'Desire' (free download) but there are others.
As far as Neximage goes, might be worth googling 'Neximage long exposure' and see what others say about it. I can only help with the Toucam.
Yep, the Toucam takes great images without a scope. Just pop it on the baby tripod supplied or mount it on a mount with tracking, set the exposure time to whatever you want, and press start. Bingo! One long exposure widefield pic. Easy stuff.
You can also take multiples and stack them (I am yet to learn this).
I can when I get the Lappy back off Cheryl. They are in it. The only other pic using the naked Toucam I have in this pooter is the one I took of our Bushfire a few months back.
Focus is lousy as I was in a rush to take it and get to safety. I just carried the Toucam and Lappy outside, rested it on the car Boot and took 2 x 5 second exposures! then raced back inside to pack our belongings, then I processed them and joined the 2 pics together the next day.
I think I stuck some widefield pics in here a few months ago using the naked lappy, can't remember.
Amazing shot of the fire and the first wide fields are good. I also remember the trapizium you did last year.
The Crux that you've just posted is a big improvement, it's histogram is great.
Just shows what can be done with this great camera.
It's well worth exploring the Toucam for all aspects of imaging.
Doug,
the advice given by Ken is sound, and regardless of your lack of desire at this stage to do planetary, you may like the lunar/solar stuff. Besides a ToUcam is what I use to auto-guide.
The options are endless. finding another Pentax body is simple, I have three or more here. Lenses are abundant too. I have used the Pentax lenses (M42 screw thread) on my Canon DSLR (20D) by using an appropriate adaptor. Works like a charm, and provides cheaper options than buying the flash Canon lenses. While I would like to saty clear of Question #4, I reckon an older 300D or later 350D is what you are after.
The RA driven mount should be all you need for widerfield stuff, but eventually you will be pushing the boubdaries with it. Great to start with though.
Gary
Ken,
You've hijacked my thread with your excellent pic!!!!!
Thanks to all who have replied.
I'm not sure if I'm confused or enlightened, but I swing toward the latter.
Cheers all.
Doug
So, if you've got the long exposure mod done on your ToUcam you can still do the short exposure planetary thing?
The mod allows you to also do long exposures, additional to the shorter exposure times offered "out of the box"?
Which would make it both a planetary and DSO cam?
Very cool
Yes Matt. It has a little switch and you can switch it to either 'normal Avi' or 'Long exposure image'.
Yes, it makes it a normal and 'Long Exposure' camera. Pretty cool huh!
But to use the 'Long exposure Mode' you must have a parallel port available on your lappy. If you use a desktop it will be ok as desktops have parallel ports.
The normal mode just uses a USB port.
'Long Exp' uses both USB and Parallel Port.
