Webcam imaging - a stupid question...?

[MortonH]

Hi, I've never done any imaging before other than piggyback. I'm hoping to get something like a Meade LX90 and am thinking about trying to do some imaging with it.

I've seen some some fantastic results on the net and in magazines taken with webcams and stacked/processed, etc. My question is this:

What 'size' of image is being created (assuming not mosaic)? i.e. to put it in terms of 'normal' digital photos, how many pixels are we talking about? Presumably webcams have tiny sensors. How big could you print these images?

Morton

[RB (Andrew)]

A Toucam produces a 640x480 image, if used for AVI planetary imaging.
And I think 1280x960 single snapshot (1.3MP)

[MortonH]

So, are these files being upsized at some point? I thought magazines usually insist on 300ppi for printing, but that would imply a final image only 2 inches across! Am I missing something?

Morton

[iceman (Mike)]

Most of the big images you see in magazines are taken with a DSLR or large format camera, which can be printed that size.

The webcam images of Saturn or other planets are only small resolution (640x480 usually), and so they usually appear small in print.

Even so, I've printed some of my own images at larger size than they have true resolution for, and in print they don't usually appear too bad.

[74tuc]

I agree with previous post.

Webcam (640x480) images printout on a 6"x4" size very well. Printing them bigger does not seem to do "too much damage". You can increase the size to 1280x960 in something loke photoshop and get a very passable pic. (4 times larger). Try a quick experiment by taking a pic of the moon ... short (10sec) *.avi file and process it in Registax. Print it out at places like Woolies or Harvey-Norman ($0.35) and you will be pleasantly surprised.

Jerry.

[MortonH]

Thanks guys. I was starting to wonder about using a miniDV video camera rather than a webcam, since then you wouldn't need a laptop with you. Apart from the obvious issue with size and weight, would this work too? I realise the resolution would be the same as the webcam (for a standard def videocam).

Morton