Help with astrophotography

Roobi · #1 23-01-2010, 10:33 AM

Hi there all, I'm looking for a good beginner tutorial, possibly a video one of some different forms of astrophotography. Ive so far just been using a digital camera held up to the ep and while ive had a few good pics of the moon, of course the others havnt been any good. I dont have a tripod for the camera, but i do have a web cam that i tried to modify to get to the ccd chip (hope thats what its called). This went ok until i hooked it up to the telescope, and then everything was completely blurry. I did this following the tutorial in the projects and articles section-connecting a webcam to telescope. but admittedly got a little lost at the very end. i got to the point of putting the door stop on. Do i connect it to the ep or the telescope without an ep?
sorry for my confusing questions

Gama · #2 24-01-2010, 02:59 AM

Did you remove the lens to the webcam ?.
If you did, then you can place it at the focus of the telescope.
If the lens is still on, then you need to place it next to an eyepiece to get an image.

Theo

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #3 24-01-2010, 03:25 AM

I used an old film canister, removing the bottom, then hot glued it to the front of the web cam. It fits perfectly into the focuser.
Good luck with it all.

Roobi · #4 24-01-2010, 10:37 AM

yes i removed the lens on the webcam. last night i added the film tube quite snugly and placed in in the focuser, but no luck at all it was completely black. granted that its an old webcam, but its the same one as shown in the tutorial so i know it can work. i tried changing settings, contrast brightness etc. No where to change framerate so its set at 30fps. If anyone has had any experience with a logitek quickcam messenger and feels like sending some help my way itd be much appreciated.
Cheers

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #5 24-01-2010, 12:05 PM

I think you find that you need to use an extension tube with the web cam so you can achieve focus. If you have a barlow lens, you should be able to screw off the occular from the end (putting it away carefully) and use it for your ext. tube.
At 30fps, the only target for you will be the moon. But what a target. Imaging along the terminator, capturing all those craters.