Handy program for beginning imagers

[mldee (Mike)]

I was trying to work out which combination of scope and camera sensor and Focal reducer gave what sort of Field of View, ie, what's best for small nebs, big ones, galaxies, wide field, etc.

I was going to post a question on IIS, but got a little energetic and did a few searches here first. There were some recommendations for CCDCalc. http://www.newastro.com/book_new/camera_app.php

It's a brilliant little program that's free, and let's you keep a list of your own scopes and CCD's and then shows you what FOV you get on a range of DSO's, including piccies that you add. Make sure you download it!

BTW, if you go into the CCDCalc program directory (normally c:\program files\ccdcalc\), find a file called "camera_data.dat", make a backup copy then edit it to remove the endless list of cameras you don't have
Quicker than deleting them one by one in the main program.

Unfortunately there's no file for scopes, so you have to do them from the main program.

Cheers,

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Wouldn't be without it Mike. I've been using is for a few years now. A great tool, especially for trying to visulize FOV

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by mldee

Unfortunately there's no file for scopes, so you have to do them from the main program.

Cheers,

The scopes are in the cameras file.

Lines starting "t" are scopes.
Lines starting "c" are cameras.

[mldee (Mike)]

Doh! I wondered what they were for! I only looked for the .dat file after spending a long long time deleting the dross using the main program, when it only had a few entries left and I didn't notice some were scopes.

Thanks.

[mldee (Mike)]

Moving further along, has anyone added their own .jpg images of various DSO's / planets, and if so, how do you set up the size of the .jpg to reflect the correct FOV?

Probably another epiphany staring me in the face

[adman (Adam)]

Originally Posted by mldee

Moving further along, has anyone added their own .jpg images of various DSO's / planets, and if so, how do you set up the size of the .jpg to reflect the correct FOV?

Probably another epiphany staring me in the face

All of their JPGs are 360x360 pixels, and you already have the images taken with your scope/camera combo, so the only way that makes sense is to take a square crop of one of your images, then resize it to 360x360....

...can't see any other way, but I am open to being way off the mark

Adam

[mldee (Mike)]

That's the bit that's got me confused; what FOV are their existing 360x360 jpg's? I guess I could take a look at the little ruler thing down the bottom and try and guesstimate it.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by mldee

That's the bit that's got me confused; what FOV are their existing 360x360 jpg's? I guess I could take a look at the little ruler thing down the bottom and try and guesstimate it.

One degree square. At the bottom of the web page:

"If anyone else would like to contribute images to this ongoing initiative, just e-mail Neil the link to your site or images, along with permission to distribute the 360x360 pixel, one degree square, versions of your images. In all cases, Neil will include the copyright with your name included."

[mldee (Mike)]

Thanks Andrew. I think I'm coming down with the flu, so spent most of the day dozing instead of researching.

Now, how do you calculate & trim your .jpg to make them 1 degree square? (Use CCDcalc, he says!

Actually, contacting Neil would probably be a sensible thing.