Hi all,
I want to have a try at some basic astrophotography with an inexpensive webcam, apparently the Philips ToUcam is a good one to get, but from where ? I think they are no longer made.
Can anyone here suggest another webcam that would be good to use and is not expensive? The main thing is that it will have settings that will allow me to adjust the grain and focus.
Also one article said that you can connect it straight to your telescope or attatch it to your barlow for a bigger picture, can you please give me your thoughts on this.
IIRC they're pretty much the same, just one is Celestron branded, and designed with a 1.25" nose...the Toucam needs to be modified, unless you buy from somewhere that has done it for you. Either way they're only suitable for planetary/lunar i.e. bright objects.
You'd definitely want to be using your Barlow too as the planets will be tiny otherwise, and the resolution of either cam isn't that great. But they're cheap.
Regardless of what cam you buy, chances are you'd use the same capture software...popular ones are Sharpcap, Firecapture, etc.
I bought a QHY a little while back and the weather has been crap since, but my avatar is the best I've got so far (C8, 2.5x Barlow), just after a transit of Io (fumbled too much with the gear to capture it in progress), the brown dot to the right is Io. After processing, which in itself is a steep learning curve.