How does the ToUcam go into the scope?

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Yes david, try the veal

Cheers Petra

PS guys please post some pics of your set ups, Im a very visual person

Originally Posted by davidpretorius

woo hoo, let me know if you want the holesaws to remove the central obstructions and also a couple of winds of tape on the end that goes in the powermate to make it a little more snug.

f38.5, here comes mike, doo dah, doo dah!
making big images of joop look great, all the doo dah day!!!!!!

thanks ladies and gentlemen, i'm here till thursday!!!

[davidpretorius]

here we go,

crayford focusser, televue 5x powermate, 100mm extension tube to turn 5x into 7.7x, 1.25" adapter and then the toucam with out its lens

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Hi there

David - sorry stupid question time - the extension tube and adapter?

PS I think that I am now officially in the wrong forum category!

Cheers Petra

[davidpretorius]

the first black object is the powermate. It has a great property that if you move your camera away from it, it turns into a 7.7x magnifier.

So the plastic extension tube separates the powermate from the toucam.

There is no lens in the toucam, as i am using the telescope optics as the "lens" or more precisely a "whopping" big telephoto lens. Instead of a lens, there is an adapter that screws into the place of the lens and then into the 1.25" focusser hole

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Hi again

Last stupid question of the evening - I understand the function of the powermate, the mods to the ToUcam - but what is in the extention tube?

Is this a home mod?

Cheers Petra

[davidpretorius]

No, actually it is a discarded cheapie 3x barlow with the lens removed. Ice and I have been searching for a while for an extension tube and I founf one in melbourne that with a few small mods, does the trick beautifully.

Bintel in melbourne was able to get this for me. Thanks to Roger.

I have sent a 22mm holesaw and 32mm holesaw for mike to cut his fingers off with and at the same time cut the inner obstructions away.

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Okay, so the tubing is hollow - with a hole for the powermate and one for the adapter - adapter connects to the webcam. How did you decide on the length of the extension tube + adapter (+powermate), to arrive at 7.7x (truly no more questions - after this one).

Cool -

[davidpretorius]

http://televue.com/images/eyepieces/...erIncrease.gif

gives the charts for televue powermates.

i there is about 90mm for the extension tube and then roughly 100mm to the ccd chip in the toucam camera = 100mm = 7.7x

The difference is that i used to image at this and now can image at this.

Do not worry about asking questions, we love to answer them!

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Thank you so much DP

I now understand the set up - its got me thinking about the old 4" Tasco I have in a box - it has a 2x plastic barlow.

I am still investigating different webcams mentioned in the forum. Maybe by summer I will be ready to have a go.

Thanks again

Cheers Petra

[davidpretorius]

have you a standard camera or even a video camera.

if yes, have a go at the beginners imaging comp Asimov and I are running. We are putting up a toucam and a meade lpi as prizes.

It does not matter on level of equipment, it is who we think has learnt the most and produced the best images given equipment and seeing conditions