· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar General Astronomy >> Outreach Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 Pharquart sage Reged: 11/11/09 Loc: Southwest Minneapolis Metro Video astronomy outreach       #5726683 - 03/11/13 07:38 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   One of the posters in the "handicapped outreach" thread posted something about supplementing a visual telescope with video. Rather than hijack that thread on this tangent, I figured I'd start a dedicated one. I've often thought of picking up one of the ubiquitous cast-off 60mm refractors or a 4.5" reflector and mounting it in parallel on one of my main scopes, then using a video camera on the smaller scope to show people what the larger scope is looking at. What suggestions do you have for a video camera? I usually do outreach from a heavily light polluted area, sometimes literally under a street light. So I'd be looking mostly at planets and the moon. I sometimes get out to where a telescope can find M42, M31, or M13. Because I'm in a city, I can either find power for a laptop or small TV or take along my portable power supply. Any suggestions for a video camera? Brian Post Extras:       maroubra_boy sage Reged: 09/08/09 Loc: Sydney, Australia Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: Pharquart]       #5726949 - 03/11/13 09:52 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Brian, Very noble of you to start a new thread. The camera I use is the GSTAR-EX colour camera. Myastroshop does ship internationally. I hook up the camera to a portable DVD player with an AV-in socket. As both the camera & screen are 12v, I just take a suitable 12V battery/power pack. As this camera is quite small, coupling it to a guide/small scope, or even a camera lens, it can ride piggy back to your main scope. But note, for the camera to show a reasonable disk size of Jupiter or Saturn it requires a decent amount of focal length, something a 60mm refractor or 114 f4.4 scope just doesn't have. In the other thread, I mentioned the amount of detail my 80mm f/5 refractor can show in M42 and other DSOs. Don't underestimate how potent the astronomical video cameras are from light polluted areas! M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, was unmistakeable with its dark lane with this 80mm from my location in inner Sydney. Mallincam cameras I wouldn't hesitate in recommending either. Just superb cameras, & the Mallincam Jnr is only a little more pricey than the GSTAR. Alex. Post Extras:       buddyjesus Carpal Tunnel Reged: 07/07/10 Loc: Davison, Michigan Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: maroubra_boy]       #5727301 - 03/12/13 01:27 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   sounds like an excellent plan. maybe the samsung? http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/4379862/... cheap way into video from my investigation, though I never followed up on it. Post Extras:       skyguy88 super member Reged: 11/13/06 Loc: Prescott, AZ Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: buddyjesus]       #5742200 - 03/19/13 02:28 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Brian, I've been doing video outreach for five years. It works wonderfully. Most of the objects that you will use in the outreach setting will be relatively bright. If that is your only use then camera selection isn't critical. But if you want to do other observing with it, longer exposure is a big help. I started with an early Mallincam and did fairly well with its 12 second limitation. But I eventually added a Hyper plus version and the increased exposure (to 56 sec) made a big difference in view quality and the number of objects that I can observe clearly. One thing that happens when you use the camera is that because you are working with a group and don't need to help each visitor to find/see your objects, you have time to engage in more extensive discussion. And that increases the engagement. It also makes knowing a lot about your targets more important-a good thing. Try it..You'll like it. Bill Post Extras:       Pharquart sage Reged: 11/11/09 Loc: Southwest Minneapolis Metro Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: skyguy88]       #5754491 - 03/24/13 05:11 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I bought a webcam and modded it for astronomy by removing the lens and attaching a 1-1/4" barrel. It worked for the moon, but provided extremely high magnification, something like using a 4mm eyepiece. Jupiter and her moons were visible, but completely washed out as a blaring white blob. I later learned it was because the auto gain feature of the webcam cranked up the gain because of the large dark area of the rest of the sky. This particular camera's software didn't have gain control, and even turning the brightness control down to minimum didn't provide any improvement. (The moon worked, because the whole image area was bright enough so keep the gain set correctly.) I'm intrigued by the Mallincam and GSTAR-EX, but they're a little out of my price range. I'm looking for something under $100, and something that will provide a little less magnification. The Samsung 435 might be right. Is apparent magnification driven by the chip size? My webcam has a 3mm wide chip. Will cameras with wider chips provide more AFOV and thus lower magnification? I don't mind risking $10 on a webcam that didn't work. I'm not very hyped about spending $100 or more to buy a camera that won't do what I want: live video astronomy. I'm not trying to stack or image. I just want people to be able to see on a screen something like what they can see in the eyepiece. Will a Samsung 435 do that? Brian Post Extras:       maroubra_boy sage Reged: 09/08/09 Loc: Sydney, Australia Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: Pharquart]       #5785300 - 04/08/13 05:35 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Brian, Is your 1.25" nose piece threaded for filters? If so, then using one of the cheap 1.25" focal reducers will help reduce the magnification effect. I use one with my C8 otherwise all I'd see is the white's of ET's eyes, so to speak. I too used a modified webcam as my first video camera. Some Logitech camera drivers do provide a lot of control, including gain. You could easily get a preloved Logitech webcam from a mate for nix, modify it, install the drivers from the net, and get your mits on a focal reducer, all for the cost of the reducer. Astronomics sells one for les than $25: https://www.astronomics.com/antares-0-5x-focal-reducer-for-celestron-meade-an... This is the type of reducer I use. I don't know anything about the Samsung camera, I can't help there. As you mentioned, the smaller the chip the 'higher' the effective magnification, the only way around this without going to larger chips (& lager $$$) is shorter focal length. Fast, short tube Newtonians are great for this! My newest video rig is my son's 114mm f/4.4 Newt! Absolutely brilliant little scope! I was fortunate to have a mate give me an old set of Meade 8" SCT fork mount that he was about to throw out. It just needed some TLC, a wedge made out of plywood, & the old surveyors tripod I've had for 20 years, & $3 for 3 mounting bolts to couple the mount to the wedge (which cost me $0 as it was made from left over stuff from a previous project). Now I've got a ripper video rig which I'm still to try out with the focal reducer. M42 fits nicely in the screen, and in full colour, and more detail than could be seen naked eye through this scope. I mention this rig as it shows that it doesn't take a lot to get spectacular results with video. Short tube Newts are very, very cheap, and ones that contain the Barlow shoved down the focuser can be converted to excellent video scopes too, as this CN article describes: http://www.cloudynights.com/documents/convert2.pdf If the pennies are tight, there are some clever ways to have them work wonders. Post Extras:       maroubra_boy sage Reged: 09/08/09 Loc: Sydney, Australia Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: maroubra_boy]       #5785362 - 04/08/13 07:33 AM Attachment (55 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   A pic of my 114mm scope video rig with the GSTAR camera attached. Edited by maroubra_boy (04/08/13 09:55 AM) Post Extras:       StarStuff1 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 04/01/07 Loc: South of the Mason-Dixon Line Re: Video astronomy outreach [Re: maroubra_boy]       #5798561 - 04/14/13 03:04 PM Attachment (22 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The Samsung 435 is a very decent and inexpensive camera. I think it has beeen replaced with a newer model. Visit the "Video and Electronically Assisted Astronomy" forum for many more details and tips. My Sammy cost about $125 shipped. This was after I wasted $400 on two other cams that did not do integration. The Sammy can integrate up to about 8 seconds (IIRC) and is very sensitive. It can do both color and B&W. At one outreach session about this time last year it amazed attendees with a full color image with great detail of M42 and with only a 4 second integration time. Of course this was with a 12-in Schmidt Cass with an inexpensive .5 focal reducer. Even with my 5.1-in f/5 newt it can deliver impressive pics of DSOs at a decently dark location. The first time I used the cam for public outreach was at a kids summer camp. The scope was an AT66. The view of the Moon on the small digital TV just filled the screen. Using the digital zoom on the cam really impressed the kids. Here is a pic of the cam and TV with the 5.1-in newt. Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 0 registered and 3 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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