Finale advice before I start

[Carole]

I thought I should start a new thread after the marathon digital photography one, especially as now of course I am not going down the digital camera road having been convinced to use a laptop and Webcam.

After useful discussion with Ian and Mike I have now bought myself a Phillips Webcam, a telescope adapter,  IR  Block filter and rear port adapter.  I have downloaded K3CCD version 1.

I received the hardwear this evening, looked at the skies and excitedly thought I'd have my first bash (even though I probably don't know what on earth I am doing), had my dinner and watched an early programme thinking the skies will be there all night, went outside and would you belive it - B.... clouds.

I have also discovered that the battery has pretty well had it on this laptop, but since I will be practising at home (couldn't wait for DSC in December) I can use mains for that for the time being and will then buy a leisure battery for the field. 

Only thing I haven't got is a Barlow lens.  No idea yet how KSCCD works, but I hope I will work it out.

3 questions:
1. Is there anything else I need apart from the barlow and is that always needed?
2. Do I always need the IR filter?
3. I've been told that K3CCD does stacking, as every-one seems to use Registax, is there a  reason for this, i.e. is K3CCD not very good for this?

I actually have a certificate in Photoshop, so if any-one wants to give me some tips on picture enhancing afterwards I would be grateful as I have mostly used this for picture manipulation and working in layers rather than changing of colours and hues etc.

Carole

[mickw]

Hi Carole,
I would guess you'd need a "leisure battery" of about 85 to 110 AH (ampere hours), Mike mentioned this on the other thread.  They are pretty large and also heavy, especially the 110 AH
You'll probably need an inverter (converts 12v to 240v) also so you can effectively run everything on 240 volts.
You should be able to work out what sizes you'll need for the above by adding up the input current of everything you will want to plug in - Laptop power  supply, ETX power supply, lava lamp etc.
As an example, if the total input amps is 3 you should be able to run everything for 36 hours on a 110AH battery, this time will be reduced because the inverter will use some current itself.
You would also need a 720 watt inverter (Volts x Amps, 240x3) or larger.
That's how the theory goes anyway, I'm sure someone will jump in with the "real world" values if I am wildly out.

Mick

[Mike]

The Barlow isn't essential to start with. It will just give you a higher resolution image when you do. You can happily practise without it for now. I would recommend buying the highest quality Barlow you can afford as cheap ones can seriously degrade the image.

[Ian]

Carole,

as far as batteries are concerned, have a look at Dephines question. The answers are pretty much relevant to you too. I would steer clear of inverters, they are very inefficient, as discussed previously.

With regards to the Barlow. What Mike said, but you may also need it reach focus. Only sticking the camera on the scope will answer that one...

[Carole]

Many thanks for all this Guys.  I think one step at a time.  I'll see how I get on with the laptop on the mains and if everything is going OK, think about the battery problem afterwards.  I'll also look at what you advised Delphine.

What about the Registax v K3CCDtools for stacking?

Looks like the skies are clear again, so I'll see how the evening pans out.

Watch this space!!   
(Hmmm I didn't actually mean to write a pun, but it wasn't a bad one was it?)

Carole

[Carole]

Well although the skies were clear I had a pretty disappointing evening on Wednesday as there was so much light pollution plus a bright street light opposite in the direction I wanted to observe/photograph that I had a job to align in the first instance as not being able to see anything in a constellation except single stars, did not recognise more than one alignment star on the side of the house that I was standing.  Having eventually aligned the scope, I thought I would start on Mars and just as I had got it in the eyepiece I tripped over the mains lead and disconnected the power to the scope and so had to start all over again!!!!

By the time I had aligned again Mars had disappeared behind a telegraph pole.  I waited for it to re-appear, attached the webcam etc and tried to get the software to work.  I couldn't get anything to happen at all, could not find any buttons to capture an image and those that looked as though they might have done something did nothing at all.  I telephoned  Fay the following day and over the phone we could not get anything to work as it should and so I rang Bernard at Modern Astronomy (where I had bought the Webcam) who had written down some brief instructions on how to simply use the webcam to make sure it was installed properly and we confirmed that it was.  He told me what buttons should be working on K3CCDtools and again they did nothing.  He said it looks like the software may not be working properly (that's all you want when you are struggling to work things out in the first place).

Mike, can I bring the laptop and webcam on 9th and perhaps some-one could have a look at this for me?  I won't be arriving until just after 10pm as I have the Astronomy course in Grove Park until 9.30.

Bernard gave me the name of a couple of other software programmes to try, but I thought I should stick to the one you Guys suggested in the first instance.

Many thanks
Carole

[Ian]

I'd suggest trying out the camera and software off the telescope in the warmth of your home first. If you put the webcams original lens back on you should be able to get an image of something in the room. This will confirm that the camera is working ok.

I've been trying to find a basic tutorial, or getting started guide but I've drawn a blank. But, getting some sort of image out of the camera (even without a lens you should be able to get something grey that changes brightness if you put your hand over the camera...

To start seeing images in K3CCDTools try the following:
1. plug in camera.
2. start k3ccdtools
3. at the top, under the button bar, select the video capture tab, bringing it to the front
4. from the menu bar at the top, select device and on the dropdown list, click on VfW
5. go back to device and now at the bottom of the dropdown list should be a line that says something like Philips Webcam, click on it.
6. from the menu bar at the top, now select video capture, at click on preview (at or near the bottom)
7. observe the output from the camera that appears in the big black box

The Philips software that came with the camera should also work, and newer versions ( not ME I don't think) have video capture software built in. OK for testing, waste of time otherwise...

Let us know how you get on...

[Ian]

Oh, and I tend to recommend starting with K3CCDTools, but by all means look at Registax, it won't cost you anything but time. Registax has quite a steep learning curve as it presents all it's options right from the outset and can be overwhelming. Once you get the hang of imaging and understand what you're doing then registax *can* give you better results.

[JohnP]

Jan Timmermanns website has a wealth of information on for the beginner - Jan started with webcams & uses K3/ Registax... see here:

http://www.thefirmament.nl/astro/hints_and_tips.html


John

[Mike]

....I tripped over the mains lead and disconnected the power to the scope and so had to start all over again!!!!

Yep, done that a few times.

....Mike, can I bring the laptop and webcam on 9th and perhaps some-one could have a look at this for me?...

Sure, bring it along.

If that streetlight is spilling light onto your observing area then write to your local council and ask if they can shield it or paint the side of the lamp black. There are a lot of people that have had success with their council over similar issues. It's worth a try.

[Carole]

Thanks every-one, I am replying from work and don't have the lap top with me, but my recollection is that any tab/button I pressed that had the words "video capture" on it did absolutely nothing when you clicked on it.  But I'll go through your procedures when I get home and see what happens.  As you say I would have thought I should have got some sort of reaction like a change of brightness even if I had done all the wrong things with the Webcam, as initially all I was trying to do was get some sort of download through the webcam, I can fiddle around with the settings and focus etc once I know how to make the webcam work.

I did try to capture an indoor image but did not change back to the original lens, but have exactly the same problem.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Carole

[Carole]

Thanks John for that Jan Timmermans web site link, will have a look at it.

Incidentally every-one else, I did not get a disc or any software with the webcam, he told me it would install itself, I checked in the control panel and it had definitely installed and said it was working properly.

Carole

[JohnP]

What webcam is it exactly... apologies if you already mentioned this somewhere....

[Carole]

I asked for a Phillips Toucam, so I assume that is what I have got.

(I'd suggest trying out the camera and software off the telescope in the warmth of your home first).
I took that advice this evening Ian and followed your instructions, BUT I don't have a button on the top bar called device and neither do I have a drop down menu with VfW on it. 

However, I have had some success as while I was fiddling around trying to find the above I clicked on the bottom bar of the "Video capture" button which did absolutely nothing until now (including no options from the menu bar) and pressed the bottom on the menu bar which said "Microsoft WDM image capture version 4.90.0.3000" and where I had tried this before nothing had happened - everything suddenly sprang into life and the "video capure" button now has options that open out giving a chance to select the webcam (already set ok), options to change the settings etc etc, PLUS I now have a grey box and was able to see images around the room through it, especially with the original webcam lens.

Why all this did not work before I don't know as I clicked everything possible trying to find out "what did what".

Anyway,hopefully I might be able to get somewhere now, even if it takes loads of practice to get decent pictures.

Many thanks again

Carole

[Carole]

Further to previous postings.  Now that I have a working Webcam and software I played around with the software at the weekend to familiarise myself with it and also found a tutorial for K3CCD tools version 2 (N.B. I have version 1) and there are indeed some buttons on Version 2 that are NOT on version one i.e. "device". 

I am starting to get my head around it, but could some-one explain to me what "Gain" is.  I have heard it mentioned several times and it is also amoing the options on the settings, but if I don't know what it is I won't know what to do with it.

Carole