After receiving all the bits and pieces for completing the webcam attachments, I was expecting bad weather. I was surprised to find that the sky was clear about 10pm last night. I grabbed all my gear and headed out. After the usual level, power up, I did a quick solar system align on Saturn and had a play with the webcam. Hmm, unable to focus it. I started playing around with various connections and diagonals all to no avail. I user the normal 30mm extension tube, I tired both with a standard mirror diagonal and a prism diagonal, with and without the barlow. I tried unscrewing one of the nose pieces from the diagonal and it wouldn't attach to the webcam nose piece. In the end, the only way I could achieve any form of focus was without the diagonal, using the 30mm extension tube and the 2x barlow without the lens element. This meant that the image was a wee bit tiny. Anyway, after some play with the settings in vlounge, I fired up k3ccdtools and played some more in there. After a couple of abortive attempts, I managed to get a 3 minute avi captured. After some trial and error, I managed to get Registax 4 to process it, and with some playing with the wavelets thingys ended up with this
Yes, it's very small, I need to work out a way of using the barlow properly and this is going to take some playing during the day when I can work out what tubes connect to what attachments to get focus. Ah well.
After capturing the AVI, I tested out the 24mm Hyperion. As usual, I got the normal Hyperion experience. Really wide views crisp and clear. I tested it out on M44 and not only could see the cluster, but the two stars in Cancer either side. This gives me higher Mag than bins, but the same FOV. Excellent. I then decided to try the Hyperion tuning rings on the 5mm and went back to Saturn. In theory the tuning rings will give me the same mag as the 5mm with x2 barlow. This did indeed seem to be the case, but as everything was misting up quite badly at this point, it was really hard to say for sure. In fact, I gave up at this point, I'd only been out for an hour, but as everything was misted over, including the tripod legs, I didn't see the point in struggling on. An enjoyable session even if somewhat short.
Yes, it's very small, I need to work out a way of using the barlow properly and this is going to take some playing during the day when I can work out what tubes connect to what attachments to get focus. Ah well.
After capturing the AVI, I tested out the 24mm Hyperion. As usual, I got the normal Hyperion experience. Really wide views crisp and clear. I tested it out on M44 and not only could see the cluster, but the two stars in Cancer either side. This gives me higher Mag than bins, but the same FOV. Excellent. I then decided to try the Hyperion tuning rings on the 5mm and went back to Saturn. In theory the tuning rings will give me the same mag as the 5mm with x2 barlow. This did indeed seem to be the case, but as everything was misting up quite badly at this point, it was really hard to say for sure. In fact, I gave up at this point, I'd only been out for an hour, but as everything was misted over, including the tripod legs, I didn't see the point in struggling on. An enjoyable session even if somewhat short.
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