The Novice Astro Photographer (Nap)Cam
Duchek Consulting Services introduces the NapCam. A ready to use color webcam complete with 1.25" adapter combination designed to allow new astrophotographers to 'get their feet wet' without spending a lot of money.  The camera is particularly well suited to taking lunar images.   It incorporates an inexpensive Chinese webcam with custom designed nose piece to produce a system capable of high quality results.   Because Chinese webcam models change quickly with new features added, and because some of the Chinese cameras do not work well in this use, models supplied are expected to change (and improve) with time.  Therefore it is possible that the camera sent with your order might be an improved model over the one pictured here today (06/01/2010).  I will update the site promptly but want to reserve the right to change quickly as I discover and test models with improved features. At some point I may well have more than one model available. This is the first webcam that I have found that gives results that beginners deserve.  DCS testing on this model is discussed below.  Our goal here was to have a set up priced below $50 that would produce quality AVIs for use with Registax or AVIStack.

My experiences tell me a newtonian with good collimation and rear fan cooling can take wonderful images.  All of the pictures on this page were taken on 04/20/2010 using a 6" Dynascope Newtonian (F/8) with an Orion electric focuser, rear fan.  Some images are at prime focus, others are using a 2x Celestron Ultima barlow. 
Description of the current camera model(Model DCS-001):   USB 6 IR LED night vision webcam with microphone.  The microphone is not used in this application.  The custom designed 1.25" Delrin adapter blocks any of the IR LEDs from being effective.  On this model, the IR filter is attached to the lens, and so when the lens is removed to insert the 1.25" Delrin adapter one obtains the full IR and color visible range.  The pictures on this page were taken with NO FILTERS attached. Several were taken with the b&w button pressed.   The user may decide to purchase later an IR block filter which would give truer colors. This uses a 0.25" color chip as the heart of the camera.

Compatibility:
DCS-001 will work using the free acquisition program Craterlet by Stark labs. Its driver software will work ok also.  It wll also work with version 2 of KCCDTools.   The driver it comes with can also be used to take AVIs.  This particular model has 6 IR leds that are blocked by the nosepiece from interfering with pictures.  It also comes with a built in microphone, which is not used in astronomical applications. This manifests itself as an audio cable that separates near the USB end of the cable.

Modes of operation:  The driver on this camera will allow the following video resolutions in 24 bit color
640x480 (this is the one used for the pictures shown)
352x288 (untested)
320x240 (untested)
176x144 (untested)
160x120 (untested)

Frames per second
The driver can be set at 30 frames/sec with these results:
At 640x480, I obtained about 35 frames/sec using an IDE harddrive running at 7200 rpm, a slower drive might give somewhat fewer frames/sec. (It is saving the AVI frames as it goes)

The included driver does not allow you to change the 30 frame/sec setting.


 
Planetary Imaging: This can be frustrating with this model camera.  While it is plenty sensitive to take such photos, The driver brightness and contrast controls are very sensitive when one has a bright spot in the center of a dark field.  For this reason we don't recommend this for this model.  No such problem occurs with lunar images where most of the field is lit.  We are continuing our search for a driver/camera combination that handles this situation better while keeping the cost below $50..

AVIs: The AVIs produced by this camera are compatible with either AVISTACK or Registax5.  The lunar images produced here were made using AVISTACK for registration & stacking and Registax 5 for the final wavelet adjustments (my preferences). A couple had pink hues that were corrected by converting them to black and white.   A new version (2.0) of AVISTACK should make it possible for lunar strip images to be taken by dobs with no tracking as the moon drifts through the view.

Start up costs:
Assuming you have a computer and a telescope that tracks already, your total start cost should be under $50.
If you use Craterlet to obtain the avi files, Registax or AVIstack to stack them, and Gimp or CinePaint for the final processing, you should have NO SOFTWARE EXPENSES to process the photography. 

AstroAdapter shown alone; Camera threads and filter threads shown.
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. It was taken with the NapCam at prime focus of a 6" F/8 Criterion Dynascope mounted on a CG5 GoTo mount.  It was processed with Craterlet, AVIstack, Registax, and Gimp.  As with all of the images on the page, taken on 04/20/2010

Webcam available alone  with driver CD (not prepared by removing laptop clip)  $28 includes US shipping

Astroadapter available alone (fits many webcams, including the Toucam Pro.  Its short nose allows you to get the chip in close.  I am uncertain whether it is short enough for the camera to focus in the PST.  I am working on finding this out.  $28 includes US shipping.


NapCam AstroCamera Setup (Webcam with laptop clip removed, Astroadapter installed and driver CD). Orginal camera lens will be included in a plastic bag.  As shown in the picture.  $45 includes US shipping. 
We will ship these worldwide for actual shipping.  A $3 credit for the US shipping will be applied.



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Taken under the same conditions as the image to the left, and processed by the same software.