TheSkySearchers-Welcome!

So here's the deal, I ONLY want to plug in my budget Svbony SV205 USB camera into my Windows 10 laptop and view the live images. I have NO current interest in capturing the images for any reason.

The camera did come with SharpCap which I have dutifully loaded and updated on my little laptop.

For my limited purposes is mega-full-featured 'capture' software like SharpCap really even needed or is there a driver or simple app I can use just to see the live images?

Also I have added a .5 focal reducer to the cam due to the long focal length on my Nexstar 127SLT Mak. I have read someplace that the SV205 is 'equivalent' to a 5mm eyepiece? So using the reducer I'm presuming that lowers the magnification down to a more functional 10mm EP on my scope?

YES, I know the SV205 is the bottom of the video camera barrel, but with no interest in AP I couldn't justify spending more than a spare Benjamin on a video "toy", so gimme a break. lol

Hi Randy! Simple webcam applications can show you what the camera is pointing at. But...

Applications like SharpCap can do live stacking. Live stacking can help to bring a deep sky object forth out of the noise.

Here is a nice write up by Dave Barrett at High Point Scientific: https://www.highpointscientific.com/ima ... ve-barrett

Ah so another dissapears down the rabbit hole .... beware this is where it all begins ... good luck Randy ... Phill

My realistic discretionary $$ (barring a future Lottery win ) self-limits the diameter and depth of all my various hobby rabbit holes. No worries. Besides, my son, who has the scope at his house, is threatening to put me in a home if I buy any more astronomy stuff.

For any others who do a search on the Svbony SV2015 camera, and beyond their ads and some Amazon customer reviews there isn't much out there on the interwebs, a spokesperson for Svbony confirms that the SV205 offers 'about the same level of magnification as a 5 or 6mm EP which with my scope's approx. 1420mm real focal length would be a magnification roughly equal to the theoretical maximum. likely unusable in the real world. With the addition of my .5 focal reducer I am lead to believe that doubles the EP number to 10 or 12mm for a more realistic 118x to 142x which 'should' suffice for basic laptop live cam viewing?

I have also downloaded the free ManyCam software to my laptop to compare focus clarity using that vs my slightly blurry SharpCap experience yesterday looking at a tall tree across two backyards. Viewable skies again were absent all day.

I'll be re-united with the scope this coming Friday at a yard party and with LOTS of luck will be able to put everything together and show the guests what our moon looks like up close and personal. If the sky refuses to cooperate I just 'may' connect up all the wires, fire up Stellarium, zoom in a bunch on the moon and keep my mouth shut. lol

Hope you get some clear skies for your investigations, Randy. Things are looking pretty glum up here in Michigan. I'm curious to know how the new camera works out for you.

I have not done any video astronomy, although I have taken some nice cell phone photos of the Moon. My understanding of video astronomy, based solely on reading and not experience, is that what you are referring to as "live viewing" involves using a camera with a CCD or CMOS sensor that provides a continually updated image, e.g., the image is refreshed every few seconds, giving what is in effect a live video feed of the subject, just like one would use Skype or Face Time for a live video conference. For the Moon, this would work just fine, as it is very bright. Of course, you need reasonably good tracking to keep the Moon in view, but that shouldn't be a problem. You wouldn't need something as sophisticated as SharpCap; any basic webcam software would be fine for the Moon. I'm sure ManyCam will be good.

However, to view anything but the brightest objects, as Bryan pointed out, you'd need to explore the capabilities of SharpCap. A live video feed of a dim DSO is not going to be of any use. It's no different from visual - not about magnification, but about light-gathering. You would see at best no better than what you can see yourself through the EP. This is where a program like SharpCap opens up the possibilities. SharpCap can be used to acquire data and "build up" an image on screen over a couple of minutes. It is not really live, but it's pretty close, and thus is sometimes called near-real-time viewing (NRTV).

The stacked images displayed onscreen are not going to look like a processed finished product by an experience AP'er, but they will reveal much more than your eyes can. This technique will allow you to see detail and color in dim objects.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures.

Thanks for the response. We share the same always cloudy, EVERY stinking weekend night, skies I'm afraid. Been that way since I bought the durn Nexstar in late April.

Might need to fetch the scope from my son's place and take a long expensive road trip one of these days. lol

It appears the camera has a version of the OV2710 sensor. Here's a link to more info on that: https://www.ovt.com/sensors/OV2710-1E Note that this means a sensor diagonal measurement of about 6.7mm.

You can go here: http://www.hrastro.com/tools-and-progra ... alculator/ and calculate your FOV. Note that the sensor is approximately 5.9x3.3mm.

Randy - Thanks for starting this topic. We share the same minimalist goals for getting started affordable video astronomy. I have a 5 year old NexImage 5 and bought a SV205 for $59 (Prime Day last summer) , and I just want to learn to use them for simple screen viewing of images from the telescope. Still need to read a few articles on how to set up SharpCap for for video streaming and simple live stacking for near real time planetary image display.

I've been locked out for a couple weeks due to the login issue. MANY Thanks to Bladekeeper for coming to my rescue over on CN. for that - AND for posting the link to Dave Barretts excellent article on the High Point Scientific site - very helpful.

I've almost finished the mods for my refurbed SE mount, and I will do some posts that may be of interest to you guys/gals.
When that is done, I'll try hooking up the simple cameras to a couple of scopes to see what I can bring up on screen. I'll try to share what I learn here - so you won't have to duplicate my mistakes.

Meanwhile, I look forward to more of Randy's post (and the rest of you all) as the frontrunners for basic video astronomy on this forum.

I have a really simple setup that I use as a video finder.

Lihmsek camera
https://tinyurl.com/uy2jxz8 . USD$59
Lihmsek with 2.8-12mm Lens 1/3"Sony CCD 700TVL, EFFIO-E Super Low light Box Camera, Color image Day/Night, 0.00001 lux, Full OSD
This is an analogue video camera, not USB so no laptop required and the signal can be sent straight to a 12v video monitor. I have a 5 inch monitor that cost about USD$15.You can display on up to a 12" 12v video monitor. I wanted the small screen for this application. It comes with a c mount. you can put a 0.5x compressor and attach to a scope or buy a mount adapter which adapts from whatever camera lens brand you favour to a c mount.

Sensitivity is very good but the dynamic range isn't. Objects like M42 have too big a brightness range.

Joe

Hi Randy,

Also, you should know that Deep Sky Stacker (DSS), which is freeware has a stand-alone title (which comes as part of the bundle when you download) called Deep Sky Stacker Live. It is a bit simpler than SharpCap plus you don't have all the resources need by SharpCap slowing down your system. Give it a download and a try and see what you think. http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

Cheers,
JT

Per the product info on Amazon the SVBONY 205 uses the Sony IMX179 sensor. The 179 has a resolution (pixel array) of 3280 (H) x 2464 (V) with a pixel size of 1.4 µm x 1.4 µm.

• Take this data and go to https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ and select imaging mode.
  Under Chose Object select a Messier object such as M13 from the list.
  Under Chose Equipment select the 127 SLT from the scope drop down telescope list. The blanks auto-fill.
  Then Select Custom Camera* and fill in the resolution and pixel size boxes.
  Then select and hit the Add to View button.

You will see how much of M13 will be visible in an image made with your camera.

Go back up to the Equipment and add select your reducer from the Barlow/Reducer drop down list and again press Add to View.

You can use this tool to compare your camera with an EP (Plossl should be good) as well as see the effect of using a Barlow (not likely to work well because of the long focal length and narrow field of view) or a reducer.

*I submitted a request to add your camera to the list, but it may not appear right away.

My thoughts on SC.

I use it the Pro version and i rather like it, but there is a learning curve. The free version has all the features you need and your camera is fully supported. You don't need to use the live stacking feature or any of the tools. Gain, exposure and color balance should get you started. Even the simplest free software requires you to set some values. There are some auto settings in SC and you can try them. The auto color balance usually works but gain is best set by hand. It just takes some practice.

Many nights you can see SharpCap in use by visiting https://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/. Several of the regular broadcasters use SharpCap. Even better sign up. That gets you access to the chat box and audio. Because of a problem on the server to use the chat box or your microphone you will need to download and install Chromium Portable v61, It is a lightweight stand alone browser. I only use it for NSN. https://sourceforge.net/projects/crportable/

Most of the participants are happy to answer questions, give advice, and show you how things work. There also some good resources on the net including a number of videos on youtube.

SV205 is absolutely no use for deep sky viewing. and almost certainly limited to planetary type photos or viewing. like moon saturn jupiter venus.
it can't do long exposures more than about like 1/4 second or so. just about like any other regular old webcam you'd get from the dollar store.

I'm late to the party here, but have you looked at the Revolution 2 Imager? Realtime TV, comes with a small monitor, etc. Actually, it might do a little internal stacking, so it would be NRTV. No laptop needed and you can store images if you want on an outboard thumb drive. Sells for about $299, I think.

It's been awhile since I researched them, so maybe things have changed, but this might be an affordable no-fuss no-muss alternative.

you'll might want look into live stacking while doing your eaa viewing, apparently there are other software that do live stacking,infinity, starlight , astrotoaster .

http://www.astrotoaster.com/ if you can get ahold of a dslr with good pc control with it like a canon then astrotoaster should work with it.

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:40 pm I'm late to the party here, but have you looked at the Revolution 2 Imager? Realtime TV, comes with a small monitor, etc. Actually, it might do a little internal stacking, so it would be NRTV. No laptop needed and you can store images if you want on an outboard thumb drive. Sells for about $299, I think. It's been awhile since I researched them, so maybe things have changed, but this might be an affordable no-fuss no-muss alternative.

Yes indeed. The above seems at least worth investigating? I believe a "bundle" (containing everything needed) was reviewed in Sky & Telescope (for the US readers). Before Video Astronomy adopted USB output and real-time *software* stacking, low-light Video [security] Cameras were used for Video Astronomy. These had internal hardware stacking of frames and sent the resultant image (updated every few seconds) along a video cable. This could be connected directly to a screen with BNC input etc. Of course, you could THEN use a Video Grabber card / Dongle, write an .AVI Video Data file to Laptop and further stack the images. I have used WATEC (910XH etc.) cameras of this type of work with good results.

However, times / technology changes, such Cameras may be harder to find now? (The market for quality, ultra-sensitive CCD cameras is not primarily Astronomy?!?). They may be fairly expensive still! That said, you can have a lot of fun with such a setup and it does not require a computer to get started. The above "bundle" (see review) comes at a reasonable price may help you decide if that what you are seeking.

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:40 pm ... have you looked at the Revolution 2 Imager? Realtime TV, comes with a small monitor, etc.

The RI is an impressive kit for seven years ago. The only thing remarkable about it today is that it uses a low resolution CCD security camera with a hard to find feature set. Hard to find because the tech is obsolete and the image quality low.

The vendor will also sell you a "Funstar" to go with it. Why spend hundreds more for a Hyperstar with those complex lenses, when for just $80 (and no pesky glass) your RI you can get fast, low res optically distorted images.

I tell you what. Look on the net for the lowest prices and buy these items, or buy on Amazon for easy return.

• Portable 7" LCD monitor.

• 0.5x Focal Reducer to dramatically widen the field of view.

• UV/IR filter.

Optional (remote not required and 12VDC power brick can run the system)

• 12v Li-Ion Battery with charger to run both the camera and LCD screen.

• Hand-held remote control to control the camera.

Send me a copy of the receipts and $10 for postage and I will send you a CCD camera with specs as good or better than the RI, and. a C mount to 1.25" adapter. (limited offer, one only at this low low price).

Once you get everything together and are amazed at the images, return the Amazon items, give away the camera and buy a good entry level CMOS astronomy camera.

@Harmonious - or anyone else. Yes, the resolution is low. But the images I see that have been taken of the sun are really impressive - as was M104. I mean, yeah, low res, but for outreach sufficient with the R2. I *could* use my imaging camera and DSS Live. But one final obstacle is getting a wifi hotspot. All the ones I've found are for internet access and cost a significant chunk of change - ie $169.00 + data costs. Is there a wifi hotspot that can just broadcast locally - say with a 100ft transmission distance? One of the things I *must* have if I'm going to do outreach is to have the ability for people to take images on their cell phones which the Revolution Imager R2 with their wifi adapter can do.