Sunday, March 02, 2014
How do you Video?
I suppose we
should talk about the “whys” before the “hows.” There are at least five good
reasons for you to consider going video. First and foremost, it allows you to see more. You can see dimmer deep
sky objects, way dimmer objects, and you can see more detail in all objects.
I’d been puttering around with video since the mid 1990s, but it didn't really take hold with me till I awoke one morning with the conviction that in the
observing years left to me I wanted to go deeper, much deeper, and really see what was out there in the Universe.
The obvious way of
going deeper would have been by using a big scope visually. Say, something in the 20 – 30-inch aperture range. Alas, Unk, like most of y’all, neither wants to pay for nor tote
around such a beast. Luckily, I realized I didn't have to. A deep sky video camera
will at least triple the aperture of a
telescope. In fact, that really doesn't go far enough. I can see color with my
Mallincam. I can pick out tiny 16th magnitude galaxies from a star field by their golden
color, and bright nebulae and galaxies are Technicolor riots. I’ve seen hints
of color in brighter objects with a 40-inch class scope, but usually only hints. No, your C8 won't best a big-gun for resolving power, but atmospheric seeing doesn't often allow a large aperture scope to take full advantage of its resolving power advantage anyway.
Another
reason to like video is that it allows you to do astrophotography with a minimum of fuss. Your pictures will
not be as pretty as 8-hour exposures taken with an astronomical CCD camera, but they will
look mighty good on the big screen TV in the den, and you will be able to get them without guiding and with a modest mount. Even an alt-azimuth mount will produce
surprisingly good results, since a 30-second exposure with an uber-sensitive vidcam
will go mighty deep.
Do you do
public outreach? If so, video is a natural for that pursuit. Let’s face it, even adults, not just the little folk, have a hard time seeing squat
through an eyepiece. They might be able to make out M13, but M51? Rarely. With
video, even the tiniest tots can marvel at the sweeping arms of the Whirlpool
Galaxy. Video makes dim objects easy for
the public to see.
Do your
skies suck? Your backyard is badly light polluted and your club site near as
bad? Do you rarely get up the gumption to drive an hour or two to good skies for an hour or
two of observing? Video cuts through
light pollution like a hot knife through butter. Even with video, images will always look better from darker sites, but, nevertheless, a deep sky
video camera will show the Horsehead Nebula from the average suburban backyard,
something I still find remarkable after nearly ten years of this stuff.
Finally, if
you, like Unk, are a certified member of the Old Coot Club, video is such a comfortable way to observe
that you may find you outlast the young squirts doing visual observing at the Hoot Owl Star Party (HOSP). I can sit under a tailgating canopy
and observe, dry of dew and warm—or at least warmER—on cold nights. "Seated,
dry, and warm" equates to “at least three a.m.” for Unk, who’d be lucky to make
it till midnight standing at the eyepiece in the cold, damp dark.
Before you
can use video to bust through the NGCs to the PGCs and the other crazy-dim
sprites that lie beyond, you’ve got to have a video telescope—which is likely
the scope you already own. There are a few requirements for a video scope,
however. First, it must be driven. It
must track the stars. Given the small size of deep sky video camera chips, ½-
inch or even ⅓-inch, trying to track objects by hand would be a frustrating waste of
time.
Secondly,
you’ll want a telescope with a fast focal ratio and a reasonably short focal
length. For the images to be bright and the field wide, a focal ratio of around
f/4 and a focal length of about 500 – 1300mm is desirable for most
objects. A Schmidt Cassegrain is a good choice for a videographer, since one can easily use
focal reducers to speed up the focal ratio and lower the focal length. Most of the time, I
use a Meade f/3.3 reducer with the C8 and the C11. Either scope might be
equipped with an f/6.3 reducer occasionally if I want to “zoom in” on a smaller
object like a planetary nebula.
Can
Newtonians be used with video? Heck yeah. Some of the best images I’ve seen
have been done with my pals Mike Harvey and Carl Wright’s big-dobs. As above, you
will need tracking and you will possibly need to modify your Newt so it will
come to focus with a video camera. SCTs focus by moving the primary mirror and
have tremendous focus range. A Newtonian that focuses by moving the camera in
and out may have to be modified by moving the primary mirror farther up in its cell,
moving the focuser and secondary mirror closer to the primary, or, in the case of a truss type scope,
having the truss poles shortened.
Finally, a
video telescope needs goto. Trying to center objects on a small vidcam chip with
a finder scope is not fun campers, not fun at all, even with a wide field
telescope. A goto rig also enhances the comfort factor I talked about above. I
can send the scope to targets all night long without ever having to leave the
cotton-picking EZ Up. Will digital setting circles work? They can, though they
are usually not as accurate as a goto mount.
How about telescope mounts? I use both forks
and German equatorials for video and both can do well. A GEM is superior for
two reasons, however. Most fork mounts are used in alt-azimuth mode in these
latter days, so the tracking of an equatorially aligned GEM is superior. Stars
are more likely to be round in longer exposures since the scope moves smoothly
in one axis to track rather than “stair-stepping” across the sky under computer
control like an alt-az mode fork. GEMs are also less prone to cord wrap problems
than alt-azimuth forks, and since you will have many cables running to the
scope when you are videoing, that is a purty big deal.
Hokay,
you’ve got a scope suitable for video use. Camera
time. Which to choose? Do you want the (fairly) short answer? At this
time, you would be safest buying a Mallincam.
They've been around the longest (sorta, see the Stellacam discussion below),
and have the widest selection of cams, ranging from the new Micro at about $170
to the Xtreme which comes in at $1500. While most of the Mallincams are
available in black and white versions, the big draw for the M-cams has always
been color, and that’s probably what you, like me, will want.
 |
| Junior Pro |
Mallincam
has an extensive product line, so which particular Mallincam? In the past, that
would have been easy to answer: the Xtreme. It’s the top of the line camera
and comes with all the fixins: Peltier
cooler (to keep thermal noise down), full computer control of all camera
settings, control without a computer via wired and wireless remotes, and a
(relatively) large ½-inch CCD imaging chip. I’ve used my Xtreme for a couple of years now with great success. What can
it do? With my C8, it allowed me to image any Herschel object I turned it on,
including small galaxies dimmer than 16th magnitude. And show considerable
detail in many Herschels, even the faintest. Brighter DSOs? I got used to
seeing spiral arms in NGC galaxies that were mere smudges in the eyepiece.
So the
Xtreme is the one to buy? I won’t naysay that. It is a tremendous camera.
However, I am also aware not everybody has 1500 dollars lying around to invest
in a video camera, particularly if they have never seen video in action and
don’t know whether they will really like it or not. Until recently, you could give up
some capability for a slightly lower price with the Mallincam VSS or Hyper
Plus, or give up a lot of capability for a substantial price break with the
(original) Junior. Then, about a year ago, everything
changed.
What changed
the video scene was the Mallincam Junior Pro. For only 100 dollars more
than the entry-level standard Junior, the Pro, at $599.00, gives you one heck
of a lot of power. When I tested the camera, I was flat out amazed. The
pictures I was getting just didn't look much (if at all) different from what I
can achieve with the Xtreme. “OK, Unk, but what’s the catch? How can Rock Mallin sell the Mallincam Junior Pro for less
than half the price of the Xtreme?”
There is no
denying some corners have been cut compared to the Xtreme. The most serious of
which is that there is no cooling. I have not yet used the Junior under
summertime conditions, but I do not think that is going to be a huge problem.
My old black and white Stellacam was uncooled, and I never had reason to
complain about that. To some extent, how you will feel about giving up the Peltier depends on
what you are after. If you are trying to make pretty pictures, the lack of
cooling may be problematical. There will be more thermal noise visible in the
form of “false stars,” warm pixels, than with a cooled camera. If you, like me,
however, are more interested in going deep and seeing lots of detail, you
likely won’t miss the cooler.
 |
| Stellacam III |
What else
does the Junior Pro lack? Only one thing, really. The Xtreme allows control of all
camera settings including long exposure duration with a computer. With the
Junior Pro, you can control most settings with a PC, but not all. You must set
long exposure integrations using an included wireless hand control. While I
prefer doing everything from the computer, once I got friendly with the
wireless shutter controller I was OK with it. If you would like more info on
the Junior Pro, take a gander at my review
in Astronomy Technology Today, and at
U.S. Mallincam distributor Jack Huerkamp’s website.
“Wait a
minute, Unk. I hear Mr. Mallin has a new
camera, the Micro, that costs less than half what the Junior Pro does.” That’s
a fact, Jack. The Mallincam Micro is just now hitting the streets, and is
already garnering a lot of attention. In no small part due to its amazing price
of $169.99, which gets you a ready-to-go camera with a power supply and cables.
What makes it so cheap? It’s a more limited camera than the Junior Pro in one
major way. The stock Micro uses a ⅓-inch CCD chip. I used to think that was way too small, hell, I thought ½-inch was too small, but I don’t know
if I was completely correct about that. A lot of folks seem to like the new ⅓-inch
cameras.
“Cameras?”
Yep, Mallincam has never been the only game in town when it comes to deep sky
video, and there is a new player on the scene, Astro Video Systems, whose current lineup is composed of ⅓-inch cams. What can
I tell you about them? The prices are attractive, and their maker seems genuinely
committed to improving his products and supporting his customers. I am now
beginning to see some decent still frames from these cams—they have not
been around long—but I haven’t seen or used one in person yet, so I can’t
testify to their image quality. I will say that, like the Micro, the Astro
Video Systems cameras are generating a lot of interest and discussion.
And then
there is the “Old Blue” of deep sky video cameras, Stellacam. The Stellacam in its
original form as a product of John Cordiale’s Adirondack Video Astronomy was
there first, even before Mallincam, and it was the Stellacams that tipped me
off to the possibilities deep sky video. The evening I saw what a Stellacam II could do under lousy skies, I knew I
had to have one. My Stellacam II was primitive by today’s standards—no cooling,
black and white, 10-second exposure max—but it served me well for seven years. There
is no doubt Xtreme images look much better, and not just because they are in
color, but the Stellacam II brought home every single Hickson Galaxy Group I turned
it on, no matter how faint.
 |
| The Stellacam II had no problem with Hicksons... |
Whatever
happened to Stellacam? They slowly lost ground to Mallincam. A big problem was
the fact that Adirondack never introduced a color camera. Moreover, for
quite a while the best a Stellacam could do was a 10-second exposure
while Mallincam was pushing exposures ever longer. Another reason the Stellacam faded
was that its makers did not interact with the astro-video community.
They rarely (hardly ever) posted on the Stellacam Yahoogroup. In contrast, Jack
Huerkamp and Rock Mallin were (and still are) on the Mallincam Yahoogroup almost
every day. Finally, a few years ago, Adirondack Video Astronomy closed.
That didn't
mean the end of the Stellacam. It was bought by "CosmoLogic Systems," who
produced the (outboard) cooler for the newest Stellacam, the Stellacam III
($1295). What’s a Stellacam III? It’s a
black and white camera like the Stellacam II, but has had cooling added, and
is, like the Mallincams, capable of long exposures.
From what I
can tell, the Stellacam III is still available through astro-dealers, though
its maker’s webpage is still just the brief 2010 announcement of the CosmoLogic buy-out. Like Adirondack, CosmoLogic
does not seem to post in the groups devoted to video astronomy. I always liked
my Stellacam II, but the big question regarding the Stellacam III is “why?”
Most users will probably be happier with the color Mallincam VSS for a similar
price.
“But Uncle
Rod, can’t I go CHEAPER?” You can, Skeezix. Quite a few folks are using off
the shelf Samsung security cameras, particularly the SCB series, with some
success. You can read all about ‘em on the Cloudy Nights video forum. However,
my sense is that with the coming of the Mallincam Micro and the Astro-Video
Systems DSO-S ($199), there’s not much reason to mess around with “Sammies”
anymore.
Alrighty,
then, you’ve got a scope and you’ve got a camera. What else you gotta have? You
need a way to display the video. Unlike camcorders, deep sky vidcams do not
have built in monitors. There are two ways to go: a video monitor or a computer.
 |
| Orion StarShoot DVR |
A video
monitor is the simplest option. All you need is a monitor or a TV set with an
input for composite or Super-VHS video (some Mallincams have Super a VHS output
in addition to composite video). Since I am mainly interested in viewing my video on
a big screen TV or on a computer at home, I get by with a small screen in the
field. I use a nearly ten-year-old portable DVD player with a seven-inch
display. It has the advantage that it can be operated on either 120vac or
12vdc. If you choose to go this route, make sure the player you buy has video inputs as well as outputs—not all do.
The other
option is viewing video on a computer. If you want to do that, you will need another
piece of gear in addition to a laptop. Your computer doesn't know a pea-picking thing about analog
video, so you will have to have a device that converts composite or S-VHS video to
digital data (often .avi files) that can be displayed by the PC. Mallincam
sells these devices, which are usually called “frame grabbers,” but you can get
‘em at the local BestBuy, too.
Monitor or
computer? My experience is a video monitor usually produces better images. If
you are interested in broadcasting your video over Mr. Mallin’s Night Skies Network, however, you will need to run
video to the PC. Just remember that, whichever display you choose, not
everybody at a dark site will appreciate your video and will be disturbed by
the light from a monitor. Put a red filter over the screen just like
you do with a laptop.
How do you
save your images for later viewing? If you are running to a computer, the
software you use with the frame grabber should allow you to save your video to the hard drive. If you are using
a video monitor, it’s more complicated. When I began with the Stellacam II in
2005, I used a cheap VHS recorder. That worked, but the quality was pretty
punk. As DVDs sounded the death knell of videotape, I switched to a DVD
recorder, which also worked and which I used for years.
A DVD
recorder was hardly a perfect solution though. At remote sites without AC power I had to run the home recorder with a battery and inverter, and it would suck
down even a big deep cycle marine battery in a right quick hurry. It also had a
tendency to corrupt disks when my battery was getting low or when the air was
cold and humid. More than once, I found an entire evening’s recordings were
lost when it came time to “finalize” the DVD at the end of the night. There had
to be a better way.
 |
| Still frame from the Orion DVR... |
I found that
better way a couple of years back with Orion’s StarShoot DVR digital video
recorder. This little widget is smaller than a pack of smokes, has a small but
legible display, records to an SD card, and features a rechargeable battery
that lasts at least a couple of long evenings. An inexpensive 8gb SD card will usually hold
all the video I want to record over a two or three night star party expedition. It
gets even better. The video files on the SD card (.avi files) can be loaded
into a computer by the simple expedient of removing the SD card from the DVR
and plugging it into the PC (if your computer does not have an SD card slot,
USB SD card readers are inexpensive). Other comparable DVRs are available, but
the Orion is high in quality (though its manual is almost indecipherable), reliable,
and supported.
One last
requirement before we hook it all together: power for the video camera. Most
deep sky cams come with an AC power supply, but I have found that is not a good
way to roll. My club site has no AC power, and even when I am at an observing
location that does, I find the wall-wart power supplies furnished with cameras
tend to produce noisy video. I always operate the camera off a 12vdc jump-start
battery. Even the Xtreme, which has a Peltier cooler, draws little current, and
a 17ah battery will power it all night long.
OK, time for
set up in the field. How you mount the camera on the scope depends on the
scope. With a Newtonian, the focal reducer, if you are using one, goes into the
focuser and the camera with its 1.25 or 2-inch nosepiece goes into the reducer.
Things are a little more dicey with SCTs.
If you are
using the Meade f/3.3. reducer like Unk, you screw that onto the scope’s rear port, screw
a visual back onto that, and insert the camera into the visual back. The
problem comes if you are using a Mallincam and an alt-az fork mount SCT. Due to
the long bodies of most Mallincams, they will hit some scopes' drive bases if you
go more than about 75 – 80-degrees in altitude.
The fix?
It’s not always simple. You can use a star diagonal, but that will put you too
far from the Meade reducer for the camera to come to focus. Best bet is a
non-Meade reducer. The good old Meade 3.3 seems to no longer be available,
anyway. Mallincam (MFR-5) and others make reducers that go on the camera’s nose and
can be inserted into the eye end of a diagonal with good results. If
your fork mount is in equatorial mode or you are using a German
equatorial, you will not have this problem.
Now comes
the fun of cabling everything together. Computer control cable goes from the camera to a USB-serial adapter on the PC. Video cable
runs from the cam’s video output to a monitor or frame grabber (or a switch or
splitter if you are using a recorder). If you are not controlling the camera
with a computer, you may have a wired remote for various camera functions and a
wireless shutter controller for a Mallincam’s long exposure setup (you’ll plug
a wireless receiver module into the camera). Obviously, when you add the
telescope’s power cord, computer control cable, dew heater power cable, and motofocus
cable, you have a mess of cables, and you may want to look into various
strategies for bundling them together to prevent the scope from being wrapped up
like a dadgum mummy.
Next, you fire up all that stuff, set the camera exposure and other things,
and have at it. How do you set up the camera? How do you get good images on
your display or into your recorder? That is somewhat complicated, though after
a few video runs it will become second nature to you. It is also a story best left for another
Sunday. It seems, muchachos, that despite what Professor Einstein says we are slap
out of time and space.
Next Time: Betsy! Betsy! Betsy!
Comments:
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Thank you for the introduction to video observation. I live in the middle of Manhattan, so this may be a good option for me and my C5!
Thanks for this informative intro... I'm getting ready to pull the trigger, but wonder where the ZWO ASI120 fits into the mix -- do you lose anything with the USB connection to the computer vice the multi-cabling from the Mallincam and Astro-video systems?
Thanks for the informative intro... I'm getting ready to pull the trigger, but wonder where the ZWO ASI120 fits into the mix given its USB computer connectivity? Is anything lost when using USB vice the Mallincam and Astro-video systems?
HI Don:
Depends. The ASI is a remarkable camera, but the Mallincam and Astro Video cameras are superior for the deep sky. The ASI is certainly better on the planets.
Depends. The ASI is a remarkable camera, but the Mallincam and Astro Video cameras are superior for the deep sky. The ASI is certainly better on the planets.
Great post as usual. Any chance of you "borrowing" a micro-EX for a review? That bad boy could be a game-changer. I would buy it just to get started and then move up to a Jr Pro and use the EX for a guider....
Jack
Jack
# posted by 
: 7:56 AM
: 7:56 AM
Ya great post Unk. You definetly piqued my interest in these cams also.
Thanks a mill and clear skies
Patrick
Thanks a mill and clear skies
Patrick
Mallincam JR PRO "PC" version has (so I heard) complete exposure control up to 99 mins with your laptop computer controlling it by remote control over a cable. No Mallincam wireless control handset needed. Cheers, Alistair G.
Many broken promises from AVS on the DSO-1 I ordered. I asked specifically if he could deliver by April 1st(I had neck surgery the 16th and wanted it in before because I cannot work with my arms up for 6 weeks) and was told yes he should be able to get it here around the 1st.
It is the 2oth, camera finally arrived, video connector is bent sideways and looked used, it has corrosion on the barrel. It took a complaint to paypal to even get him to ship, he should have just refunded my money like I asked instead of printing a label then scrambling a week to find a camera to ship(yes there was a week delay between label printing and shipping). Now I have to repack it in a better box, deal with shipping, when all I want to do is recover from a multi level neck fusion.
Run away fast AND DO NOT BUY FROM Astro Video!
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It is the 2oth, camera finally arrived, video connector is bent sideways and looked used, it has corrosion on the barrel. It took a complaint to paypal to even get him to ship, he should have just refunded my money like I asked instead of printing a label then scrambling a week to find a camera to ship(yes there was a week delay between label printing and shipping). Now I have to repack it in a better box, deal with shipping, when all I want to do is recover from a multi level neck fusion.
Run away fast AND DO NOT BUY FROM Astro Video!
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