How difficult is webcam astrophotography?
It is quite easy to do webcam astrophotography. All you have to do is to take a webcam's lens off and point it through your telescope instead of the eyepiece. You can use the software that came with your webcam to capture AVIs.
In order to convert the AVIs to an image, you need the freeware software like K3 CCD Tools or Registax. These software packages are easy to use.
How cheap/expensive is webcam astrophotography?
All you really MUST buy is a webcam with a ccd chip, assuming you already have a telescope. I understand that barlow lenses are the best way to magnify your images. To get started you can capture AVIs using prime focus (using no eyepieces and no barlow lenses) - just your telescope and the webcam.
Only the moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn is suitable for prime focus webcam astrophotography - if your telescope's focal ratio is f/10, your prime focus AVIs will be captured at f/10 as well.
If you decide you want to continue with webcam astrophotography, you can invest in a quality 2x and 3x Barlow lens. I did. It is my best webcam investment yet. With the 2x Barlow your AVIs will be captured at f/20 and with the 3x Barlow your AVIs will be captured at f/30 (assuming you have an f/10 telescope).
There is no other special lenses, filters or software you must have.
What kind of webcam do I need?
A webcam with a ccd chip is best.
The following webcams are all used widely for webcam astrophotography
Do I need a special telescope for webcam astrophotography?
Most telescopes will work.
However, webcams are most suited for high magnification imaging of the moon and the brighter planets. Therefore a longer focal length telescope will be better.
A webcam's imaging chip is very small. Objects drift out of its field of view quite quickly. A clock driven telescope will GREATLY add to the ease of taking images using a webcam.
What software do I need?
The software most astrophotographers use are:
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