Posted by Roy Hughes at 19:56 on 2011 Mar 02
Norman,I know this a bit off topic, but….if you are not all set up yet you might get a laugh trying something I just thought of (several years late!).Out of dumb curiosity I just put one of the webcams (with original lens) on a tripod hooked it to the laptop and shot a 20 secs. AVI of Orion from just outside the back door. Just made a guess at focussing, and let the camera use all its automatic settings.Slapped it into Registax which removed all the noise and an overflying aircraft. (I’m under the Heathrow flightpath.) Then into Corel Photobook to push the contrast a bit.From such a quick and dirty experiment I was quite surprised at the result. Certainly NOT a candidate for picture of the week but the constellation was recognisable and I think I can detect a bit of nebulosity in the sword.This is manifestly NOT what the cameras are best at… but still.BestRoy