Unconventional astrophotography

Unconventional Astrophotography is capturing astrophotographs utilizing cameras not specifically designed for that purpose.

A specific example of this is the use of webcams. An unmodified webcam is generally capable of capturing images of the planets, and of the moon. Some webcams can be modified allowing them to take long exposures, thus allowing the imaging of deep space objects. The first of these was the Connectix black and white webcam, whose modification only required the cutting of a single wire in a technique that was pioneered by Dave Allmon.

Since then, many individuals have found various webcams can be modified to allow long exposures. Additionally, software techniques arrived that allow the stacking of many short exposures to create a synthetic long exposure. Commercial companies are adapting some of these new techniques in commercial astrophotography systems.

Another type of camera not designed for astrophotography but adapted for use has been video cameras. An example of this camera would be the StellaCam.

Most of these cameras can be constructed using simple tools, attention to detail, a few hours, and a willingness to void a webcam's warranty.

External links

* [http://www.davidallmon.com/index.html Dave Allmon]
* [http://www.qcuiag.co.uk The Quickcam Unconvetional Astrophotography Group]
* [http://sweiller.free.fr/VP-SC.html Steve Chambers Vesta SC Modification]
* [http://astro.neutral.org/webcam_mods.html Summary of long exposure webcam modifcations]
* [http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1recf Vasu Jagannathan's digital camera and webcam astrophotography with a convert|3.5|in|mm|sing=on telescope]