Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager
by Celestron
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List Price: Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager
Customer Review: Images in an Instant!
Summary: 5 Stars
This has got to be one of the easiest telescope imager/camera around. This imager goes in place of the eyepiece and the images instantly appear on the laptop computer screen. The included image processing software is very user friendly. The driver loads quickly in seconds. It is very exciting to see astro images of the moon and details on the lunar craters. The CCD chip is highly sensitive and gives you excellent detail even at low light conditions. The photographic magnification of this imager gives you a remarkable 150x. I have not tried it on Jupiter but I am certain that I won't be disappointed. Great purchase!Customer Review: Bart Brown
Summary: 5 Stars
nexiamge very great ue video and still .I was use during transit Mercury of the Sun too ir/vu blocker and reducer lens for neximage good OkCustomer Review: Husband loves it...
Summary: 5 Stars
purchased as a birthday present for my husband to use with his telescope. He has used and enjoyed this product several times.Customer Review: Maravilloso/great
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this item and I recommended for anythings.
Me encanta y lo recomiendo para cualquier usuario
Customer Review: Great for Jupiter
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this to use with a 20+ year old 4" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (f/12). The first night I used it to image Jupiter at its close approach in September. I initially found it difficult to find Jupiter thru the imager, despite centering it with an eyepiece before switching to the imager. Then I realized I was way out of focus (much different focal plane for the imager). Once I turned the focus knob a few revolutions, there it was. I had to reduce the gain using the included software to see details on the surface. At least with my system you can either see the cloud belts or the moons, not both at the same time. The images on the computer screen were so-so but once I aligned and stacked the images with Registax, the picture was more than I expected for such a modest telescope. The equitorial belt was vivid (one missing at this time) and several smaller belts were also seen. One photo shows the Great Red Spot and another shows a moon or it's shadow as a small dark spot on the surface of Jupiter. Overall, this was more than I had hoped for with this imager for Jupiter considering my small telescope.
Some notes:
You don't necessarily need tracking but it makes your life much easier. With decent magnification, you will lose objects from your field of view before you can record a few hundred frames for stacking. Even with tracking on my scope, I would have to tweek the declination between photos to keep things in the frame.
The image size of Jupiter at prime focus with my telescope an this imager was perfect. For the moon, the magnification was too high. I could only photograph small sections and the quality was so-so. With Jupiter, you could start with the planet at the top of the frame and film it until it reached the bottom. This was not a problem for Registax to handle. With the moon, you fill the entire frame so only half of the craters are still in the frame after a minute or more of capture so some craters move out of frame during the capture while others appear.
I tried to use this with my f/6 10" Dobsonian. I was unable to focus within the range of my focuser until I lowered my mirror cell in the tube. This gave a very high magnification image so only short capture times were possible before objects left the frame (no tracking). The images using the 4"SCT were better so I converted my Dob back to a visual telescope and stick to the SCT.
Finding objects is a bit challenging due to the narrow field of view when using this imager. I recommend centering the object using a high powered eyepiece and using/making a parafocal ring to make the focus close between the eyepiece and imager.
The camera is easy to use and the cord is plenty long enough. The software is reasonably easy to use once you play with it a little. Registax works very well and the automatic processing is usually good enough. Keep in mind that if the image on the screen is horrible, you probably won't get much from Registax. You need to have clear skies and sharp focus.