Weasner's Meade LPI Astrophotography Page

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH MEADE LUNAR PLANETARY IMAGER

Last updated: 19 October 2009

Subject:	Jupiter with LPI
Sent:	Monday, October 19, 2009 12:33:57
From:	Luis Villa (etx_125ec_from_arizona@q.com)
Saturday night I took the scope and LPI out to give Jupiter a shot...

Once I had set the scope in the ALT-AZ home position, I turned it on and
let the autostar decide on which two stars to align on.  After some very
minor centering in eyepiece, I then picked Jupiter and hit the GO-TO
button... once I had Jupiter centered I then put the LPI to work....  I
used the parfocalizing ring that came with the LPI on the 26 mm eyepiece
in order to focus as well as possible.  Works very well.  I will try the
Barlow lenses I have.. both 2x and 3x... I have successfully used them
before, BUT it is a pain in the rear centering on the laptop!!

Periodically I will be sending pics taken with both my LPI and my
trustworthy CoolPix 995---

Great site, I have learned tons...

Have you heard anything on Scopetronics?  Good or Bad?  I see their web
site is still up, but I don't want to order anything from them, yet... 
I have lots of their stuff from way back, and am looking for eyepiece
extensions...  somehow I think I lost them, or misplaced them...
hopefully misplaced and will be found!  Of course AFTER I buy
replacements I will find the "missing" ones.

Luis From Nogales...

Mike here: See the Other: Editorial Page for some comments on Scopetronix.

End of today's update

Subject:	LPI on Vista 64?? Please help.
Sent:	Thursday, October 1, 2009 06:12:54
From:	Eric and Ali (adeedw@iprimus.com.au)
Sorry to bother you, but I'm at a loss on how to get my Lpi working. I
have done alot of searching and been down a few dead ends now. I was
hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction. ;-) I am
running vista 64 bit. Autostar suite/Envisage etc, is on my computer but
the lpi is not recognised. My computer searches for a driver but can't
find one. Thanks for your time.

Kind regards,

Eric Smith(Australia)

Mike here: I don't use Windows so can't help directly. See the articles "LPI Drivers" and "LPI and Microsoft Vista" on the Helpful Information: Astrophotography page. You can also search the ETX Site for "LPI Vista" and you'll find several articles; perhaps something there will help as well.

End of 16 October update

Subject:	LPI Camera Software
Sent:	Monday, June 1, 2009 09:27:46
From:	Lyle Johnsen (lylej66@gmail.com)
I'm angry! After purchasing an LPI Camera for my ETX-80, I find that the
camera software will not run on Windows Vista.  I called Meade customer
service and was told that they have no plan to supply a camera driver
for Vista.  Do you know of any other software that will run the this
camera on Vista?
Lyle Johnsen

Mike here: Yeah, Microsoft Vista is a pain. Which is why I guess they are dropping it (in favor of Windows 7). Of course, some customers dropped them in favor of Mac OS X... Anyway, see the article "LPI and Microsoft Vista" on the Helpful Information: Astrophotography page.

And:

Why should we think the next version of Windows will be better?  It
seems to me that every time Mister Softie "improves" something -- things
get worse! (IE8 is the latest example.)  And why would Meade support the
next version when they don't support current version?
Lyle

Mike here: That's just one of the many reasons that Microsoft provides for people to switch to Macs! Maybe, Meade will switch too!

And:

... and I will switch to Celestron.
Thanks for your help, Mike.
Lyle

Mike here: Competition is a good thing! By the way, did that article help?

And:

I'm not sure I want to manually edit the registry, it sounds dangerous. 
I think I would prefer to exchange the camera for a Celestron that
claims to run on Vista.
Lyle

Mike here: Understand!

End of 3 June update

Subject:	re: LPI Camera with ETX-125
Sent:	Friday, March 27, 2009 20:43:06
From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
I'm going to suggest a test which i did when i first received an LPI...

I took a piece of aluminum foil, stretched across the LPI's front tube,
and used a straight pin (or fine needle) to make the -tiniest- hole i
could in the center of the foil.

Then i hooked the camera (no telescope, but with the foil in place)
up to my laptop, fired up the Meade imaging software.

Then i aimed my "pinhole camera" at the kitchen light fixture.

Then i started increasing the exposure duration of the program/camera.

There image eventually appeared, in focus, on my laptop screen,
thus demonstrating that the -camera- (and laptop) was a functional system.

A pinhole camera is (pretty much) -always- in focus.
We've removed the complexity of the telescope and lenses for the
near-infinite "depth of field" of the tiny hole.
The trade-off is that it's a very -dim- image, but the long exposure
range of the camera/software system can handle that....

good luck
--dick

Mike here: Excellent idea! And fun too!

End of 29 March update

Subject:	Re: LPI Camera with ETX-125
Sent:	Wednesday, March 25, 2009 06:54:20
From:	Drew Unger (dunger@sdnet.ca)
Yeah I tried playing with the exposure settings again today, and still
cant pull out any detail.
thanks for the reply

Mike here: When you change the focus on the telescope, can you see any changing of the image from the LPI?

And:

A little but not much .. mostly going either a little darker or lighter.
I attached a photo i took today, maybe it will give you a better idea of
whats going on.

Thanks again

Mike here: Since there is no lens to focus with the LPI, the telescope is used to focus. It appears there is an image there, albeit very out of focus. I assume the telescope focuses properly when an eyepiece is used instead of the LPI.

And:

Yeah scope focuses just fine when an eypiece is in. When the LPI is in
ive turned the focus knob all the out and in, and nothing helps. I just
cant figure out whats going on. Both the LPI and even just the Quickcam
look the same when hooked up.

Mike here: Got me stumped too! Couple of tests to try: If you have a camera telephoto lens (SLR/DSLR style) try holding the LPI so that the sensor is at the focal plane of the lens and see if you can get a proper image. Also, try using a different USB port or a powered USB hub if you have one.

End of 27 March update

Subject:	LPI Camera with ETX-125
Sent:	Monday, March 23, 2009 14:33:55
From:	Drew Unger (dunger@sdnet.ca)
I want to take pictures with my telescope using a LPI imager.

I bought a ETX-125 about a year ago and have been playing with it when
weather permits, and just recently bought a LPI imager. I had the camera
working once and took a few pictures of the moon. The quality was decent
and didnt have any problems using it.

I took my scope and camera out a couple weekends ago and now I cant get
anything except a dark blur. I took the scope out in the day as well and
get the same results only a little brighter, but no detail. Thinking it
was the camera, I took a old logitech webcam and took off the lens to
use just the ccd. I get the same results as the LPI just a blur. I cant
figure out what the problem is. Ive tried reinstalling drivers, software
with no luck.

I am using K3CCD tools on XP, used the meade drivers that came on the
cd, as well as the logitech drivers for the webcam.

If you need more details please let me know

Thanks

Drew

Mike here: Have you tried adjusting the exposure settings?

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