ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH MINTRON 12V1-EX STARLIGHT IMAGER Last updated: 4 November 2007

This page documents Mintron Starlight imager comments, tips, and photos. Contributions welcome.

Subject:	ETX70 M42, M1, N7000 + Comet Holmes
Sent:	Sunday, November 4, 2007 02:20:41
From:	mgavin@ntlworld.com
Hi Mike - always returning to your excellent site for tips and view the
pics!

Attached are some recent shots of M1, M42 and North America Neb [NGC
7000] and Comet Holmes via my marvellous ETX-70 and Starlight Xpress
SXV_M9 CCD.  NAM colored to match the red filter used! Same red filter
suppresses the bluish outer coma of Comet Holmes.

The EX-70+CCD ignores the horrendous light pollution here in SW
London-England when typically stars to mag 3 can just be seen...so had a
great summer and more ETX-70 pics on my homepage
www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk/etx70mg.htm

regards
Maurice Gavin

Subject:	DSO Images from an ETX
Sent:	Friday, July 11, 2003 12:58:51
From:	sdbodin@hotmail.com (Steve Bodin)
I have enclosed a montage of DSO objects of the summer skies taken with
an integrating video camera attached to my 4 inch Meade 107D SCT mounted
on a modified ETX 70 mount. I call this an "ETX 102AT". All these images
are a stack of 40 to 45 two second exposures processed with freeware
Registax. All were taken with the mount tracking in the alt/az mode. The
camera is a color version of the ' Stellacam" type, actually all these
are made by the Mintron company in Taiwan. This model is retailed by
Polarisusa.com in Atlanta as their model DX-8263SL, and a real deal ,
less than a quality eyepiece in price.  I have an 8 SCT and a 17 DOB,
and most of my DSO images are taken with the larger aperature, but I am
impressed with just how deep a 4 inch can go, past 14th magnitude. The
B/W cameras should get a magnitude or two more. This setup makes a fine
travel scope, since it fits under an airline seat for those trips to the
other hemisphere. I think that all the famous DSOs of the south could be
captured easily with one of these video cameras attached to any ETX. All
that is required is a VCR, and most new mini-DV camcorders have an
external video-in port, so no computer required at the remote observing
session.

Steve Bodin
Silverdale WA, USA

Subject:	M 44
Sent:	Monday, March 31, 2003 10:46:58
From:	r_shoesmith@madasafish.com (Richard Shoesmith)
Further to the earlier images I sent you using the Mintron Starlight
camera, here is a single image that I think gives a good impression of
what this camera is capable of. I have a small B/W TV linked to the
camera and this image is a single, un-touched digital photograph ( apart
from cropping ) of the screen. Telescope ETX-70AT with Baader contrast
filter on camera and taken through double-glazed porch window ( too
windy to set up outside ).

Best wishes and keep up the good work on a great site!

Richard

Subject:	Astrophotography M48 & M67
Sent:	Monday, February 24, 2003 14:02:23
From:	r_shoesmith@madasafish.com (Richard Shoesmith)
Please find attached two images I've just taken with my ETX70-AT using
the Mintron 12V1-EX Starlight video camera. (www.mintron.co.uk for
details). Not a perfect night, some very thin cloud cover, but the pics
turned out not too bad. Each is a composite of ten frames captured and
stacked using Astrovideo software and minimally adjusted using Paintshop
Pro. The Mintron camera was set to full gain and x128 sensitivity.

Best wishes,

Richard A Shoesmith
Kewing, Rendall, Orkney KW17 2HA

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