Posted inFilm Development Photography

Rollei / Compard Digibase C-41 Processing Kit

I just received this great C-41 process developing kit (I got the 20 roll kit) from freestylephoto.biz, and I’m diving head-first in to processing my own color film for the first time.

The process seems only a bit little more complicated than black and white and the Rollei / Digibase chemicals have the advantage of being usable at an easy to maintain 25°C.

I put this page together as a cheat-sheet for myself and most of the information here can be found in the Rollei / Compard Digibase C-41 Processing Kit Instruction Guide [PDF]

No Comments
Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

StarlightXpress MX7C to MX716 Conversion


Shortly after I bought my MX7C I read that the hardware in the MX5C and MX516 were the same, and all that needed to be substituted was the CCD chip. I contacted Terry Platt of StarlightXpress and asked if this was the same for the MX7C line of cameras. Happily he confirmed that this was the correct, and I put in an order for a Sony ICX249AL CCD chip directly to StarlightXpress.

Now why bother with a mono chip? Why the heck did I buy a color camera in the 1st place? Well, the convenience of 1 shot color is still a huge plus for me but the possibility of having a mono chip capable of taking more sensitive luminance images to combine with the color data was intriguing. Not having to buy another camera to be able to do this was what sold me on the idea…

Posted inAstronomy Webcam Mods & Tips

Converting a WebCam for Astrophotography

Modern webcams are very good at capturing images of the moon and planets as those targets are quite bright, and you do not need a super-sensitive astro camera to get good images. It is also a relatively inexpensive, and fun way to get a start in astrophotography.

The method described here works for most “ball” cameras. Mainly for the old Connectix (now Logitech), and QuickCam VC type.

No Comments