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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Alternative to monitors (1 Viewer)

P

Paul Young

Member
The problem with monitors is they are just to small, making focusing hard work. I have experimented at home using a portable TV pluged into my coolpix 4500. This bypasses the monitor and provides a nice picture on the TV to work with. Sharp focusing is easy! There are two main problems with this:
1) I think eyebrows would be raised if I went digiscoping packing a standard portable TV.
2) I would require a very long extension lead.
:h?:
However I have seen some very small (6" square) battery powered black and white TVs. Has any body tried anything like this?

I also found out that you can buy a PCMIA card for a lap top that is a TV tuner. Some of these have the correct sockets to run the camera in to. Has anyone tried this? :eek!:
 
Hi Paul,

I’ve been using a small portable DVD player as a monitor for my 4500 for about 6 months. It has a 5.6” TFT Color screen and works great. I had to build a hood so I could see it outside and it does make for more stuff to lug around. It works great for a spot you can go to and set up for a longer period of time. I’ve seen some small TFT video monitors on eBay and have been tempted but I like to see what I’m getting unless I know it will work.

I also thought about the laptop card. Make sure you can test it before you buy it! I tried a couple different cards (USB) and the lag time was so slow (2 or 3 seconds) that you could not focus the camera.

Bill
 
icansprint said:
Hi Paul,

I’ve been using a small portable DVD player as a monitor for my 4500 for about 6 months. It has a 5.6” TFT Color screen and works great. I had to build a hood so I could see it outside and it does make for more stuff to lug around. It works great for a spot you can go to and set up for a longer period of time. I’ve seen some small TFT video monitors on eBay and have been tempted but I like to see what I’m getting unless I know it will work.

I also thought about the laptop card. Make sure you can test it before you buy it! I tried a couple different cards (USB) and the lag time was so slow (2 or 3 seconds) that you could not focus the camera.

Bill
Click to expand...

Which DVD player do you use and how did you connect it to your camera? ie. what cables do you use?
 
grahams,

The DVD player is made by Axion ... Cat# 16-3255. I bought it at the local Radio Shack.

I use the video cable from the 4500 to connect to the video-in on the DVD player. I have a 17" TFT monitor but it does not work as well because the output of the camera does not look good when it's blown up that much. I'd like to try something around 9" but haven't had a chance.

Bill
 
I've also been looking into a larger LCD solution; Pyramid and Pyle both have LCD screens that are relatively inexpensive ($90 - $150USD). I'm going out today with camera in tow to see what I can find at the local shops.

GR
 
GR,

The problem with most LCD monitors is that they don't do video. They need to have a video in or they won't work. Taking camera in tow is a very good idea!

Bill
 
icansprint said:
GR,

Let us know how you make out.

Bill
Click to expand...


I only found one local supplier with the monitors in stock, those being the higher end AudioVox brand (approx. $250 USD). The guys were nice enough to let me hook the camera up, and it will work. Now the question is, (a) do I want to go to the trouble of providing 12VDC to the monitor, and only have a small flat panel hanging from my tripod or (b) do I want to go ahead with the portable DVD (as you had suggested earlier) which has its own battery supply built in, but which will require a "platform" for its clamshell shape.

Regards,

GR
 
GR,

My DVD player uses an external power supply. I use a battery backed AC power supply to furnish AC to all my adapters. It's heavy but works well. Another thing to consider is a sun hood for your monitor. You will not be able to see the monitor outside without one. The design of the DVD player makes it easy to make a home made sun shade. I use a second tripod for the DVD player. You may be able to come up with a better plan.

Bill
 
I ended up buying the Pyle 5.6" lcd monitor, then constructed a monitor hood from black construction paper and electrical tape with some velcro to attach it to the monitor. The thing came with about 12 feet of cable, so I'm now cobbling together my own shorter adapter cable and interface box, which will mount on the tripod. Specs are 12VDC/650mA, so I'm looking at a 12V/7AH SLA battery (the type used in security alarm systems) for power. Any 12VDC/500mA "wall-bug" charger can be used for overnight recharging.

For mounting the monitor, I attached an angled plate between the tripod head and legs, with an SMC ball-type camera mount from an in-car video system that I had squirrelled away in my parts bin. As soon as everything is finished I'll post a photo.



GR
 
Last edited:
hello paul its been awill since you asked about monitors
ive only now started digiscoping and had the idea had a look on the www and found 4" roadstar tft monitor with all the ins/outs +remote £119 if you have all ready got sorted let us now
 
Hello, be careful choising a LCD monitor :
First , the SVGA models can't work, even with a external pal/ntsc adapter, because the frequency are not the same, the pal/ntsc input must be integrated
Second, some little LCD monitors have only 256 colors, and the result is very bad and can't be used ..
So i think the DVD player is a good choice, but test it !
Cheers, Yves
 
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