Xbox live cam using sharpcap - help

[Night Hawk]

I was just wondering what are the best settings using in sharpcap to view Jupiter? I've been messing around with low fps, sharpness and brightness but all I have is a fuzzy ball.

I've done the modification taking out the leds and lens. Replaced this with a dedicated webcam adapter.

Any help would be appreciated?

[happy-kat]

Does it focus on a distant tree in day light? No need to wait until night time to see if you can get good focus.

[Night Hawk]

I didn't finish the mod until 9pm this evening. I just shot straight into the garden and focused on Jupiter, a bit eager I know. I'll try getting focus on a nearby target tomorrow in daylight

[jimbo747]

Is there an ir filter in there? Hard to tell on my phone

[Night Hawk]

Is there an ir filter in there? Hard to tell on my phone

Yes there is an IR filter

[Stub Mandrel]

I find that if you can get brightness and exposure near the middle = good results on my microsoft webcam.

Would like to hear opinions on where to set contrast and sharpness for best results.

[Night Hawk]

Hi, I've search the internet and found settings that people have used with my scope. I've used these but to no avail. I've also played around with the settings and increased contrast quite considerably. I focused on a tree a few hundred meters away in the day time. I could see a vague image of a tree branch, leaves wafting but no clear image or colour(image below). No matter what I did to the settings only the contrast made any real difference.

I tried again yesterday evening when it was turning dusk and all I got was fuzzy ball that was Jupiter. Similar to the image of the tree branch I've attached.
 
My questions are;
Do you think the inbuilt IR filter on webcam adapter is rubbish and would the camera be better with out it?(I've noticed on most xbox mods they don't have one)
Is the camera a waste of time?(before you ask it was working before the mod)
 
Sharpcap setting I started off with

Sharcap settings were:
[Video Camera ]
Frame Divisor=1
Resolution=960x720
Frame Rate (fps)=7.50
Colour Space / Compression=MJPG
Exposure=-4
Brightness=50
Contrast=18
Hue=0
Saturation=25
Sharpness=0
Gamma=229
WhiteBalance=5511
BacklightCompensation=0
Gain=0

[happy-kat]

before you took the lens off did you get a good image in sharpcap just using it as a webcam?

[Night Hawk]

Yes, it was a perfect imaged.

[happy-kat]

so next when you connect the modified webcam to your telescope have tried slowly pushing it closer in the eyepiece holder and then slowly pulling it out and moving it further away trying to identify where the focus point is?

don't assume it is just as you put it in the eyepiece holder you need to find where it needs to be.

[Night Hawk]

I'll try that next. I just simply placed in the barlow and tried to focus in the usual way.

[happy-kat]

You have to find the sweet spot, the distance the webcam needs to be in the eye peice holder to reach focus. Sometimes you need an extension tube or bit of plastic piping which is what you see on many xbox webcams when modified.

Try with and without the barlow. If you move by hand the webcam very slowly you will get a feel for when you are in focus range.

[Astrosurf]

Focusing on these fuzzy blobs is extremely frustrating. Try pushing up the gain, brightness and exposure (care with the latter if your capture freezes) and focusing on one of Jupiter's moons. I use a Bahtinov Mask for that. Then I go back to the planet. Spot on focus!

Alexxx

[Night Hawk]

Everyone thanks for your help/input. Finally got out with my £2.50 xbox modified cam and took this movie of the moon. I know you've all seen this before, but for a newbie like me I'm amazed. Thanks again.

Ps I did manage to get some shots of Jupiter but they were'nt very long or good shots. It seemed as soon as I started recording it was out of view!   However you could see the bands. I might run it thought autostakker and see what the result is 

[Stub Mandrel]

Well done, that's nice and crisp. You can  use PIPP to select the area that is in all or most of the farmes and use AS!2 to stack them.