As a complete novice I was impressed with some of the photos of the moon and the planets I have seen on the web, so decided to look at the possibility of taking my own. Due to limited funds and a bit of research the Philips SPC880 web cam flashed to an SPC900 looked the best option. The webcam and a 1.25 adapter cost me £24. I would also recommend buying an IR/UV filter as the adapter does not have a lens or cover which leaves the ccd unit exposed, something I have now done (all part of the learning process). There were 2 options with regards to flashing the cam, 1) do it myself 2) have it done by the supplier for £3. I chose to do it myself to keep the cost minimal and I like the challenge of learning new skills. The first thing to do was to flash the cam and after searching the net and finding various methods I decided to use some software called WcRmac which I downloaded. I then downloaded the binary file for the SPC900. I also had to download the drivers, the SPC880 uses the drivers for the toucam 750. You will also need the drivers for the SPC900 after it has been flashed and also webcam aquiring software such as philips vlounge.

Now I had everything in place I loaded the drivers for the toucam 750 and connected the cam for which I had to use a pc running windows xp. I then started the cam using vlounge and launched WcRmac (read through the instructions carefully right through and then start the process). I followed the instructions saving the existing binary and then inserting the SPC900 binary and loading it to the cam. I then connected the cam to my laptop with windows vista andloaded the SPC900 driver and away I went with what is now an SPC900 webcam. Please note that this is a rough explanation of what I had to do and not a step by step guide

I then removed the lens from the webcam using a screw driver to prise the cover off and then unscrewed the lens, finally screwing in the adapter fitted with a IR/UV filter to protect the ccd.