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DIY all-sky cam?

msinclairinork

By msinclairinork
in DIY Astronomer

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yesyes

yesyes

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Like this one?

Wetton All Sky Camera, Oxford

This is based on a modified board camera (similar to LX mod), and the parts cost about £50 including frame grabber. This is the brain child of Giles Hammond at Glasgow, who designed and made this one. I have another 4 to put together this year which will be going around the world. We've been working on the software to make it a more complete system (still working on it!). This might end up as a build it yourself kit at some point, but lots of other things to do first unfortunately.

Would it be possible to adapt the software to support LX modded SPC900 webcams?

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skybadger

skybadger

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I've had a quick flit at this using a lodestar and a 2.1mm cs mount lens through the slit of the obbo.

The results weren't bad once focused, I could easily and rapidly assemble a movie of the clouds moving in. The down side of this approach is that use of lodestar and Maxim doesn't allow the selective capture of changes such as aurora or meteors or something else. (Noting that John winfield has written a meteor capture plugin for Maxim). The subject of my interest is still the rfconcepts dome camera which has sensitivity to 0.00004 Lux, motion sensitive capture on the camera and day/night operating modes. At £65 it seems a snip. anyone got one ?

Mike

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msinclairinork

msinclairinork

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Like this one?

Wetton All Sky Camera, Oxford

This is based on a modified board camera (similar to LX mod), and the parts cost about £50 including frame grabber. This is the brain child of Giles Hammond at Glasgow, who designed and made this one. I have another 4 to put together this year which will be going around the world. We've been working on the software to make it a more complete system (still working on it!). This might end up as a build it yourself kit at some point, but lots of other things to do first unfortunately.

Perfect! It is really just the right sensitivity, much better IMO than a cloud sensor I would of thought?

Thanks for sharing,

Michael

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msinclairinork

msinclairinork

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Spot on! Thanks for that.

I'm going to order the lens today, And my webcam should be home Monday. Then I'm going to attempt the LX mod and possibly the amp-off - not sure if that would be necessary though?

Then I think I might find an outdoor camera dome enclosure to put it all in and...In theory Bob's your uncle??

Will keep you all posted.

Wish me luck! :)

Michael

Thanks,

MIchael

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Gina

Gina

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Most of the ones I've come across are not designed for outdoor use they say! :) But I have several CCTV cameras in that sort of case and it doesn't seem difficult to seal them.

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msinclairinork

msinclairinork

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Yes I would agree with you there Gina. In my previous job we used to install CCTV equipment and we went through loads of different makes etc to before we found an outdoor camera/enclosure that was able to keep the weather completely out!

That even applied to cameras in the tens of thousands bracket!

But then again I do live in Orkney - I don't think the camera manufacturers consider Orkney weather! :)

Michael

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yesyes

yesyes

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My £2.50 fake dome camera arrived yesterday.

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

I've had a look inside. It should be possible to put an LX modded SPC900 in there. The shield insert inside the plastic dome can be removed leaving a clear dome. It doesn't look water tight, probably there wasn't much to protect in a fake camera. But I believe it can be made weather proof with a bit of glue and some silicone sealant.

I will probably try this weekend and report back.

Still waiting for the 180 degree lens though. But should be able to at least test with the original lens in the meantime.

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yesyes

yesyes

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Looking forward to hearing how you get on Chris! I'm still waiting for my camera to arrive.

Michael

I got started on this last night and actually managed to finished it... :D

The only thing still missing is the 180 deg lens.

So I modded another SPC900 and installed in into that dummy camera dome.

Dummy camera before:

IMG_5177.JPG

IMG_5181.JPG

And here the SPC900 installed:

IMG_5206.JPG

IMG_5220.JPG

I managed to squeeze the USB hub and USB to Serial converter in the battery compartment... :)

IMG_5215.JPG

So all I need now is some clear sky to test it with the original lens. then with the 180deg lens once it has arrived.

more images:

https://picasaweb.google.com/117034922665750406576/201110AllSkyCamera#

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FraserClarke

FraserClarke

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Would it be possible to adapt the software to support LX modded SPC900 webcams?

Yes, I think that would be possible. At the minute, we use a line on the serial port to keep the shutter gate high to do long exposures.

However, the code is currently in a 'development' state in MATLAB, and I can't say I have time to make it into anything more friendly in the immediate future. I could try to compile a MATLAB executable and see if that works.

I'm happy to let you know the other programmes I use to annotate the images/make videos etc.

Looks like you're making rapid progress with the hardware!! You might want to consider adding a small heater inside the dome to stop it dewing up. The camera electronics might give enough heat themselves though.

Fraser

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fwm891

fwm891

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I think there's a firm in Ireland selling Sony chipped cameras rfconcepts:

Board Camera BW Low Light Sony EXVIEW

http://www.rfconcepts.co.uk/dome_camera_1o1hb36.htm

They do board and boxed low light jobbies...

Whilst not whole sky I use a Mintron B&W camera with a 135 f2.8 camera lens as a finder on my scope, It picks up faint nebs quite easily and shows thin high cloud crossing. With a shorter focal length and higher aperture ratio it would cope easily - just a thought!

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