Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[stonemonkeylives]

Right as promised here is my mod.

[JamesF]

Nicely done. Now you just need clear skies to try it out.

James

[Sputnic]

ok my xbox finaly arived today (£3 inc delivery lol). I tried testing it out today but the whole capture screen on sharp cap was either solid white or totaly black. I'll try again later tonight (weather permitting ofc)

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Connected one my xbox cams just from orginal lens to me falling apart 50mm binoculars mite aswell make some use for them and it actually works aswell nice mod.

Tested image out and get the classic circled image which actually works will test on stars when skies clear at moment it's raining thats why image wasnt clear.

not bad considering binoculars was gunna put in me diy junk box.

made some use of pair of old 10 x 50mm bino's

[JamesF]

Well, I've been experimenting this evening with different lenses. It looks like with a wide-angle lens (around 160 to 170 degrees) the stars just don't put enough light onto the sensor to be visible above the noise, if at all. In fact, whilst I could easily focus on Venus using the stock lens, with a 170 degree lens I couldn't even pick it up at all.

I think that means that for a sky camera, unless you have a particularly limited field of view, this camera is a non-starter. With the wide-angle lens in however it looks like it should work nicely as an analemma camera and that's what I now plan to do with it.

For the sky camera I think I'm back to my original plan of using an LX modded SPC900.

James

[Stargazing_Cliff]

I mite mod another xbox cam and just keep to original lens no telescope or nothing and relook at settings as i did once managed to pick up stars from orion star system and to pick that up is damn good cam

not bothered if bit grain or stuff on it least it's pick some stars up and odd strange objects in space .

couple of me old images took once with modded xbox cam and original lens

using windows software

from just quick snapshot image in stable position.

Xbox cam with original lens took image below

Xbox cam with orginal lens took image below.

Think i'll mod another xbox cam back to it's normal self without ir filter with original lens .

also i still using xbox cam with modded ps3 wider view lens that still picks stars up

example of lots of still images stacked together i created pretty cool startrails

Xbox cam with moddified ps3 lens on widest setting. that biggest trail was venus!

will also test xbox with telescope sometime.

[JamesF]

I think with that kind of field of view it's no problem. It's significantly smaller than you need for a view of the entire sky though. I wasn't expecting a view of the entire horizon, but was hoping to get reasonably close to it -- I'd quite happily have taken a view down to 15 degrees in all directions. To achieve that however it looks like a more sensitive camera and/or longer exposures are required.

James

[Stargazing_Cliff]

What i'd like to know about what do i need say i connected xbox cam to my newt telescope which is 700 x 76mm how do i get wide view do i need connect xbox from sensor to some special adapter before focuser

as when i put xbox cam sensor to my telescope all i get is like as if using 4 mm eye piece zoomed into deep space. however i know cud just tape xbox from original lens to me 20mm eye piece as normally and get wide view from telescope kind similar to attaching cam to pair binoculars.

[JamesF]

That's pretty much the way it works with a telescope. At a very simple level it takes the light that hits the mirror from a small patch of sky and concentrates it into an even smaller area so lots of it can get through the pupil of your eye. The longer the focal length (for the same aperture) the smaller the patch of sky. The sensor of the webcam doesn't collect all the light available because it's too small, so if you want to use the same telescope and see a wider angle view with the camera you have a number of options:

1) Use a camera with a bigger sensor. The Lifecam Studio for instance has a fairly large sensor and DLSR sensors are larger than webcams.

2) "Concentrate" the light even more, by using a focal reducer. Not a cheap option.

3) Use a wide-angle eyepiece and use eyepiece projection for images.

You're never going to see a huge area of sky that way though.

James

[JamesF]

It's just occurred to me that perhaps it might be possible to build an external lens for the webcam that works as a very wide angle or fish-eye and place that in front of the standard lens. No idea if that would work mind

James

[Stargazing_Cliff]

It's just occurred to me that perhaps it might be possible to build an external lens for the webcam that works as a very wide angle or fish-eye and place that in front of the standard lens. No idea if that would work mind

James

Good idea that i have another idea also possibly eye pieces from old camcorders and cheap telescopes that have the 30 and 40 mm eye pieces on may give wide view or just use original 20mm eyepiece then attach xbox cam lens normally to eye piece's lens rather than the sensor.

xbox sensor to telescope allright for like looking at planets and moon imaging

we trying to get nice wide views with stuff.

i havent tryed fisheye lens yet mite get couple of ebay sometime.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Thats interesting just testing 20mm eyepiece from me 50mm telescope and put that to me newt seems to some how give better wide view than the original newts 20mm eyepiece hmm i make create somet with 20mm eyepiece and attach that to xbox original lens.

i'll try it one day when ever skies clear at moment still dull and cloudy looks like be couple days before try out with skies.

Mite also possibly try it with mini monocular

[WaveSoarer]

I've just modded my xbox livecam as per instructions and I've used the commercial screw on 1.25" adapter. All seems to be working well and I can focus with, and without, the x2 Barlow on my 200p. I have managed to get two small grains of dirt on the sensor, though, despite my best efforts to keep things clean. Any tips on how to clean the chip? I assume a can of compressed air would do the trick .....

[Stargazing_Cliff]

This somet im gunna test sometime when skies clear

Xbox cam lens to lens of monocular possibly.

[WaveSoarer]

I tried out the modified webcam last night with my SW 200p. The EQ5 mount doesn't have tracking (yet) but I adjusted by hand during the exposures. SharpCap was used for capture and RegiStax for processing. I used the 2x Barlow supplied with the telescope. The stacked images had a dark image subtracted but this may be unnecessary as the hot pixels didn't appear.

The results aren't brilliant but seem reasonable for a first attempt - especially as we were learning what to do. The gusts of wind last night also vibrated the telescope. It was more difficult than I expected to swap between the eyepiece and the Barlowed webcam as there was quite a significant difference in focus. Not sure where the halo comes from, more noticeable in the Venus image, but this may be due to the stacking. A lot still to try out and learn. We did manage to dodge the particles of dust on the CCD sensor but I'll try to clean these off. There are threads on the forum about how to do this. Thanks to all contributors for getting this project up and running.

Mars_crop.bmp

venus_crop.bmp

saturn_crop.bmp

[WaveSoarer]

Incidentally, I found that the webcam with the 2x Barlow gave an image size (field of view) very similar to my 5 mm eyepiece.

[Charlie_132]

would a xbox cam work well without being modded ?

i brought one a month ago and broke it within 15minutes so i dont want to try and modify one again

[JamesF]

In my opinion, you have to mod it.

Firstly, there's too much leakage of light from the LEDs onto the sensor. When I tried with the LEDs in place there was a clear green cast around the edges of the image.

Second, I think the built-in IR filter is poor. I took some images of Mars last night with my SPC900 and one of my Xbox cameras. As I didn't have a spare external IR filter I used the camera that still has the IR filter in the lens mount. The Xbox image looks overexposed in the red and has a reddish halo that isn't present on the SPC900 (which is fitted with a proper IR filter). To me that suggests that the built-in IR filter is bleeding IR into the image, either because it isn't cutting some wavelengths or isn't fully stopping them.

James

[Charlie_132]

oh okay, i ll have to try to mod it then, unless someone kindly wants to offer to mod a xbox cam for me then ebay me the link and i ll buy it straight away ... would be very grateful

[JamesF]

Opening the camera up is easy enough. Even removing the IR filter is just a case of unscrewing the PCB from the back half of the camera and then unscrewing the lens mount from the board. If you're worried about damaging the board when you kill the LEDs, you might try just dropping a tiny amount of black paint or nail varnish on them.

In fact, unless you're going to fit the "proper" nosepiece, you probably won't be able to fit a separate IR filter, so you could even leave that in place to start with. Just pop the cover loose, unscrew the lens, lift the whole lot off and drop a little paint on the LEDs. Might well do the job well enough. You will get some red halos on images, but it's a place to start with minimum work.

James

[Charlie_132]

and to find the LED lights i ll just plug it in and they will light on up the card ?

[JamesF]

Yes. And to double-check, I think most of them are labelled "LED" on the PCB.

James

[Charlie_132]

okay i ll give it anoyher go maybe if my webcam sells that i have put on ebay

[Stargazing_Cliff]

I seen the xbox cam modded with fan attached to back of them for cooling for less noise. i may have to mod one my xbox cam

possibly attach old pc fan from old pentium 3 cpu i rekon them fans small enuff they fit on back of xbox cam or mod box with fans on box

Found couple fans i could possibly use gunna find power pack to power a fan

My latest modded xbox cam with cooler

Probably make better box sometime for now just testing

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Re made the cooling box found small speaker fan fitted into

and matches my newt silver

I think me cooling mod looks awesome cant wait for clear sky to test it out sometime..

Mite also do same to me outdoor skycam which is xbox cam.

have other speaker to mod yet .