Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[Aenima]

Happy christmas and all best for new year to you all

Cheers Cliff, you too mate.

All the best,

Jay.

A happy slappy new year all round with many clear skies

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Cliffcam still ploughs them skies it fell off roof from strong winds so probably take cam apart and clean sensor.

get it all set up ready for Quadrantids Meteor Shower 3-4th jan also them massive ones comming in 2013 looking forward to them

capture them on cam also radio detections as i do that now radio astronomy .

set me own middlesbrough meteor station up

my meteor station can be viewed from

http://cliffraves.hourb.com/skycam/

at moment me webserver has webcam and meteor detection screen

i will soon add xbox cam also soon as i get drop box on linux machine and screen grabber.

[inedible_hulk]

Thanks Cliff and all the other Xbox cam modders for the info and inspiration to make my own Xbox cam

Just need some clear skies now...........

[autonm]

Thanks Cliff and all the other Xbox cam modders for the info and inspiration to make my own Xbox cam

Just need some clear skies now...........

hi Hulk - hopefully to help a little bit more - I did a small write up on using my 200p with xbox webcam ... mauton.co.uk

[inedible_hulk]

hi Hulk - hopefully to help a little bit more - I did a small write up on using my 200p with xbox webcam ... mauton.co.uk

Thanks that's really useful, I had Jupiter down as my first target and wasn't, aware of PIPP. Thanks for your help

My finished cam

[Aenima]

Yay, another one modded succesfully.

These cheap cams are a great intro into planetary/lunar imaging, and if (or rather when) you are hooked, you can then use your nosepiece and IR block filter on whichever webcam you upgrade to after learning the basics using the xbox cam.

It only took me about two months to reach the point where I decided to take it seriously enough to seek a spc900 for around £50 all in from ebay.

All the best for the first light and hope the clouds go away v soon.

Regards

Aenima

The PIPP software looks very interesting, i'm now hoping to give it a try next clear night. Thanks go to autonm.

[inedible_hulk]

Finally got an hour or so of clear skies to try things out. The Jupiter image is a bit fuzzy, but I'm pleased with the image of the Moon (Sea of Tranquility I think). Obviously lots to learn about image processing!

[Aenima]

Nice1 that moon shot has some nice detail and looks quite natural to my eyes.

Did you use the revelation x2.5 for jupiter? How do you find the view through it for visual as well as photo?

Also what mount is your 130p on?

Nice start with the images btw

Regards

Aenima

ps soz about questions

[bomberbaz]

Nice1 that moon shot has some nice detail and looks quite natural to my eyes.

Did you use the revelation x2.5 for jupiter? How do you find the view through it for visual as well as photo?

Also what mount is your 130p on?

Nice start with the images btw

Regards

Aenima

ps soz about questions

Another question, did you use the PIPP software and if so, how did you find it. Maybe do a little write up ?

[WaveSoarer]

That's a great start. I'm really pleased that you got a clear enough sky to try the camera out. Congratulations on the images and well done for avoiding dust bunnies on the sensor during the mod.

[inedible_hulk]

No worries. I have an EQ2 mount with an RA drive that Santa bought me I was dodging the showers so everything was much more rushed than I would have liked, but I really wanted to try the cam out, it's the first clear sky I've seen in nearly a month. Jupiter looked pretty good through my 8mm eyepiece, though by the time I got on to the moon the air seemed much more turbulent (possibly because you are aware of it more on such a big bright target?). I found focussing on Jupiter with the cam quite tricky and am not sure I quite cracked it. I'll use the Barlow next time as it might make it a bit easier with a larger image of the target on screen.

I used Autonm's SharpCap settings for Jupiter. I just twiddled with the settings until i got a reasonable image for the Moon. On average I was collecting circa 6000 frames for each 5 minute run. For Jupiter PIPP was ditching most of these on the default quality settings. For both images I tweaked the sharpness of the image using the wavelets in RegiStax and the contrast a little for the moon. It was 2am so I didn't apply a lot of thought to it

I'm just hoping for a decent clear evening so that I can set things up correctly, take my time and experiment a bit with the SharpCap settings.

[Aenima]

Ah yes, I also find focus is difficult when using webcams, though if you get serious about it a bahtinov mask can be a big help and would take some of the guesswork and eyestrain out of the equation. Just turn up the gain and use a nearby bright star or even jupiter itself though a pinpoint light will likely be more precise.

The barlow is a great boost to planetary images, it will both raise the mag-x and the focal length (eg F/5 x2 = F/10 etc) and is much better than enlarging a smaller digital image afterwards - with the 130p you'll need the barlow to see details like the red spot and more of the darker belts. One thing that may be a side effect is slightly less FOV and generally less brightness - as well as a different point of focus than with just the webcam.

Just whack up the gain/brightness to find the planet then bring it back to capture the footage.

Hopefully with the motor driven eq mount the tracking would be less troublesome - and one day a lx-modded philips spc900 will capture some deep sky stuff.

Best of luck next session,

Aenima

ps. with jupiter you wont want much more than 2mins avi's due to its fast rotaion

[inedible_hulk]

Another question, did you use the PIPP software and if so, how did you find it. Maybe do a little write up ?

I have no real idea of what I was doing with PIPP I just checked the Planetary box for Optimise Options For on the Source Files tab and the Enable Quality Estimation and Enable Quality Weighting boxes on the Quality Options tab. I'll have to try a comparison image without using PIPP.

[inedible_hulk]

That's a great start. I'm really pleased that you got a clear enough sky to try the camera out. Congratulations on the images and well done for avoiding dust bunnies on the sensor during the mod.

Clean until I screwed the adaptor in. That took some sorting out grrrrr!

[Aenima]

I have no real idea of what I was doing with PIPP I just checked the Planetary box for Optimise Options For on the Source Files tab and the Enable Quality Estimation and Enable Quality Weighting boxes on the Quality Options tab. I'll have to try a comparison image without using PIPP.

As pipp is pretty new i've no idea how to use it, though its looking like a great program already. Til now castrator was the easiest centering/cropping program for me, as well as using autostakkert!2 to create a stack then registax to sharpen the result - sounds a little fiddly but it does work....

Also, might be common knowledge but its said 10frames/sec is the most the usb/webcam can transfer without compressing data and losing some quality as a result - either way I stick to this just in case. (although that has not been the case with some of the newer webcams so experiment by all means )

Regards

Aenima

[pjac]

Ah yes, I also find focus is difficult when using webcams, though if you get serious about it a bahtinov mask can be a big help and would take some of the guesswork and eyestrain out of the equation. Just turn up the gain and use a nearby bright star or even jupiter itself though a pinpoint light will likely be more precise.

If there are any of Jupiter's moons in frame getting them as a point is a good way to get the focus right. Of course, the gain/exposure settings to see the moons probably doesn't match what you'll probably want for Jupiter itself.

I've just got a focus motor which I'm finding a big help when working with the webcam - it cuts down on the wobble and makes it easier for me to watch the laptop and adjust the focus via the cable remote.

[Aenima]

Those electric focusers are excellent. I'd love to get one, the focuser on the SW 200p is a bit clunky which makes things fiddly, especially with stars and planet detail.

But definitely try the moons as they are pinpoints or should be when well focused.

Nice suggestion.

Regards

Aenima

[nephilim]

Finally got an hour or so of clear skies to try things out. The Jupiter image is a bit fuzzy, but I'm pleased with the image of the Moon (Sea of Tranquility I think). Obviously lots to learn about image processing!

Great image of the moon, the settings I use for Jupiter are-

[Video Camera ]

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=25.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-7

Brightness=161

Contrast=72

Hue=16

Saturation=67

Sharpness=67

Gamma=187

WhiteBalance=3566

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=112

And this was the end result with a total of 700 frames with Sharpcap (stacked in Registax v6) using X-Box cam,Skywatcher 130m with 2x Barlow. Hope these will be of some use.

[Aenima]

Wow, thats great - a much better jupiter than i was able to get from the 130p / xbox combo, which is pretty much why I ended up getting the bigger aperture and hunting for those difficult spc900nc's. Bit hasty but still glad I upgraded as astronomy is now an important mission in a way kinda got carried along with the whole stargazing thing.

Its cool you have used the settings file that shows the numbers that go with that image - I can never remember which settings resulted in which image O.o

Nice shot.

Aenima

[nephilim]

Wow, thats great - a much better jupiter than i was able to get from the 130p / xbox combo, which is pretty much why I ended up getting the bigger aperture and hunting for those difficult spc900nc's. Bit hasty but still glad I upgraded as astronomy is now an important mission in a way kinda got carried along with the whole stargazing thing.

Its cool you have used the settings file that shows the numbers that go with that image - I can never remember which settings resulted in which image O.o

Nice shot.

Aenima

Thanks. Its amazing what a £5 webcam can do, I was thinking of trying to hunt down the spc900 but the imaging bug has well & truely bitten, I ordered Steve Richards book 'making every photon count' (nothing on webcams unfortunatly) & i'm now saving for an EQ6 mount which'll take a while As for the settings file, when I downloaded Sharpcap a folder was also created on my laptop (dont know how as i'm not that tech minded haha) and everytime I create an AVI, Sharpcap automatically puts a folder with the settings next to it. Good luck with your imaging & keep us posted (excuse the pun) on ur progress .

Steve.

[Aenima]

Yeah man, nice one.

I'm the same with the 'bug' - until I got hold of a telescope NOTHING would get me outside at night in british winter weather, and I've never spent so much time watching the clouds before either.

I am currently awaiting the result of dslr surgery (a techminded nice person - thanks pete!) as I broke the remote shutter jack plug off inside the socket, looks like invasive surgery is the only way to get the tip of the plug out of my canon - wah.

Just as it was getting interesting too !

Regards

Aenima

[bottletopburly]

Been messing about didnt need to do the xbox cam but whittled away time heres my effort so far using the billet parts adapter took out the leds while turned on using the point of a stanley blade and using the billet adapter you could unscrew it and use on other webcams if billets would sell you the bottom screw fitting,havent glued on yet will check it all works first will remove infared filter and lens before i check it on the scope

[K3ny0n]

I hope I don't start a Xbox is better than Playstation, vice versa war with this post..

Has anyone modded the Playstation Move camera?

Rob.

[inedible_hulk]

Second attempt at Jupiter (this time with x2.5 barlow). The wind was gusting a bit, so I'm quite chuffed to get this

Jupiter4_All.tif

SharpCap settings:

Frame Divisor=1

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=20.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-6

Brightness=98

Contrast=32

Hue=180

Saturation=53

Sharpness=64

Gamma=187

WhiteBalance=3010

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=10

[inedible_hulk]

Sorry, bad link