Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[kirkster501]

I have a few webcams kicking around the garage. Is there anything specific about the xbox lifecam that makes it particularly suitable (other than they cost peanuts) ???? I'd like one of those SPC900 ones but they are rarer than hens teeth unless you are prepared to spend a £ton on fleabay - and I am not at the moment...... So any old webcam could be potentially be brought to bare here to get off the ground with webcam imaging?

This is just my experimentation stage so if I don't like imaging I can throw it in the bin.

Appreciate your thoughts...

Thanks, Steve

[freelander86]

Just been out with the old quick cam express webcam as a proof of concept... All worked well so I feel confident to move onto the better Xbox camera now...

Dont Laugh as this is my first ever image of Jupiter...

You can make out the moons but not much more...

But as Gina says I will have to come up with a careful plan to keep the "bits" of the image chip when I hack the Xbox cam!!!

[freelander86]

After trying the old webcam last night, Ive finally butchered my new Xbox camera:

I was really worried about dust on the image chip so that was a bit of a priority all the way through...

Firstly I made a cap for the telescope adapter (to keep dust off when finished:

Then I prised apart (would have gone alot easier if i had removed the grey lense cap part first! But still not too bad or too many marks:

I had hoped to only cut the plastic back just far enough for a clearance but this is not easy so I took it far enough to be sure the adapter would fit

I left the original focuser on until the last minuite... final dust danger moment!

Cap on and all back together - Cant wait to try it tonight!

[Radders]

Trying mine tonight too. Got 2 to try out. I butchered one, my dad done the other and his looks loads better than my effort!

Radders

[freelander86]

Need some help... I cant seem to improve on an image like this:

You can see the moons around Jupiter (this photo has been through registax) but I cant seem to focus any more and get some colour of the bands around the Planet...?

Any suggestions?

[Parus major]

Need some help... I cant seem to improve on an image like this:

You can see the moons around Jupiter (this photo has been through registax) but I cant seem to focus any more and get some colour of the bands around the Planet...?

Any suggestions?

You need to turn the Gain down until the whiteness disappears.

[freelander86]

Thanks,

Ill give that a try. Im going to have to wait a while though Any other tips for the next chance I get? Im using sharpcap... Ive notice the auto feature seems a little aggressive...

[Zaphod360]

I had my first light with one of these tonight, I used a light pollution filter and a TAL x3 barlow. Jupiter and Ganymede.

It's my first go with registax so I've got a bit of processing to learn.

I also had a quick go with Venus with a SW deluxe x2 barlow. It's not very good, but no too bad for a start.

All taken with the Xbox 360 live vision camera modded as per this thread and a Skywatcher 200P on an EQ5.

[Radders]

@freelander i had my 1st light with the xbox cam and my images were exactly the same.

Radders

[freelander86]

Hi Radders,

Did u also leave the IR filter over the image chip?

[Radders]

I took the IT filter off. I'm pretty sure I tried moving the gain, don't think it made anx difference. I might be wrong though. Did you have your motor to track? I can't get the correct speed on mine. I found that Jupiter was zooming off screen. I did polar align before I started.

Radders

[freelander86]

Yes I use the motor to track... I takes a while to setup as there is quite a bit of play in the adjusters so the motor has to "catch up".

[Radders]

Any tips on setting it up?

[Gina]

You'll need an IR blocking filter of some sort. If you can afford it a CLS-CCD filter will block IR and light pollution while letting through all the wanted wavelengths. A filter in the adapter will also stop dust getting in to the sensor. You'll want 1.25" size.

[freelander86]

Hi Gina,

The adapters I already have are:

ND96 Moon Filter

#11 Yellow Green

#25A Red

#47 Violet

#82A Light Blue

Any idea if one of these will do?

[Gina]

I don't think so but they may help.

[hobbesy]

Well, I don't have jewellers screwdrivers and I don't have snub nosed pliers. So I had to leave the base on and I couldn't squish the LEDs.

But I think it turned out ok.

(I covered the LEDs with my wife's darkest nail polish.)

[Cornelius Varley]

There is an IR filter built into the lens holder. I removed the lens holder and popped the filter out and fitted a proper IR filter into the nosepiece. The coloured filters won't work in cutting IR light.

Peter

[ronnietucker]

Is it a requirement to remove the IR filter? Also, what benefit do you get from removing the IR filter.

Just wondering if the benefit is worth dismantling it for...

[Cornelius Varley]

I removed it to replace it with a better one mounted in the nosepiece.

Peter

[vince1976]

I must be doing something wrong as my camera mod is really only working for lunar images. Jupiter's colours are so washed out as to be greyscale. The sharpness is fine but I'm getting almost no colour at all.

Could it be that my SkyWatcher 130p simply doesn't have a large enough aperture to capture the colours?

I've tried with and without a 2x barlow and captured several videos of about 1500 frames each at differing exposures to try and get more than the merest hint of colour with no joy.

I'm thinking of shelling out for either an MS LifeCam Cinema HD or a Logitech Pro 9000 HD (comparative recommendations appreciated ) as many people seem to get good colour images with them both despite them having CMOS sensors.

Before I relegate the Xbox camera to the finderscope though, has anyone any ideas where I might be going wrong?

[Gina]

I haven't had my Xbox Livecam imaging yet so don't know but I have used the MS LifeCam Cinema and you can see colours in the cloud belts of Jupiter when seeing conditions are good enough (used 4X Barlow with 600mm FL f7.5 scope).

[Flying Eye]

I must be doing something wrong as my camera mod is really only working for lunar images. Jupiter's colours are so washed out as to be greyscale. The sharpness is fine but I'm getting almost no colour at all.

Could it be that my SkyWatcher 130p simply doesn't have a large enough aperture to capture the colours?

I've tried with and without a 2x barlow and captured several videos of about 1500 frames each at differing exposures to try and get more than the merest hint of colour with no joy.

I'm thinking of shelling out for either an MS LifeCam Cinema HD or a Logitech Pro 9000 HD (comparative recommendations appreciated ) as many people seem to get good colour images with them both despite them having CMOS sensors.

Before I relegate the Xbox camera to the finderscope though, has anyone any ideas where I might be going wrong?

Colour is often "blown out" by having too high an exposure, as long as you are stacking them you can afford to go a bit darker. Some sample images would help people work out if there is any further advice to give. Blow out is a common problem to all photography. As such it's fairly well understood, and so is fixing it most of the time.

Hope it helps.

[freelander86]

Cloud is also a problem!

[Gina]

A continual one it seems!