Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[bottletopburly]

I doubt it very much

[bomberbaz]

Ok here goes with my camera/barlow mod. Basically for anyone seeing this I have a camera that is just too big to lock into a barlow. But I have a spare cheapo barlow and I am going to try and mod this so that along with the camera, I have the ultimate is portable imaging device. So I need to shave off roughly 1mm off the inside of the barlow and the camera will fit into it.

First thing is get your tools and bits out (ooeer)

Now clamp things in place and slowly take off the inside of the barlow until it will allow the camera to fit into it. Remembering to block the inside out from the flying dust.

The mess

The finished article

How it looks now its connected

The view through the camera, unfocussed of course because its not attached to the scope.

And finally how it might look when attached. I will post pictures (if indeed it manages to take any) once I have some to show.

I shall post more in depth information if anyone wants any later, the camera incidentally is a Samsung MV800. Cracking piece of kit and as well as making videos and taking pics of course, it has a night facility. This allows you to take extended exposure pictures in the dark with a larger aperture, so i am hopefull I may be able to take some decent single frame pictures under the right conditions.

watch this space

Baz

[bomberbaz]

Little bit more info on the camera. The night mode allows aperture to be auto, 3.3 or 9.4. The shutter speed is anything from 1 second up to 16 seconds and the camera also has a 10 second delay to allow you to get the focus, aim etc, and then it will settle down once you have initialised the picture and so it is hopefully a steady shot.

[yesteryeargames]

_{how do you make it less zoomed in ? with the xbox cam and astro capture?}

[Aenima]

Little bit more info on the camera. The night mode allows aperture to be auto, 3.3 or 9.4. The shutter speed is anything from 1 second up to 16 seconds and the camera also has a 10 second delay to allow you to get the focus, aim etc, and then it will settle down once you have initialised the picture and so it is hopefully a steady shot.

If you can get 16 secs exposure then bright DSO's like M42 will be possible, might need to stack a few frames to reduce noise/increase detail but depending on wheter its video or stills and prime focus or afocal the results could be experimented with and maybe even fun!

Looking forward to any pics.

Regards

Aenima

ps not sure from the pics if you have left the extending zoom lens intact, as it may make focus with a barlow difficult but dont really know for sure.

[nicks90]

was thinking that myself. i have an old canon powershot i've been experimexnting with afocal and i'm not sure how to remove the front lense assembly and still have it turn on - so i can have a go prime focus. these cheaper old cameras can be picked up for literally the cost of an xbox cam from ebay, and i would imaginee the sensors are maybe a bit better/bigger?

[Aenima]

was thinking that myself. i have an old canon powershot i've been experimexnting with afocal and i'm not sure how to remove the front lense assembly and still have it turn on - so i can have a go prime focus. these cheaper old cameras can be picked up for literally the cost of an xbox cam from ebay, and i would imaginee the sensors are maybe a bit better/bigger?

Yes, same here the idea has passed through my brain a few times. Warning - I know by experience that pulling the zoom lens off a DSC camera stops it working.

Best bet would be a cam with non-zoom fixed position lens, or finding a way to reveal the sensor without breaking the circuit........

Someone will find a way.

Regards

Aenima

[happy-kat]

The old Kodak 290 camera was cracking, good sensor and it would accept scripts so could program it to do anything.

[pjac]

These non-Xbox mods are pretty neat, but could you post them in a new thread of their own please? This thread is already a monster and too long to read in one sitting

[Aenima]

These non-Xbox mods are pretty neat, but could you post them in a new thread of their own please? This thread is already a monster and too long to read in one sitting

Good point dude, and i'm partly at fault here - its a bit like a general thread to talk, and its not my place to use it that way, or see it that way, sorry, for anyone interested in the x-box mod alone i did make (not start, just tried to adapt it so this one was less full) a thread for it http://stargazerslou...on#entry1645997 Here.

Dedicated xbox mod posts can be made there, though this one still seems to be the more popular one.

Regards

Aenima

[bomberbaz]

Well my camera barlow mod, although good on paper was a fail. Looking at other options but need to experiment. I shalllget back to you all

[Aenima]

Aw, not good. Can I ask in which way did it fail?

Regards

Aenima

[bomberbaz]

Wouldnt focus and also all i could see through the view finder was a round circle. The focal point was way off basically

[nightfisher]

Im pleased to say i finally got round to finishing my xbox A-focal mod, i had sort of forgot about it to be honest, it comes to focus very well using craterlet, views through a 20mm smoothside plossl, this gives me the option to barlow the 20mm, i feel quite optimistic about how it will perform, will post a pic when glue has set, but its very simple

[bomberbaz]

looking forward to that one nightfisher

[nightfisher]

Here is the pic, very simple the black tube slips over a silvertop plossl

[bomberbaz]

you have given me some great ideas for modding here nightfisher, watch this space ;-)

[nightfisher]

you have given me some great ideas for modding here nightfisher, watch this space ;-)

A little tip, the black tube is made from layers of toilet roll tube, laminated with pva glue, so can be made to size needed, then painted black (thanks blue peter)

[bomberbaz]

Brilliant tip my man. I have an idea although really not sure what result i will get. But half the fun is in the trying. My camera barlow mod was a failure but i had fun trying and certainly leanrt from it.

[nightfisher]

If going A-focal, with this cam, replace the lens after modding the cam

[Moz]

Have butchered mine just need some pipe to finish ...only concern is when plugged show a white image and when held over Barlow shows dark image so I suppose it's working just needs tube and focusing on telescope

[Moz]

Just can't get it to work take cam off offer up old lens to the chip and fuzzy image is there ...can't achive focus coz housing is on so it should work made a tube out of paper and tape ...not sure where to go ..a focal with something else or a predone cam ..

[Aenima]

Just can't get it to work take cam off offer up old lens to the chip and fuzzy image is there ...can't achive focus coz housing is on so it should work made a tube out of paper and tape ...not sure where to go ..a focal with something else or a predone cam ..

Have you got a picture of the cam or description of the parts and how they fit together?

Not sure what might stop it working, be helpful to see it or get an idea whats wrong.

Aenima

[Aenima]

Little bit more info on the camera. The night mode allows aperture to be auto, 3.3 or 9.4. The shutter speed is anything from 1 second up to 16 seconds and the camera also has a 10 second delay to allow you to get the focus, aim etc, and then it will settle down once you have initialised the picture and so it is hopefully a steady shot.

Baz, its a shame the mod missed the mark as the cam itself sounds like its worth adapting to a telescope. And especially now if its been half modded. (if u dont mind cracking it open )

Im thinking the chip is important, and so is the capability to do 16sec exposures. If you could expose the chip and use it primefocus the barlow attachment can be used without the lens to center the chip in the focuser, then the focal point can be adjusted by sliding in and out until a star focuses.

You probably exhausted a great deal of possibilities whilst making it but I thought its worth a try. It might not be a planetary cam but 16 seconds catches a lot of light without putting too much demand on tracking (except standard unguided RA) . . .

If planets are the target then the barlow is needed and another way to position it at the focal point. (also a fitting for 1.25" UV/IR filter)

If you dont have a DSLR and want to try DSO imaging then you could do worse than 16 sec subs, stacked 30 or 40 high with darks will capture many of the brighter objects.

Regards

Aenima

[happy-kat]

didn't 'cliff' manage 20 seconds exposure using it on a Linux setup, several pages back now