Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

[happy-kat]

Nothing you may need to use a Barlow too.

Is it in or out focus travel that you so not have enough of?

[hobsey]

Also, if you are using sharpcap try turning the exposure off auto and adjusting it yourself.

[denisorionxt6]

It was a mix of problems it seems. I had to shorten the length of the tube I made, had to saw it back to the length of the nose of the cam and yeah hobsey I turned off the auto exposure, after I done those two things I managed to get a picture of the moon albeit unclear. So I payed about with gamma, contrast and brightness etc but I still can't get any worthwhile clarity. I've seen some pretty good moon pics with these cams and I can't get mine as good.

I read that if you wind focuser right in with no lens in place, and hold white paper in front and move paper back until the picture on the paper is in focus, so that is the point where the cameras sensor should be. I've done that and the pic was better but still. ..

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[happy-kat]

What scope are you using it with?

[denisorionxt6]

What scope are you using it with?

morning kat, I'm using it with my orion xt6 dob, same one Chris davenport used his cam on.

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[happy-kat]

Try in day time at some distant trees so much easier to see what and where the focus is.

Moon images are as much about seeing and atmosphere that you can't control.

[denisorionxt6]

I'll try that then kat, it's got to be something simple hasn't it, I mean I've got a picture at least so it has to be doable

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[DonFitzg]

On the adapter front - just modded one myself (cracked casing and all). If you take off the black bracket in front of the sensor by removing the two screws in the backplate, you can just gently push out the IR filter. There's a little flange on the inside rim of the nosepiece of the front of the camera - cut this off with a modelling knife and you'll find that a standard 1.25" adapter will fit snugly into the front casing and reach the black bracket to be screwed in. Saves hacking the nosepiece off and worrying about dust getting onto the sensor.

[hazegood]

Just got a xbox Live cam today £7 fro local game shop,

Did  the mod following te instructions in this thread,found no need for pliers when cracking the leds, just had it connected and on and scraped them hard with my thumb nail, (could damage other bits doing it this way I would think so be careful)

Tested it on my Celestron 130 on Moon, using sharpcap2,  60second video,

run video through reistax, no idea what I was doing, got this as a result
 

needs some more processing I know but I have no idea what I am doing in registax yet

Leigh

 

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Just got a xbox Live cam today £7 fro local game shop,

Did  the mod following te instructions in this thread,found no need for pliers when cracking the leds, just had it connected and on and scraped them hard with my thumb nail, (could damage other bits doing it this way I would think so be careful)

Tested it on my Celestron 130 on Moon, using sharpcap2,  60second video,

run video through reistax, no idea what I was doing, got this as a result

needs some more processing I know but I have no idea what I am doing in registax yet

Leigh

hi Leigh.  

you have to play with the brightness and contrast in the camera settings. 

here you are over exposed and the camera is seeing to much light. so have a little play with contrast and brightness

you will find a spot where the camera starts to play ball. 

you also have to very fine tune you focus, so get your camera into a good focus.

then play with the cameras brightness first, lower it down a little, and then adjust contrast.

keep going till you have the image looking nice and contrasty and not to over exposed.

the hard bit is building an astro cam, the fun comes with playing with its settings to get it to play ball

[romx]

I did this mod and was not able to get anything to display at all, guess i will put it back together as a webcam and give it to my daughter

[happy-kat]

What would not display? Or was it not focusing in your telescope?

[romx]

What would not display? Or was it not focusing in your telescope?

no focus possible with it, checked the webcam was working after putting it back to normal and it functions fine as a regular webcam but had nothing but a black static view using sharpcap in the scope. pointing it towards a bright light source did show up as a fuzzy light image when not in the scope

[hazegood]

is the sensed chip centered in what ever adapter you are using to insert the cam into the focuser?

 

[happy-kat]

You need to turn the gain and brightness right up when in a scope to see anything.

Also use the moon to start with, stars are too dim.

[hazegood]

You need to turn the gain and brightness right up when in a scope to see anything.

Also use the moon to start with, stars are too dim.

yes then when focused turn them down again before you start to capture, its a balancing act between gain and brightness, otherwise your capture will be over exposed

[romx]

Tried one last time checking everything was exactly as it should be with the cam and again nothing at all, tried increasing gain changed exposure from one end to the other and nothing whatsoever. could simply bring nothing into focus or even see anything even close to focus, disappointing but atleast it cost less than a tenner and easy to restore as a regular webcam

[happy-kat]

It is not the webcam it is failing to reach focus due to I expect the focal distance unless you got it to focus before hand. Ate you running out of in wards or outwards focus travel?

[romx]

This is the cam mod pics, i used a barlow lens to do the mod. I tried with and without the actual barlow lens in the tube and adjusted the focus on the scope fully both ways. 

Its a real shame because it came out looking rather good if i do say so myself

[happy-kat]

All is not yet lost I think more information is needed to help.

When you try to focus do you run out of inward or outward focus?

If it is outward carefully hold the webcam and move it backwards until focus looks better, that will tell you how much bigger the tube on the front needs to be.

If inwards then remove the cone is it still not focused when you are closer?

[romx]

I cant recall if i tried that so soon as i get some clear skies and the moon is up will give that a go

[happy-kat]

great, you are playing with the focal distance to try to work out where the webcam needs to be in relation to the eyepeice holder to reach focus

[nightfisher]

Still not got round to trying out the x-box A-focal mod i made over a year ago.................oh for some clear skies

[Oortrageous]

Hello! I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting in an older thread, but this seems to be the definitive Xbox Livecam thread and I was hoping some of the knowledgeable people from earlier posts are still keeping a squinty eye on it!

I realise I'm a bit late to the party, but I've just ordered my Xbox Livecam from Ebay for the princely sum of £6.50 delivered. I work in electronics by day, so I'm happy with all the LED removal, and may try and sort out a bit of cooling for the back of the sensor if that would be worthwhile?

A couple of questions, mainly relating to the IR filter. I understand there is one fitted to the camera which is usually removed in favour of replacement with a nose mounted one. With this in mind, I have found http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Webcam-Adaptor-to-Fit-1-25-Eyepiece-Tube-Holder-with-Built-in-Filter-Brand-New-/141107559141?pt=UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item20daaa7ae5.

My question is, is it worth my £17? Will I see an appreciable difference between getting one of these vs carefully bonding a piece of 1.25'' diameter pipe over the sensor ensuring it is central in the aperture? Most of the earlier mods I've seen use a full 1.25'' filter, however I don't really want to commit to spending out the £45 or so on the cheapest one I've seen on FLO.

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

[Oortrageous]

Oops, also meant to ask what length I should make the nosepiece? I have a Baader 2.25x Barlow I would intend to use the camera with, and will be attempting(!) to capture through a 200p Dob.