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Xbox Livecam Mod (Cliff)

gdheib0430

By gdheib0430
in DIY Astronomer

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freelander86

freelander86

Posted
Posted

After a disasterous start imaging Jupiter I have finally managed to produce some good results of the moon:

Moon1.jpg

I have to say I am really pleased with this. I know that it is not as good as some of the wonderful images on this forum but it is my first real astro image and it shows what can be accomplished with a little time and effort!

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kernowstargazer

kernowstargazer

Posted
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I cant seem to achieve focus with mine. I have a 150p dob and have removed the nose cone and added the Philips / toucam adapter. I can get the white image of the moon on the screen but cant get it to focus. I then removed the 1.25 adapter so it was the 2 inch ep holder and just held the camera in the centre and achieved focus. So i judged the distance between the 2 inch and 1.25 distance of in focus and there doesnt seem nothing in it.

Then the thin hazy clouds rolled in and it was game over. Does removing the red filter have any advantages?

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Zaphod360

Zaphod360

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Heres my latest from tonight... I think I need to work at the processing a bit though, I think I've over done it a bit.

moontop103032012231014r.png

Heres my moon pic, prime focus with a LP filter.

marsx5103032012234607rs.jpg

And Mars, I stacked my TAL x3 and my SW Deluxe x2 together for this one. I think I had the saturation down too low, or maybe not enough gain I'm not sure but I've washed out the polar cap.

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Dave7a

Dave7a

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Fantastic images! Thanks for the tips. I can't wait for the clouds to clear so I can try mine out. What a bargain these little things are!! I can see they're all gonna get bought up very quickly, might just have to get another in case I can't get the dust off mine and be a little more careful with it next time lol

Keep the images coming! Great work!

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kernowstargazer

kernowstargazer

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Those are some fantastic images i hope i can get my focus sorted to be able to get images any where near as good as that. I have removed about 1/2 cm of the black inner lense holder so it brings the adapter closer to the sensor hope that helps now for some clear skies to try it out.

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en51nm

en51nm

Posted
Posted

Tried out my xbox live cam this evening, got the moon (12 piece mosaic) and Mars. Don't have a Barlow to fit my homemade webcam mod so mars is only a few pixels across!

Moon turned out okay, although those of you with a keen eye will no doubt see the two glaring mistakes... 14 tiles as opposed to 12 would have done the trick! Still this is my first ever mozaic and first time imaging with a webcam so I'm fairly happy!

For anyone interested, given a dark enough sky I think this camera should be possible to be used as a guide cam - I was able see some stars as dim as Mag 3 or 4 once I had got the focus right and that's in a very light polluted Reading with an almost full moon!

post-32937-133877742606_thumb.jpg

post-32937-133877742616_thumb.jpg

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Dave7a

Dave7a

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Well I managed to clean the dust off the sensor with a little squirt of canned air and gave it a try last night. I did three passes of the moon to start with so I could try doing the mosaic thing. The scope was still warm so it was very shimmery but I really just wanted to try get some data to experiment with. I have yet to play with this tho as I got engrosed with Jupiter and........Saturn!!! Wow I'm so pleased to have had such a great view and even more so that I was able to capture it!

The images are tiny but I'm really happy and amazed at what can be achieved with these things! I'll have a play with the moon mosaic soon and see how I do with that.

I need a barlow now...and a bigger harddisk....and a tracking mount...and... :)

Pics are in my Sig and yes, thats their actual size hehe!

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Gina

Gina

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If you can see the moons you're probably overexposing the planet. I found that I had to reduce the exposure a lot to see any detail on the planet and then the moons had disappeared.

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c3po

c3po

Posted
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I've just ordered me one of these xBox webcams and a 1.25" nose piece adaptor, i intent to remove/cut the existing white nose section of the camera body and remove the lens assembly, then insert the 1.25" nose piece adaptor....

couple of questions though:

1 - is this possible

and

2 - is the IR filter part of the webcam's lens assembly, and if not what is the significance of removing the IR filter (steps 3 & 4), if only to add one later via a screw on one for a 1.25" thread??

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c3po

c3po

Posted
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1. I've done it.

2. IR cut filter is part of lens unit. You need an IR/UV blocking filter. 1.25" screwed into nose-piece.

Excellent, thanks Gina....just what i needed...by the way, that was a super-speedy reply!

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Dave7a

Dave7a

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Thanks Richard, I'm really happy with them :D

I think Gina nailed it really. It sounds like maybe the exposure is too high?

I'm using Sharp Cap to record the planets as they pass in front of the scope, which takesabout 20 secs. I'm not really trying to capture the moons as I didn't think there would be enough data given the amount of time everything would be on screen at the same time. I might give it a go tho just to see... Good luck!! :headbang:

@c3po...

Yes you can just replace the lens with the adapter once you've managed to get it out, but the IR filter is right next to the ccd sensor, so you have to dismantle to remove this. As for the 'why remove it then add one?' Well I guess it's just so that you CAN choose to remove or add an IR very easily and quickly once the built in filter has gone. I did end up with a fair amount of dust on my sensor when I did mine, but a careful blast of canned air soon cleared it all off. Be careful with the air tho! It's pretty powerful and those sensors are quite fragile! :)

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c3po

c3po

Posted
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@c3po...

Yes you can just replace the lens with the adapter once you've managed to get it out, but the IR filter is right next to the ccd sensor, so you have to dismantle to remove this. As for the 'why remove it then add one?' Well I guess it's just so that you CAN choose to remove or add an IR very easily and quickly once the built in filter has gone. I did end up with a fair amount of dust on my sensor when I did mine, but a careful blast of canned air soon cleared it all off. Be careful with the air tho! It's pretty powerful and those sensors are quite fragile! :)

ok...so the webcam's IR filter is not integrated with the removable lens assembly?

I'm considering leaving it in place, at least, for the time being so that i have some sort of protection on the CCD chip whilst i source the funds for a IR/UV filter - yet another item to slip past the missus without her "oh no, not another part for your 'scope...how much this time" remarks.

would leaving the IR filter in place cause any degradation of images until i source a 1.25" filter for the nose-piece? Also, what is teh significance of getting an IR/UV filter as opposed to just an IR filter?

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

Posted
Posted

My Xbox Cam arrived just over £5 with the postage, done the aforementioned mod and this is a day light test..the tree is about a mile away might be more, the laptop had the sun shining on the screen, this is the result....

Capture09_03_201215_00_42.png

This is the mod, i found a 1.25 tube with a wide threaded end, bit of glue and its now ready for the IR Filter thats in the post....

2012-03-09101718.jpg

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Tiddles

Tiddles

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How did all these clouds escape from such a little envelope? Camera modded, IR filter, lens and LED's gone. It seems to show very little colour with the IR filter removed, is this right?

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Tiddles

Tiddles

Posted
Posted

Lid off the wife's shampoo bottle exactly 1.25" quick bit of work with a dremmel and mod is complete.

I made a mess of getting the case apart so hidden a multitude of sins with insulation tape.

post-31701-133877744699_thumb.jpg

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