LifeCam VX-5000 as astro webcam

[mikehab]

Hi - Has anyone tried using the Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 as an astro web-cam? I've been using one of these for about a year as my home web-cam and the picture is stunning - and it has excellent low-light sensitivity. Just wondering whether it would work as a web-cam for astro-photography as you can pick them up very cheaply these days (<£15).

Thanks,

Mike

[mikehab]

No responses on this, so I decided "what the heck" and thought I would give it a go and try it for myself anyway. Purchased a new VX-5000 from Amazon for a mere £11.50, took it apart (therein lies a tale!) and converted it as per the usual method of removing the lens element and glue'ing on a standard 35mm film canister. Plugged it into my Nexstar4 and it seemed to work, so last night I took the opportunity of the first clear sky in weeks to try it out on Saturn.

Managed to capture some video which I then processed (can't remember whether it was in AviStack or RegiStack - I tried both).

This is my first ever attempt at trying to capture via webcam - results are 'OK' - if rather small and a bit fuzzy... but I'm still quite pleased with my first attempt...

[dav1d]

That's actually pretty fantastic - hugely better than anything I've managed so far.

[JamesF]

You might want to go back to Registax and do an RGB align. That should sort out the blue and red fringing and give you a clearer image.

James

[mikehab]

Done as suggested ... still some fringing though...

[JamesF]

Definitely better than it was though, and you can tweak the offsets by hand if you think it's not done a good enough job. There might also be some effects due to focus not being spot on or to having too much gain. It's a tough target this year though and being low in the sky means it's hard to get the focus right and to get enough light for a good image. There's probably no substitute for practice there.

James

[mikehab]

Another pic of Saturn from tonight using the VX-5000...

[JamesF]

I did some imaging of Saturn last night. I've not processed them yet, but I'll try to remember to do so here for comparison.

James

[Space Cowboy]

Good effort Mike. Are you using a IR/UV filter? If not then that may explain your colour issues. Don't worry about using high gain unless the image is over exposed Saturn needs plenty of gain.

[mikehab]

No - not using an IR filter ... should probably invest in one... ;-)

[JamesF]

Ok, here's my preferred image from last night. I have too much yellow either as a result of my tinkering with the processing, or because I was playing with the saturation settings, but in the desaturated greyscale image, I think the focus and detail come out fairly well. Given Saturn's lack of altitude this year and that this came from a 127 Mak and SPC900, I'm reasonably pleased.

I was hoping to get out again tonight, but the seeing is far too patchy to give much chance of any decent images.

As Space Cowboy says, Saturn needs a fair bit of gain to give the processing something worthwhile to work with. Looks like you perhaps didn't have enough in the second image. I had mine almost up to 50% compared with nearer to 20% for Mars. Focus is the real killer though. Once you can start hitting the focus point nicely then everything takes a big leap forward in quality and the process becomes easier as a whole. Unfortunately there's really no substitute for practice and more practice.

James

James

[Tribal-Wolf]

No - not using an IR filter ... should probably invest in one... ;-)

You don't need one with a newtonian reflector, I use mine to keep the dust off the sensor mainly and I got it free with the cam otherwise I wouldn't have one. You will need one with other scopes though I believe.

The only dodgy colours I have had came when using one ironically, it was on Mars and I posted pics somewhere on this forum.

[JamesF]

I'm not sure I agree, Chris. The camera will still be sensitive to IR and it will still tend to overexpose at the red end. Also, whilst the scope itself won't shift the focus of the IR hitting the mirror and cause a "halo" as a result, the IR wavelengths will already have been refracted in the atmosphere. For those reasons it seems to make sense to me to use an IR filter even with a reflector. If you can explain why those aren't issues then please do, as it would almost certainly mean I wouldn't have to use an IR filter with my Mak either (which I always have done).

If you choose not to use an IR filter however, I'd recommend a clear glass "filter" to keep dust off the camera sensor.

James

[Tribal-Wolf]

My recent Mars images were taken with a filter and they were weird, Jupiter without it was fine though.

[mikehab]

Another Saturn image taken last night using the VX-5000.... about 4500 frames stacked in Registax 5

[flybd5]

Mike, did you remove the IR filter on top of the sensor when you took off the lens assembly? It is glued on. I tried to remove it, very carefully, but the sensor got scratched. It's a disposable camera, not worried about it, but I was wondering if you did that or left it on. So everyone I've read about who has adapted this camera has removed the IR filter, but the only way to do so is to break it and carefully remove the pieces. I've got big fingers.

[mikehab]

Yes - I definitely did remove the IR filter. It was a long time ago now since I modded the VX-5000, and I've done different webcams since - but I'm pretty sure it was a case of removing all the screws to completely remove the whole circuit-board from the case, then remove the screws from the back that are holding the lens assembly to the circuit board - then you can remove the IR-filter without worrying about damaging the sensor. As per comments above though - if you do remove the original IR-filter then you might want (need?) to add a better-quality standard IR-filter to the 1.25" nose-piece.

[UnderTheRain]

I use an ir filter with my live cam HD (the one in the round chasis) and you do indeed remove the built in one. Well I did I took the whole wem cam to bits and reassembled it to a bespoke chasis I got from billet parts. http://www.billetpar...pter-p-122.html

[COSMOS1256]

On ‎2012‎년 ‎5‎월 ‎28‎일 at 05:45, mikehab said:

Another Saturn image taken last night using the VX-5000.... about 4500 frames stacked in Registax 5

Nice saturn! I have a question, How did you manage to attach your webcam to scope? I have VX-4000 and I'm planning to use it as an autoguider with finderscope. I bought adaptor for that and it doesn't fit! the webcam doesn't fit with adaptor! Now i'm not blaming the manufacturer because it's my fault and I didn't know that VX-4000 have different adaptor to SPC900nc, so How did you put your webcam into scope?

[mikehab]

On 27/01/2016 at 15:30, COSMOS1256 said:

Nice saturn! I have a question, How did you manage to attach your webcam to scope? I have VX-4000 and I'm planning to use it as an autoguider with finderscope. I bought adaptor for that and it doesn't fit! the webcam doesn't fit with adaptor! Now i'm not blaming the manufacturer because it's my fault and I didn't know that VX-4000 have different adaptor to SPC900nc, so How did you put your webcam into scope?

I used an old 35mm film canister and hot-glued it to the webcam.  Those old 35mm film canisters are perfect as they are nearly the exact same diameter as an eyepiece tube.  With the demise of film photography they are getting more difficult to get hold of these days - but if you go into your local film processing store (e.g. Boots in the UK) and ask the guy behing the counter then they are usually quite happy to hand over a few free of charge... ;-)

[COSMOS1256]

18 hours ago, mikehab said:

I used an old 35mm film canister and hot-glued it to the webcam.  Those old 35mm film canisters are perfect as they are nearly the exact same diameter as an eyepiece tube.  With the demise of film photography they are getting more difficult to get hold of these days - but if you go into your local film processing store (e.g. Boots in the UK) and ask the guy behing the counter then they are usually quite happy to hand over a few free of charge... ;-)

Thaks for the answer.

There are not that much of film processing stores around here, I guess i should find one or find some of my old film canisters that wanders around in my house☺