ASDA £2.93 webcam

[jeremy1]

Hmmm I wonder if the second hand Philips are going to take a knock in price now there's a pretty good rival in town and especially at that price it's almost throw away.

[Peter N]

Reduced to £1 in my local ASDA

[Ender Of Days]

Great vid there Nytecam,

I've got my adapter ready and the camera atatched

Just waiting for the weather to comply,

Also got a couple of pipe ends plugs today for any future plans,

But I fancy making myself an eyepiece progection adapter while I'm being creative (lol)

Its so frustrating waiting for clear enough skies to get it up and running !

JJ..

[Stargazer33]

Hi,

I have just bought the £7 version of the AsdaCam and wondered what adaptor I need to get to allow me to fit it to my scope (1.25")?

Is there a standard adaptor that you buy or are there different types?

Failing that I have an old 35mm film case knocking around that I can stick onto the housing, but I was hoping for something a little more professional looking.

Bryan

[JamesF]

Give us a break James - it's my first ever Mars image in initial test - I'm happy to show initial rubbish and perfection may take awhile longer

Actually it's a special treat for the Asda webcam to displace my Lodestar from deep DSOs

Is this all in the LX200?

James

[JamesF]

Hmmm I wonder if the second hand Philips are going to take a knock in price now there's a pretty good rival in town and especially at that price it's almost throw away.

I think it will take someone comparing the two properly before anyone considers it a serious rival. Let's face it, the Xbox camera isn't exactly expensive either, and Gary Honis says on his website that he reckons the Lifecam Cinema may actually be even better than the SPC900, but the prices just keep going up. This camera has been around for a fair while in various guises as I understand it, so it's only the price that is new.

I'm sure prices will fall at some point because people really must see sense eventually, but I'm not yet convinced that this camera is going to be an spc900-killer.

I think the reason this camera has had a sudden rush of popularity is just because it's very cheap and easily available.

James

[sanmatt]

Picked up the last two at my (not so) local ASDA today, will set to work modding the first one later.... hoping for some nicer weather to use it in would be a good idea too.

Let me know how you to do it Si..unless you want to mod the other one for me? *haw haw*

[Chris]

Managed to get some free camera software from Yawcam so I've got my 1300k cam modded and up and running:), looking forward to trying my first planetary imaging although with a f5.9 FL388mm ZS66 apo I expect Saturn to look like a small dot with ears even with a 2xbarlow:D

Nytecam- love your Youtube vid, great job:)

[Parus major]

Is this the one? ASDA HPC201B ASDA Webcam | Webcams | ASDA direct

I'm going to try and use my old playstation 2 eye toy camera if that'll work

They do and the thread is the same as the philips ones. If it's the silver one then it should be a straight swap but if it's the black one then the longer nosed one might fit otherwise you'll have to remove the casing.

[c3po]

Can anybody confirm if the standard M12 threaded type nose-pieces meant for the SPC900 will fit the ASDACam?

Let me know how you to do it Si..unless you want to mod the other one for me? *haw haw*

I'm sure I can mod yours for you Sandra, it'll cost a bit more though for the materials... plus I can use yours as the guinea pig for the mod!

P.S. when are you around for me to drop it off? I'm off Wednesday till Sunday this week, could drop it around for you too.

[zainraza]

What would you say the default zoom is like on this?

I'm defo looking to get one as a means of starting AP

[jeremy1]

I got my ASDA webcam today and plugged it into my laptop and it installed the software but I'm damned if I can open or launch it ??? there is no desktop shortcut and even looking through eveything else I cant find how to turn the damned thing on.

[garethmob]

if your on windows go into my computer it will be in there

i just plugged it into my macbook pro and it worked in photo booth perfectly, needed a bit of focusing but it works

now to try "modding" it

[jeremy1]

Tried that and nothing is there.... I must have a duff cam Bloomin typical it'll cost me more in fuel to exchange it than toss it in the bin.

[garethmob]

is it going into a direct usb port or a hub? have you checked device maneger to see if its being picked up?

have you checked sharpcap to see if that works?

[jeremy1]

Checked it on my daughters laptop which has Vista the same as mine and also nothing. It downloads the built in software but thats as far as it goes. I can check cameras and devices and there is nothing. I check My Computer as the instructions say and there's nothing. As I said it must be a duffer. Sods Law . Thanks for the advice though.

[Chris]

Jeremy- I had the same problem, try downloading the free cam software from sharpcap or Yawcam it worked for me, you might also get prompted to download Java script to make it work. I think the prob was that it doesn't come with anything other than drivers.

hth

chris

[nytecam]

Asdacam mods: I know it's bit early [only had cam a few days] but is it possible to mod this cam for long exposures so I can try some DSOs... and if so what websites? I'd like to have a go myself at the mod TIA

[Chris]

hehe I was thinking the same thing nytecam, then all you need to do is add cooling and you've got yourself a very budget CCD camera:)

I'll do a bit of research in link anything useful I find:)

[JamesF]

By the look of the PCB just about all the components are surface mount. I think that makes for an exceptionally difficult LX mod. One of the reasons it's feasible with the SPC900 is that there are two circuit boards and the signals are easy to get at in the connector where the two join.

James

[nytecam]

Keep us posted Starfox

By the look of the PCB just about all the components are surface mount. I think that makes for an exceptionally difficult LX mod. One of the reasons it's feasible with the SPC900 is that there are two circuit boards and the signals are easy to get at in the connector where the two join.

James

Probably true James but until the 'Webcam Wizards' get a sniff at the c/board and clones there's no knowing the task ahead - I hope it's possible

[Auntystatic]

hehe I was thinking the same thing nytecam, then all you need to do is add cooling and you've got yourself a very budget CCD camera:)

Its not a ccd but a discontinued cmos sensor that's why they are cheap.

[JimFR]

Managed to get some free camera software from Yawcam so I've got my 1300k cam modded and up and running:), looking forward to trying my first planetary imaging although with a f5.9 FL388mm ZS66 apo I expect Saturn to look like a small dot with ears even with a 2xbarlow:D

Nytecam- love your Youtube vid, great job:)

Nice artificin' there starfox !

[sanmatt]

Can anybody confirm if the standard M12 threaded type nose-pieces meant for the SPC900 will fit the ASDACam?

I'm sure I can mod yours for you Sandra, it'll cost a bit more though for the materials... plus I can use yours as the guinea pig for the mod!

P.S. when are you around for me to drop it off? I'm off Wednesday till Sunday this week, could drop it around for you too.

I'm not working tomorrow so you could come round if you want? I'll make tea Or we could go to Huffkins in town for coffee and cake and talk of all things astro.

[Ender Of Days]

jeremy1

As its the first webcam Ive had I didn't know if it worked like an external drive or something,I did find it in the Vista Device Manager but nothing else,

It occurred to me to download some software (sharpcap) click on camera .. and there my ugly mug was on the screen

along with a green led on the camera,

I'm not sure if it opens without a program or not,and didn't know if you'd downloaded any capture software or not,

Hope that helps (its all new to me)

JJ..