Another cheap webcam !

[malc-c]

Following on from the ASDA cam I picked up a cheap (£7.00) camera off E-bay. eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

The first thought was that the barrel might be 1.25" in diameter and it would be a direct fit, but alas the barrel is just over an inch in diameter. First disappointment (well half expected it really given the listing) is that it's no way a 5 mega pixel. Sharpcap and WXAstro both report it as a standard VGA. Anyway, on with the modification such that it is !

Unscrewed the lens shroud and that reveled the lens, which in turn unscrewed to leave a plastic shroud around the sensor (note the IR filter on the back of the lens... that's one issue solved I then tried the standard nose piece used with my Phillips SPC and it fitted !!

Not sure how well it will perform as a lot of the settings in sharpcap / driver seem to have little effect, but there appears to be little slider that adjusts the exposures as shown in the attached image, but I've yet to see this create an over exposed image on the screen.

Just need a clear night now to see how it images the moon...but IMO i don't think it will be as good as the SPC900 by a long shot.

[spaceboy]

Will be interesting to see how you get on Malcolm but with little room for manipulating the settings I would not get my hopes up.

[yesyes]

Is it possible that you just need to disable automatic mode somewhere in the driver settings?

[malc-c]

Spaceboy, I agree, with no chance of changing the frame rates etc there is not a lot of hope for planetary work, but might be Ok for luna.

Chris, I searched the hardware ID in device manager and located a different driver (other than the MS one used as default) and that still had the same options. I'll dig some more, but if it does prove to be pants then I'll let one of the kids have it for use with MSN or something similar

[JamesF]

I think you'll struggle with it because of the auto exposure and auto white balance not allowing you to control the camera properly, to be honest.

The slider you've ringed on the sharpcap image only saves one frame in the number chosen, as far as I recall. I don't think it will make much difference to exposure times.

The only way to find out is to try it though

James

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Looks pretty cool cam interesting shape to it.

[malc-c]

James - you're right. I've tried several capture apps and none have any effect on exposures etc.

Oh well it was worth a punt