PS3 Webcam arrived

[lennylovit]

device manager, update drivers and use "got disk" and go to driver folder and load from the folder , took a long time and a few goes to sort it but all good now, will be useing 9x50 s/w finder with modern astronomy spc900 adaptor , have a look on the Welsh section pics of my home made guide rings with finder and webcam attached , only polish and anodise to do

[Aenima]

Hello again russell, hope your well.

Just wondering if my eyecam is working after trying to get jupiter on chip but couldn't see anything past the weird patterns/noise - kinda not random but still pretty noisy (?) - so gave up in favour of the spc900 but really want to try again, can u remember what your (shapcap) screen looked like when you were 'searching' and the settings..? rather than when you were capturing?

Thanks

Regards

Aenima

[russellhq]

Did you try the settings from the second post? What FPS did you select?

[Aenima]

I think it was normal looking without me turning gain and stuff up to try finding the planet, I selected 10- 25 fps hoping for a normal image but with things turned up it was a v strange pattern, tried for half hour with no luck.

I will trying again soon.

Aenima

[russellhq]

You should have all the sliders at maximum and the gain set low, about 10%. That should be a good start. Are you able to take a still of the strange patterns?

[Aenima]

No unfortunately deleted to save drivespace, but thats a good idea - its hard to describe! - next time i'll look closer, was distracted by mount problems.

Thanks

Regards

Aenima

[russellhq]

You may also want to consider recording at 60fps. This would mean you could image for a shorter period while still capturing the same amount of frames.

[Aenima]

I regained a few gig from my harddrive and waiting for some clear sky.

There was a chance that the scope wasnt aligned at that point and i never had it onscreen, or focus made it wash out..?

I need a barlow that gives more than x2, cant seem to improve on the last couple of avi's...

Thanks

Regards

Aenima

[russellhq]

What I do, is start with a low power eyepiece and then get Jupiter centred. I then get the finder scope cross-hair aligned. Next I get a high power eyepiece and centre Jupiter again and double check the finder scope.

Once I'm happy I've got the planet centred in the eyepiece and the finder scope, I then swap out the eyepiece for the camera and use the finder scope to make sure the planet is centred. I then start playing with the settings on Sharpcap

If you also spend a bit of time watching the planet drift across your high magnification view, you'll get an idea of how long you have to get the camera in before it drifts out of view.

[Aenima]

Thats some good ideas, thank you.

Its good to readjust the finder when moving the scope to each target. I wasn't familiar with the ps3 eye cam, it'll take a few goes i think.

TA.

Regards

Aenima

[pjac]

I've not had a chance to test it with the telescope yet, but I've got my PS3 Eye modified for telescope use and ready to go (there are more pictures of the case if that helps for opening it):

I didn't have any joy with the macam drivers on Mac OS X, but the camera does seem to work OK for me on Linux.

[pjac]

I meant to add, like Russell I also removed the weighted foot/stand. I also found the PS3 Eye's lens was glued in too well to remove, so I replaced the lens and mount with another M12 board lens mount instead - and screwed my telescope 1.25 nose-piece adapter into that.

[Stargazing_Cliff]

I also modded ps3 cam and use it all time with my telescope works best for moon and even took pic saturn with it.

what i did was i removed quite bit of the plastic to get tubing little more closer to sensor i guess it depends on some telescopes.

i find ps3 cam doesnt give the warble effect thats what i like about it.

doesnt give much exposure time like but allright for normal cam for like moon/ jupiter/ saturn so on.

planetary cam.

[Aenima]

Hi cliff,

Whats the warble effect?

I think the best thing about the eyecam is the usb2 and high framerate - with the right settings and conditions it does quite well on solar system objects, just not enough clear nights to test these things out....

Regards

Aenima

[pjac]

I've still not had a chance to test my PS3 webcam for astrophotography - a combination of clouds, snow and rain - plus the fact that since I can't get it to work with my Mac laptop (driver problems) I'll have improvise something with another computer.

[Aenima]

I have given the ps3 eyecam a miss after testing it against my other cams, it was a bit too noisy and difficult to adjust settings resulting in poor pictures, at least with my pc and 200p.

With some TLC and software know-how also maybe a bigger aperture i'm sure the better frame rate etc can be put to good use.

Best of luck with the weather, testing it out.

Regards

Aenima