V-Gear TalkCam Tracer CCD Webcam as alternative to SPC900NC

[Distorted Vision]

I had no joy buying a SPC900NC at a reasonable price but I managed to buy a V-Gear TalkCam Tracer CCD webcam on eBay for £5. It uses the same same 1/4" Sony CCD chip (ICX098BQ). It even says so on the front of the box.

I was wondering if anyone had converted it to use with their telescope. It uses USB 2.0 and there is a Windows 7 driver so wondering if it may be even better than the SPC900NC. Here are the full specs:

Interface: USB 2.0

Sensor: 1/4" SONY ICX098BQ CCD Sensor

Sensitivity: <1 lux

Effective pixels:1.3 Mega Pixels

Max Resolution:1280x 960

Colour depth: 24-bit (16.7 million colours)

Max Frame Rate: 30fps (640 x 480: 30fps, 1280 x 960: 15fps)

Lens view angle: 52

Focus range: 4.3mm to infinity

White Balance: Auto

Auto Exposure (AE): Auto

USB cable length:150cm

Weight: 65g (USB cable included)

Dimension: 70mm x 80mm x 68mm

Clipper width: 5mm~25mm.

Working temperature: 5~40C

Working humidity: 20~80

Rating voltage: 5V

Rating power consumption:1050mW

Rating input current: 210mA

[sologuitarist61]

Looks interesting, let us know how you get on then we can all get one before the price shoots up!!

[sologuitarist61]

PS I wonder if it takes a normal nosepiece to 1.25" as per the Philips SPC900?

[Distorted Vision]

I unscrewed the lens and it does it.

[Distorted Vision]

I'm just waiting for my webcam adaptor to arrive so I can test it. Will report back with my findings.

[Cornelius Varley]

This site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/molyned/web-cameras.htm gives a bit more info. The sensor is believed to be the same as use by the Toucam Pro and the claimed resolution are interpolated. Other than that it should be ok if you can add a nosepiece.

[sologuitarist61]

I unscrewed the lens and it does it.

Is it the same thread size though?

[Distorted Vision]

I'll have to wait until my webcam adaptor arrives to find out.

[sologuitarist61]

Can't find one for a fiver but there is one on there now for £8.95 Buy it Now, so might be worth a punt, shame about the £4 for postage

[Distorted Vision]

Thats from the seller who I bought mine from. They were a few on auction at 99p but now they are all Buy Not Now for £8.95.

[sologuitarist61]

Not sure this tells you any more than you already know but have a look ...... http://www.weiku.com/products/3696715/V_Gear_TalkCam_Tracer_CCD.html

[Radders]

I ordered one of these after too failing to get a SPC900 at a decent price. It arrived today and it installed ok with Windows Vista.

Tried it with Sharpcap although on the settings there is no gain slider. Will this be a problem when it comes to imaging? Aslo on the Colour Space/Compression option you can select either RGB24 or 1420. Again anybody know what the difference is?

I have an adaptor and the thread looks same size once you've unscrewed the lens but there is a raised silver collar on the webcam so this looks like it needs to be trimmed down flush before the adaptor will fit.

Radders

[Distorted Vision]

Radders, Could I just check does your webcam adaptor actually screw into the V-Gear as mine didn't. The thread size looks the same but I think the thread might be different. From what you've said my understanding is that it does screw in but not all the way down so its not flush?

[Radders]

Hi yeah my adaptor fits but 1st you have to trim down the silver collar flush before the adaptor screws all the way down. I got mine from FLO for about £10. Here is some pics...

[Delboy_Hog]

Interesting stuff - look forward to seeing how these cameras perform!

[stonemonkeylives]

May have to a look at you one of these, be interested to see how good they do in the field.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[tich]

I saw these on eBay & thought about trying one out but never bothered in the end. I'll be interested to see the results though.

[sologuitarist61]

I got one of those and the adapter doesn't fit, so will have to try getting the silver collar off first. How did you manage that Radders? Did you take it apart or take a blunt implement to it?

[sologuitarist61]

Ahhh. just had a closer look at the blow-ups of your images and can see the blunt instrument was definitely used

[Radders]

lol yeah probably not the neatest job ever! I took it apart (there is some tiny screws on the casing) and undid the pcb board leaving me with just the front bit with the collar. I used a junior hacksaw and tried to cut it as flush as possible. This means the centre piece with the thread came loose so i pushed it back through from the inside of the front case and attached it all back together. I thought about gluing it but that could get messy.

It seems to ok. Just waiting for some clear weather to try it out!

Radders

[Distorted Vision]

Thanks for posting Radders. I was hoping when I bought it the lens would just unscrew and I could screw the webcam adaptor in. I was hoping that it would look nice and neat but I don't thnk it will by when I finally get round to doing mine.

Hope to hear about your experiences of using it and seeing some pics soon.

[Space Cowboy]

No gain setting could be a problem but this cam looks very interesting considering it is usb 2.0.

[sologuitarist61]

Have tried what Radders did and can confirm that the screw thread is the correct one if you can cut away the surround OK. When I tried it the remaining screw thread fell out of the housing, so I gave up and chucked it away.

[Radders]

You mean the centre piece with the thread? I know it comes loose so i put mine back through the front from the inside of the housing if that makes any sense . Then put the whole lot back together and screwed the adaptor in.

Radders

[Radders]

Well I've finally managed to get out and try this webcam tonight. This was with a x2 barlow. Captured with SharpCap,pre-processed with PIPP (hadn't a clue what I was doing) and stacked with Registax 6.

If anyone would like to give me any pointers on how to make this better, please do.

Radders