Webcam and Software advice needed

[Michaelo]

I've picked up three webcams for small money and want to experiment with them... I could not get any detailed information for the CCD's they use, so have no idea if they will produce results... The next step is some software to capture the images/video but again here I have no idea which program so I downloaded several and have started playing with them...

I have come across mention of long exposures but don't fully understand how this would work with a webcam... It appears certain webcams (with a hardware mod) allow long exposures while others allow this with software and no need for hardware modification...

I have always associated long exposure with a single image... so how does this work with webcams?

[Michaelo]

These links are probably already know but I though I add them here in case other looking for info find their way here...

Some WebCam technical data: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/molyned/web-cameras.htm

Long Exposure Webcams and Image Stacking Techniques: http://keithwiley.com/Downloads/WileyK_ChambersS_LongExposureWebcams.pdf

[JamesF]

SharpCap is probably the place to start for capturing from the cameras. Optionally you can process the captured video with AstroPIPP to get rid of poor quality frames and make life a bit easier for the stacking application. Registax and AutoStakkert!2 both do stacking. AS!2 is probably a bit more reliable, but doesn't offer the post-processing available in Registax so you'd probably end up using both anyhow.

Long exposures are typically used when imaging DSOs, and just like high frame rate video is stacked to produce a single planetary image, multiple frames from long exposures can be stacked to produce a higher quality image for DSOs. Deep Sky Stacker is probably the place to start with that -- it's more tailored towards images with stars in whereas Registax and AS!2 are more biased towards planetary/lunar/solar images.

As regards modifying webcams for long exposure, the hardware can be modded on certain cameras to allow the PC to control the exposure time rather than having the camera firmware do it. Once that is under computer control it's really the same idea as taking long exposures with a DSLR or dedicated astro camera, just lower resolution.

James

[Michaelo]

Many thanks James... just the info I needed...

[Herbig]

Also have a look at WXastrocapture, I use this with my SCP900 it also worked with an old Logitech cam. It also allows longer exposures.