What makes a webcam a good webcam?

[knobby]

Clouds not playing ball eh, Knobby! maybe get the test done Next weekend?!?

Regarding the sony CCD chip.....I am still not sure exactly what I am looking for regarding specs when looking at all the webcams. But one thing I did notice is that there seem to be a lot of CCTV cams that appear to have the sony CCD in. I think?.

It does look like they have limited access to controls but has anyone ever tried a CCTV cam for imaging? or is there a really obvious reason, that I am missing, why they're not used?

Cheers

Jez

Did this for another thread... Don't ask?

its the webcam handheld against a Nikon 105 macro, 20 seconds in sharp cap stacked in Registax

Taken in poor indoor lighting

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php?/topic/178689-Playing-around.-Quickcam-4000-Pro-with-ST80#entry1843429

[M00NMonkey]

I have to ask what is it, Knobby? An apple?

well, it works but not sure how you can compare that photo to a night sky image?

looking forward to seeing some proper subs, mate

Jez

[knobby]

It's planet shaped!

Yep its an apple

[M00NMonkey]

Ok, so, I got a little bored an hour ago. Decided to find my old MS HD-6000 (I say old, but mean BNIB hidden in a cupboard gathering dust) and basically have a go at mod-ing it.

Now, whether that was a good idea or not remains to be seen. But it still works, although it seems ultra-sensitive to light. I know thats what I want, but you never know. Hopefully its a good thing. I couldn't find any real info on it, so it more than likely wasn't. Its a very small and fiddly webcam, so probably not the best one to choose to mod, but it was to hand so I thought why not.

Monday is looking like a good clear night, round my way, so hoping to test it out. Fingers-crossed!!

One thing I will say is - Hot glue guns are great fun!!!

[knobby]

I saw a gap in the clouds at about 6 tonight and bunged the scope out back ... had a quick try with the 4000, and a quick try it was !

clouds rolled in almost straight after I'd found jupiter and focussed .

Managed 15 seconds !

The good news though, the 15 seconds of avi produced an image as good as my best attempt with my asdacam, which was with around 2 minutes worth.

So its looking promising

[M00NMonkey]

Yeah, does sound promising. Hopefully very soon you'll have your window to give it a real test run.

Clear skies