Xbox webcam and IR filter

[Mattscar]

Seeing as the snow seems to shut england down, this weekend Im going to get round to modding the xbox webcam I bought a week back. I havn't got anything to attach to it to make it fit the EP yet but could probably find something.

This leads me to a question about IR filters. If the sales patter on ebay is to be believed (and unfortunately I have no idea) imaging with a webcam is better with the use of an IR filter. There are adapters for sale that claim to fit most webcams and have a built in IR filter. Has anyone ever bought one or have anything to suggest?

Matt

[todd8137]

Not sure a ir filter would be any use to a color cam but a iruv filter would get one they great

pat

[JamesF]

Pretty much any of the nosepieces you see for sale will fit the thread on the Xbox lens mount and they're usually threaded to take a filter. I did have to trim the lens housing down when I did mine to get the nosepiece to fit.

There is an IR filter in the Xbox camera lens mount itself so you could always use that to start with, but I wasn't convinced that it was likely to be of reasonable quality, square to the sensor nor optically flat, so I removed it and used a normal astro filter.

James

[JamesF]

Not sure a ir filter would be any use to a color cam but a iruv filter would get one they great

Camera sensors are usually quite sensitive to IR, so an IR filter of some kind is necessary. I once actually made an IR only camera by removing the IR filter from a webcam and replacing it with a piece of processed but unexposed photographic film. The image quality was surprisingly good even though pretty much all visible light was excluded. The sensors generally aren't that sensitive to UV as far as I'm aware so the case for UV filtering may be less compelling. I doubt it does any harm to have a combined IR and UV filter though.

James

[Mattscar]

I'll keep it in mind then, its not like ebay is going to run out of people happy to charge slightly more than they should to slightly over eager stargazers like myself.

[nephilim]

I left the standard ir filter in & find it works ok for me (although i've nothing to compare it too being new to all this myself) as for holding it in the focusor, I unscrewed the metal 'sleeve' from the 10mm EP that came with my old Skywatcher 130m & bodged it on to the cam after re attatching the case (IMO thats all the standard Skywatcher 10mm is good for) doesnt look great but its not a fashion show & does the job very well

Steve

[JamesF]

Just checked a sensitivity graph for the sensor in the SPC900. Sensitivity at the blue end of the spectrum is way down by the time you get to 400nm, which isn't really even out of the visible spectrum, whereas red is still going strong at the other end. For that sensor at least it appears that IR filtering is more important than UV.

James

[Mattscar]

Haha, I wish I had a 'spare' EP sat around somewhere. Iv not long had my scope so I havn't bought any new EP's yet. Been thinking about it but have no idea wether to replace the 10, 25 or get a different magnification.

[JamesF]

Haha, I wish I had a 'spare' EP sat around somewhere. Iv not long had my scope so I havn't bought any new EP's yet. Been thinking about it but have no idea wether to replace the 10, 25 or get a different magnification.

If you want one to butcher for something else (I used a 25mm eyepiece barrel to house my modded Lifecam for instance) it's often possible to pick up low-end ones on ebay for very little.

James

[Mattscar]

Iv found one of the adapter with IR filter sellers who seems to have pressed the wrong button and listed one for an auction rather than a buy it now, the listing says £12 but its currently at £3 with 15 hours left. If that doesnt go for cheap enough, I know someone who has an aladdin's cave of just useful 'bits'.

[Daddystu]

I removed the filter from mine and left it filterless. I obtained some half decent images of Jupiter through my ETX but seeing wasn't great. I'm keen to give it another whirl before the king of the gods departs the stage.

[Dave 2112]

I got a screw in adapter from ebay with the IR filter, most for the easy of simply screwing it in and not messing about with glue and cutting bits of pipe. Which makes me sound lazy, but so what, I am.

It works great, I can't say how it compares to the standard xbox IR filter but for making life easy it was worth the tenner or so it cost. Its never going to be Hubble standard, but its a £3 webcam, seems pointless stressing about how good the IR filter is or isn't.

[Guest]

There are adaptes specially designed for the Xbox camera that don't require any cutting down of the nosepiece here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230945650197?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

MM

[Mattscar]

Iv begun modding the camera today but am having real trouble with the two screws the hold in the filter already on there (the ones accessed from the back). Im sure I just need a better screwdriver as Im trying not to put too much pressure onto the circuit board. Frustrating though it may be, Im in no rush to finish it, its not like I can use it in the foreseeable future.

[shirva]

The nose cone for the Philips fits..can't remember screws being removed I had to cut front nose piece off camera to fit the nose cone adapter.

Davy

[Mattscar]

Im having some trouble getting the screws off the back of the circuit board in order to take off the IR filter thats on there as I have one on the way in an EP adapter, so I was wondering would the image suffer too much if I left in the xbox filter and used an extra one over the top?

In my head that should mean it becomes an uber IR filter, but the fact that Iv not seen it mentioned anywhere kind of tells me it wont work for some reason.

[burger]

There are adaptes specially designed for the Xbox camera that don't require any cutting down of the nosepiece here:

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1438.l2649

MM

I have one of these as well and are good if you struggle to focus as they slip inside the EP tube(till the camera touches the EP socket) as they do not have a rim and can get a little closer to the mirror

[Mattscar]

I think I may have broken something when I finaly got to the point of crushing the LED's, Iv put it all back together and my laptop refuses to acknowledge theres even anything plugged into it, its a brand new laptop aswell so it must be the cam. I'm going to give it another go tonight to see if re-starting the laptop makes any difference, if not looks like Iv got to go through it all again. Although if this is the case, I'll be able to do it alot better this time and its not like another webcam is going to break the bank

[burger]

I think I may have broken something when I finaly got to the point of crushing the LED's, Iv put it all back together and my laptop refuses to acknowledge theres even anything plugged into it, its a brand new laptop aswell so it must be the cam. I'm going to give it another go tonight to see if re-starting the laptop makes any difference, if not looks like Iv got to go through it all again. Although if this is the case, I'll be able to do it alot better this time and its not like another webcam is going to break the bank

I just covered mine with a drop of nail varnish, worked a charm