Logitech c170 for imaging

[prassi007]

Hi,

I have a logitech c170 with me

Can it be modified to take astro images.

Have anybody used it for astroimaging? And the quality of the images?

Thanks in advance.

[Elm0]

Not used one of these but I would remove the front case and the lens. Also try a remove the stand.

Somehow adapt the front so you can stick the casing of a 3 mm film case to the front.

Look at this link for ideas. I think it's a case of trial and error.

Www.astrophotovideo.wordpress/adapting-a-webcam-to-a-telescope/

You could always just tape it to an eyepiece using tape as a form of digiscoping.

Don't think the camera is ideal but if you can get it to work you will get some good HD video with its spec.

[Elm0]

Sorry 35mm film case.

[prassi007]

After a long research i modified my webcam,

I own a 60 mm telescope.

this was the first photo taken by the cam of moon,

I wonder even after so much of focusing the best picture is this.....

what may be the Problem?

Can any one help me?

[DazC]

Hi prassi007,

I bought one of those webcams a couple of years ago. It was fairly simple to modify to be used with a scope.

I've only used it a couple of times and by no means have I mastered it.

I have only used it on lunar so not sure what it can do for planetary imaging.

I'll find a couple of images and post them here soon.

D.C

[happy-kat]

When focusing in the direction of gaining focus did you run out of focus travel?

If so was it inwards or outwards travel?

[prassi007]

I didn't run out of my focus travel. Ita just too hard to focus.

[prassi007]

And should I use any filter, I use only the ir cutoff filter.

The central part is too bright to be focused.What should be done?

[happy-kat]

Turn the gain or brightness down on the webcam, rather the programme doing the capturing could try that

[bill_reed]

I had one of the CHEAP "web cams for dummies" and I striped out the lens and added a eyepiece nose and tried it, it worked really well, found it worked better with a X2 barlow. that maybe why you have problems trying to focus, so add a barlow and increase the focal length of your scope. mine was a cmos chip and not a ccu but still worked really well!

[prassi007]

Should any filters be used for lunar photography?..

[ronin]

When you say:

Logitech c170 for imaging

You do mean use on the moon and planets by obtaining a video then processing it through something like Registax, and not trying to get a single image of the object as in DSO long exposure imaging?

To recap something you could well be aware of for the moon and planets you centre the object and take a video (.avi) file of the object then stack the best 20% of the frames in Registax.

If you have mixed this up with long exposure imaging then a webcam does not produce the results.

Only mention it as talk along this approach is sort of missing in the thread.

You do not really need a filter for the moon

[TiTanecd]

I find that even a visual filter or if you have a IR-Pass filter it helps with the sharpness.

[prassi007]

I dont do long time astrophography .

Just i focus to the moon and take some pictures and some video and if try to stack using registax i get this.

5.bmp

the unstacked image is better .

So whats the mistake.

Is my stacking process wrong? or the camera was not focused?

help me..

[DazC]

Hi prassi007,

I've managed to find the images I took with my c170 web cam.

the first three were taken using my celestron 130 mm and the fourth was taken with my 10" dob, all were stacked and processed in registax 6.

As I said previously, I've not mastered it but it just shows that you can get quite a good image with the web cam.

D.C

[prassi007]

Other than the exposure, what all attributes should I change in the camera. ?..

Will aperture of telescope make any difference.. as mine is a 60mm.

Will post new photos soon.

[TiTanecd]

Your aperture is fine.

Using SharpCap2 as the video capture software, try focusing on:

1. Exposure

2. Brightness

3. Contrast

4. Gamma

5. White Balance

Generally in that order. You can mess around with sharpness if you want, but the stacked + wavelet sharpened image will look better than trying to sharpen during recording.

Try:

1. Setting the exposure first, its better to have the exposure higher and the brightness lower. If you set a low exposure and compensate by having the brightness high, you will get a grainy picture.

2. Gamma, Contrast and White Balance to get the colour looking nice.

3. On the top of the window you can increase the display zoom to like 300x or 400x and use this to fine tune the focusing. Throughout this process you should see the moon and be able to distinguish features. If not and its a blur than maybe the sensor is dirty.

[TiTanecd]

This was my first go at a mosaic and terminator shots. Used a C270. 9 Pictures of the top 50% of 1200 frames each.

The webcam is a good entry into solar system photography.

[Cornelius Varley]

Other than the exposure, what all attributes should I change in the camera. ?..

Will aperture of telescope make any difference.. as mine is a 60mm.

Will post new photos soon.

Could you upload your video file via Dropbox ? We might have a better understanding of the problem if we can analyse the original video.

[prassi007]

Hi,

Here's The link of the video which i had captured,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i6xiizk0ta42t0g/1.avi?dl=0

[Cornelius Varley]

The captured video is out of focus. There is also a large amount of drift across the video which would make it difficult for Registax to stack.

[prassi007]

I tried my level best to focus. I don't have any eq mount.. how to avoid the drifting.

Should I use a bahtinov mask for focusing. I am planning to prepare one.

[TiTanecd]

If you lead the moon with your telescope than it gives you a longer time to focus. Don't worry if it takes 2 or 3 tries. Have a go after at viewing the live stream and see how it looks. What you see there will only improve with stacking

You can try focusing on a star first to achieve infinite focus.

[happy-kat]

You are fine to keep going without an eq mount on the Moon. You capture a video for each time it drifts across the fov then stop recording line it all up again and start a new capture. Each time is an opportunity to work on the focus.

Good luck me I am itching to try but cloud!

[prassi007]

Hey, every body let's try capturing the moon and see who gets the better results.

This Saturday and Sunday.

And will have a try on the sun.

Recieved my new solar filter.