Jupiter and Mars from my new Microsoft LiveCam Cinema

[rigellim]

Last week, I just bought a used Microsoft LiveCam Cinema and moded it using instructions from Gary Honis.

After a few tries, this are what I get from it yesterday. The very first step to planetary imaging.

I don't have my Barlow with me yet. Now the webcam is placed prime focus on my SW 200PDS. Both shots were taken using SharpCap at 1280x720, 30 fps, 50% best frames out of 6000 frames. Stacked with AS!2, and post-processed in PS. Tried to use Registax to bring out the details, but failed to do so, just using smart sharpening filter in PS.

Do you think I still can pull more details out in post-processing, or I should try using Barlow to increase the magnification? Critics and comments are welcomed!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Not bad at all. You got focus right, by the look of it, and the colour looks fine. All you need is a Barlow to shoot at much longer focal ratio. I tend to use F/30 on Mars and between F/20 and F/25 on Jupiter. A 4 or 5x Barlow would do the trick.

[todd8137]

Nice I would have grabbed the avi's at 640x480 but each to there own ,if I was imaging the moon then go for the big frame

Pat

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I also tend to grab the avis at 640x480. Speeds up the capture and reduces disk clutter

[rigellim]

Using lower resolution will decrease final resolution of the image, right? Or I am missing something?

The video files are indeed large, but I managed still to capture the frames with 30fps with max resolution.

[todd8137]

Not sure you would get more than 30fps with the said cam ,but if your exposure is high your frame rate will drop it did,with my hd life cam so what I do,when I do,use it is get focus with the expo hight and gain then drop them down a few notches looks,like you doing well so so far

Pat

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Using lower resolution will decrease final resolution of the image, right? Or I am missing something?

The video files are indeed large, but I managed still to capture the frames with 30fps with max resolution.

I shoot a region of interest from the full frame, without binning pixels together (just pick out the part that contains the planet, and forget all the black stuff around it). I do use the full resolution of the camera (pixel size stays the same). this works with firecapture and my planetary cameras. Not sure if webcams can do this

[rigellim]

I shoot a region of interest from the full frame, without binning pixels together (just pick out the part that contains the planet, and forget all the black stuff around it). I do use the full resolution of the camera (pixel size stays the same). this works with firecapture and my planetary cameras. Not sure if webcams can do this

I am using SharpCap, and changing video size actually involves binning pixels as you mentioned. Maybe I can check out firecapture to see if it supports cropped video function.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I am using SharpCap, and changing video size actually involves binning pixels as you mentioned. Maybe I can check out firecapture to see if it supports cropped video function.

I have used sharpcap both on my DMK21 and SPC900. I was never tempted to use the lower resolution mode on either. I am not sure that webcams all support a region-of-interest mode of capture (although the software can of course store a smaller part, rather than the whole image

[rigellim]

I found a zoom function in SharpCap, but have not tried it yet, maybe I could use that.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I found a zoom function in SharpCap, but have not tried it yet, maybe I could use that.

Sounds good!

[todd8137]

I have never used the ROI with the dmk 21 might give that a go next time can ya use,that on moon craters a wonder ?

Pat

[JamesF]

I have a feeling that the change of resolution for the Lifecam is actually just a crop, but it's a long time since I last used one so I can't be sure.  A good start though.

James

[rigellim]

I did a quick test while waiting for the sky to get dark, indeed, in SharpCap, changing resolution alone only performs binning on the frame.

But there is a zoom slider on the sidebar as well, if I slide to the max value (10), lower resolution frame will be like being cropped from the full resolution.

With this function, indeed I will be able to capture smaller region of interest and reduce the video size a lot! Thanks!

[rigellim]

The sky was exceptionally clear the other day, so I tried to capture video in 640x480 resolution, zoom  = 10 in SharpCap. The Great Red Spot is conveniently visible that night. Using cropped video indeed reducing the video file size from about 10 GBytes (4000 frames) to only 3GBytes. But somehow, the fps of 640x480 video reduced from 30fps to 20 fps. Maybe SharpCap or the webcam has to do some internal postprocessing to crop the video?

[todd8137]

Looks good ,did you over do it with the wavelets that's what normally causes the ring s the frame rate is down to expo so if that was high ,next time as a test once you have got focus drop the expo down a notch it will look darker but do not worry ,keep,at it

Pat

[rigellim]

Looks good ,did you over do it with the wavelets that's what normally causes the ring s the frame rate is down to expo so if that was high ,next time as a test once you have got focus drop the expo down a notch it will look darker but do not worry ,keep,at it

Pat

Yeah, maybe wavelets are a bit overdone. Jupiter is already very bright in my preview, I have put the exposure to minimum!

[JamesF]

Yeah, maybe wavelets are a bit overdone. Jupiter is already very bright in my preview, I have put the exposure to minimum!

Don't worry about how bright it looks.  Use the histogram and adjust the gain/brightness (not sure these cameras have gain?) and exposure to get about 65% to 70% across the histogram.  That should be a good starting point.  I'd probably adjust exposure time first to get 10fps or 15fps and then set the brightness accordingly.

James

[todd8137]

I love the fact we all have are own wYs of doing things with the histogram I

Yeah, maybe wavelets are a bit overdone. Jupiter is already very bright in my preview, I have put the exposure to minimum!

As above drop the gain that can cause the onion rings I get this some times on mars my life cam I use just for viewing and video as the same problem ,I can use the gain function do not worry about it being bright you can sort that out later run a few test vids some with low expo /gain ,and some normal see how ya go

Pat