astro-suitable webcams for Windows 8?

[jlschmidt14]

I've read tons on various webcams that are rather easily modded for astrophotography, such as Phillips ToUCam Pro and SPC900NC and the Logitech Quickcam Pro 3000 and 4000. But...these cameras are OLD by electronics standards and are for the most part dropped from support by their manufacturers. Are there more recent cameras that are as easily adapted for AP but compatible with current Windows versions?

I'm about due for a new PC and I'm looking at tablets with higher end processors, and they all have Windows 8.1. I just want to make sure I get one that I'll be able to use, and it seems like a lot of the newer webcams are more difficult to mod due to their non-modular construction.

Attached is literally my first astrophoto - the moon, taken earlier this week with my Celestron 130EQ, a Canon EOS Rebel T1i in 2x "barlow projection". I wanted to try a mosaic with eyepiece projection last night but I'm having a real struggle with shakiness due to the weight of the camera so I'm thinking the lighter weight of a webcam would be helpful.

Thanks!

[jlschmidt14]

wow, well I take that as a resounding NO, haha. Guess a purpose built camera like Celestron's Neximage is probably my best bet.

After spending some more time tweaking my telescope balance and building some Wilcox rings I've got the DSLR working better, so I may be able to do ok with that after all. Just right at the limits of the mount unfortunately.

[Feral Rabbit]

There are plenty of people on here that use old converted webcams costing no more than £15-20 for astrophotography (AP) and get amazing results.

From what I've read on here and the rest of interweb is that CCD based ones (older) are better than CMOS ones (newer). Which has something to do with processing the light, real estate of the chip that's used.

As far as getting one to work on Windows 8 all I will say is I have a Logitech Quickcam 4000 Pro which Logitech don't support on Widows 7 Pro 64 bit. But a quick YouTube check and using Windows Vista 64 bit driver, downloaded from Logitech, it works on my computer using SharpCap 2 software.

I would research a bit more before shelling out too much money if you don't have to.

[jnb]

I have also heard that old CCD webcams are better than the newerr CMOS versions. I have also heard that one of the better options for that is an Xbox webcam and you can get those from ebay for 99p. I have a couple on my study shelf awaiting use in a couple of projects.

edit - just to add that they work quite happily in windows 8 with Sharpcap and no specialist drivers required

[jlschmidt14]

I have also heard that old CCD webcams are better than the newerr CMOS versions. I have also heard that one of the better options for that is an Xbox webcam and you can get those from ebay for 99p. I have a couple on my study shelf awaiting use in a couple of projects.

edit - just to add that they work quite happily in windows 8 with Sharpcap and no specialist drivers required

good call on the xbox cam! I hadn't thought of that (or found it in my searches).

Off to online shopping I go...

Thanks!