Which CCD Webcam and Software?

[Mikey0368]

I'm hoping to get my wee nephew interested in astronomy and I thought that getting some good lunar and planetary pics might help. Can anyone suggest a CCD webcam that's under £50 that would do the job? And would I need any adaptors to attach it to the telescope?

It's for a (badly underused) 8" reflector.

Thanks.

[red dwalf]

for that money you should be able to pick up a philips spc 900 nc or flashed 880, great little cameras for Lunar and plantary imaging.

[Mick J]

Or search the diy section for xbox camera mods, these are easy to find and super cheap,  here's James' comparison. 

[Mikey0368]

Thanks. I'll have a look at those options.

[Mikey0368]

Is there anywhere other than Amazon or Ebay that I can get an SPC900NC?

And presumably I'll need an adaptor for it too? 

[red dwalf]

you could try a wanted ad, either on here or astro buy and sell, they stopped making them a while ago but usually come up for sale with the adapter for £40-£50 ish

[Mikey0368]

Thanks. I found a second hand webcam on Amazon for £40 and I've also ordered an adaptor for £20.

As for putting them together, do these instructions still hold good?.....

https://nightskyinfocus.com/equipment/philips-spc900nc00-webcam-for-astrophotography/

[Mikey0368]

The bits arrived today so I'll have a go at putting it together tonight.

It's pretty cloudy here just now so I'm not sure if I'll be able to try it out though!

[Mikey0368]

That wasn't too tricky. I took pictures as I went along and I'll post them up separately.

The first thing I did was install the webcam on the laptop to check that it works ok. The disc that came with it was for Windows Vista but it installed on my Win 10 64bit laptop without too much trouble. It did throw up an error during installation but I just clicked "ok" and it continued with the installation.

 

Here it is before I started......

 

 

[Mikey0368]

I couldn't pull the focus ring off by hand so had to slide the point of a penknife between it and the body of the webcam to get it to come off......

 

 

[Mikey0368]

The lense unscrewed very easily.....

 

[Mikey0368]

And the adaptor screwed in very easily too......

 

[Mikey0368]

The finished article......

 

[Mikey0368]

The imaging software recommended in the link below is RegiStax.....

https://nightskyinfocus.com/equipment/imaging-planets-using-webcams/

Is there anything better out there or will this do the job for me?

[jimbo747]

13 hours ago, Mikey07 said:

The imaging software recommended in the link below is RegiStax.....

https://nightskyinfocus.com/equipment/imaging-planets-using-webcams/

Is there anything better out there or will this do the job for me?

I find autostakkert easier to use for stacking, and then load up registax for the slider bit, before a final tweak in photoshop (although any decent editing program will be fine)

 

http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/download/

 

 

[Mick J]

What software are you using for capture Mikey, something like SharpCap, lots of help on this thread, remember the Philips is USB1 and low frame rates are recomended to avoid compression and loss of data.

[Mikey0368]

3 hours ago, Mick J said:

What software are you using for capture Mikey, something like SharpCap, lots of help on this thread, remember the Philips is USB1 and low frame rates are recomended to avoid compression and loss of data.

 

Funnily enough I was just about to start checking that out so thanks for the tip. If the cloud ever clears I'll be able to put it all into action!

I'll have a great view of the moon in the south west tomorrow morning/early afternoon if the weather plays ball.

[Mikey0368]

11 hours ago, jimbo747 said:

I find autostakkert easier to use for stacking, and then load up registax for the slider bit, before a final tweak in photoshop (although any decent editing program will be fine)

 

http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/download/

 

 

Cheers. I've installed it and will give it a go.

[Mikey0368]

It looks as though the weather will be kind tomorrow and I should be able to see the moon quite clearly early in the afternoon. Any tips on how long my video capture should be and are there any issues with doing this in daylight?

Thanks.