Modifed Toucam...Not (just adapter)

[Caz]

...on ebay.... 20hours to go!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Philips-ToUcam-telescope-camera-photo-adapter_W0QQitemZ7590218049QQcategoryZ3636QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[OXO]

Caz it's just the Adapter iam affraid to say

[GazOC]

Thinking of getting into the webcamming Caz?

[GazOC]

Soon Gaz... I've got to give it a go...

Hey, even I get passable images......

[GazOC]

Its been cloudy mate, I'm all next week so hopefully I can have a bash at Jupiter.

[Ambermile]

If you are not going to mod then there's no reason not to go for a cmos you know...

Arthur

[OXO]

(complementary metal oxide semiconductor)

[Ambermile]

Caz - most people plump for the Philips Pro range or the earlier Logitechs because they are ccd (charge-coupled-devices) rather than cmos (above). The main reason is that a cmos chip has a lot of associated electronics built into it. This in itself is no bad thing but at low light levels this electronic working can create noise in the image. CCD's on the other hand have little or no on-chip electronics and so have less noise. Hence their popularity for imaging at night!

Now then - if you are going to take a piccie of something brighter (planet, Moon, Sun) then this electronic interference is not likely to be a problem. Only when you want to expose for seconds/minutes does it come into play (in fact, a typical webcam cmos chip will saturate - all white image - in about 4 seconds) and then the benefits of a ccd device come to the fore.

Arthur