Philips PCVC675K webcam, keep or change?

[Phil Fargaze]

I have an unflashed Philips PCVC675K webcam which I`ve used on a windows7 laptop for getting planetary pics but now I really want a planetary cam I can use on windows 10.  I could attempt to flash it but I don`t have much hope for doing that. Computers conspire against me whenever I try to do anything technical with them!                                                                                         Otherwise, I could get a modern dedicated planetary cam, but are they a improvement upon the old Philips webcam or should I preserver with getting the Philips working on windows 10?

[nightfisher]

You have a good scope and good mount, i would say look for a nice used planetary cam...........i know what you mean about computers as i tried to flash firmware on a mutirotor flight controller, the laptop nearly got launched, the flight controller ended up in the bin, but i stuck with it and now have 2 flight controllers flashed 

[Starlight 1]

I have seen post saying still working on 10 ,So I take that if it was working on windows 7 the same drivers still work with windows 10.

[Phil Fargaze]

Yes, I was thinking along the line of a used cam for a low budget solution. I`m not too worried about getting anything at the top end of performance, just something easy to use.

I have plugged the webcam into my windows 10 laptop and the computer did not respond to it being there. I`ll have a bit more of a fiddle around with it.

[Cornelius Varley]

Get a new camera. The Toucam range use an outdated sensor, low frame rate and are not in the same league as the modern cmos cameras.

[Phil Fargaze]

10 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Get a new camera. The Toucam range use an outdated sensor, low frame rate and are not in the same league as the modern cmos cameras.

I reckon that decides it then. Perfect excuse to go shopping for a new camera! 

[Phil Fargaze]

Well, I had a look at what FLO had in the way of planetary cameras and the ZWO ASI120MC USB 2.0 Colour Camera looks to be a good choice. I'm sure it won't be long until I cave in and my mouse will be hovering over the 'add to basket tab' with a twitching finger!

[sharkmelley]

Go for the GPCam2 IMX224.  It's the cheapest way to obtain this state of the art sensor.  It's USB 2.0 so unless you can really take advantage of USB3.0 then this is the planetary camera to go for.  Unless you really want mono

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/287942-altair-gpcam2-imx224-read-noise/

Compared with one of those old webcams, there is no comparison.

Mark

[Phil Fargaze]

The  GPCam2 IMX224 looks decent enough, but it`s pushing the budget higher. I feel like  I`ve set my heart on the ZWO so I`m going to go for that one.