USB Camera's

[Ed in UK]

Hi There,

I wondered if I could pick a few brains that are far more knowledgeable than mine please.

Last night after being wowed by the views of Jupiter I did spend a small amount of time trying to get a couple of images on my phone just to send round family & friends etc. It's something I've tried before but really struggled to get anything meaningful. I'm not looking for anything fancy just a replication of what I see in the EP. Would be nice for record keeping of what I see as well (Sketching ability is 0).

I have done a quick tour of the net and really struggling to find anything but this seems to be the best that I can find. https://uk.telescope.com/Orion-StarShoot-USB-Eyepiece-Camera-II/p/110030.uts I'm probably looking in the wrong places ?

Has anyone seen or got something similar or better ?

Don't mind having it hooked up to a computer, and I'm assuming focusing of these camera's is done by watching the image on the computer anyhow.

Budget ideally is around the £50 mark, could go a bit more for the right option.

I did think about getting a holder for the phone that attaches to focusing tube, but I'm a little unsure if the the unbalanced weight may break the focusing tube over a period of time.

Many thanks for your help.

[philhas]

Have a look at this thread, some useful if not old info. The quick cam pro's are available on ebay for little money. This website has some more info http://webcamastronomy.com/webcams.html

 

[JamesF]

I've seen one or two SPC900s on offer for less than £50 recently, and original (USB2) ASI120s for about £70 to £80 I think.

James

[Davey-T]

30 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I've seen one or two SPC900s on offer for less than £50 recently

I gave one away recently 

Dave

[Ed in UK]

Thanks @philhas, just had a read through the thread.

I've just remembered that I should have and old compact digital camera kicking around (which has a CCD sensor in it IIRC), I'm going to dig that out, if I didn't lob it when we moved house a few years ago..... ?

I'll have play and see what I can come up with.

Thanks

[philhas]

Sounds like a plan, I try not to throw anything out the problem is I am running out of storage!

[happy-kat]

Do you have an old webcams hiding anywhere.

Do you have an older pc running say Xp?

[cjdawson]

The original webcam that worked for Astronomy was the Logitech QuickCam.   However, that was 20 years ago and doesn't work with anything newer than windows Me. (Bottom line, for get it)

The next is the Phillips Tucam Pro II.   These can be flashed to behave like a SPC900C  (I've done this with mine)

 

Frankley, you'd be best investing in something like this.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi120mc-usb-2-colour-camera.html

It'll get you going and give some nice views of planets.

[Ed in UK]

Looks like old camera has been lobbed ?

[Stub Mandrel]

A Microsoft Lifecam Cinema is a cost effective and more up to date choice than an SPC900, but it does need some handwork to convert it.

If you can stretch to an ASI120MC it will knock all webcams into a cocked hat as it has several advantages: uncompressed files, high frame rates (with cropped frames) and it also does long exposures and can function as a guide camera. Last night I was using mine for guiding and with 1-2 second exposures I could see the ring nebula on the screen so it even opens up the opportunity for video astronomy.

[Stub Mandrel]

I fitted my lifecam into an aluminium tube, then added a cooling fan powered by the 5-volt USB. Here's a couple of pics using it

[Ed in UK]

Ah good idea Neil.

We have an old action camera thingy somewhere that is cigar shaped but you have to press a button quite firmly to get it to take a photo or start recording.

May have a play with it. Same old story, need to find it though.... ?

Ed