Webcams: What do You Use?

[Astrosurf]

Hi all,

I want to get a reasonable webcam (not too expensive) so I thought I'd ask what you use and why. Not too techie please, my brain starts to smoke!

[jgs001]

I have used a Philips SPC900 and it works (I think you can get them on Amazon for about £80.) I've recently got a QHY5v guide camera, and it makes for a very good lunar planetary camera at about £150, so would be worth considering if you were wanting to get into Deep Sky guided stuff in the future.

[Astrosurf]

This is all I could see on Amazon!

Philips 1.3MP USB Webcam 90fps: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

What are guide cameras?! Sorry for being dim!

[jgs001]

That's the beastie Alex. A guide camera is used on a second scope to enable more accurate tracking (using guiding) so you can get deep sky exposures of over 2 minutes without trailing.

[Astrosurf]

Now I need to find someone who'll convert it for me! I don't want to lose ££££££££££!!! I know it'll invalidate the warranty so will need to be sure it'll work!

Is there any one of you near Buckingham who'll convert it for me? I'll pay of course!

[jgs001]

What do you mean by convert Alex ? Convert to scope use or LX mod ?

[arad85]

You can get them on e-bay: PHILIPS Webcam + Built in Mic 1.3 Megapixels SPC900NC on eBay (end time 06-Jan-10 22:02:12 GMT) You'll need to add a SPC900 nosepiece converter and a IR blocking filter. Unfortunately, it is just USB 1.1 so slow rates of 10fps and compressed.

I have to say that moving from USB 1.1 to USB 2 has enabled a shift in my imaging as you can get much higher frame rates and uncompressed... Personally, I'd go for a DBK21 (one shot colour) if I didn't want to have to deal with RGB processing. Yes, I know they are expensive, but they work well...

[yesyes]

What do you want to image? For the Moon and planets the cam doesn't need modifying/converting/modding. All you need to do is remove the original lens from the cam. See here for instructions:

Philips SPC900NC Webcam for Astrophotography

And then screw on the nosepiece and the IR filter onto the nosepiece.

Modding the cam is for imaging of DSOs (longer exposure).

[riklaunim]

Some people also use Unibrain firewire oem camera boards, or their cameras.

I made a list of webcams, industry cams etc, and adding dedicated astro CCD cameras, which can be found here -- it's in Polish, but the camera name and CCD sensor name don't need any translation Note that not all listed webcams or industry cams have beed used (known to Google) in astrophotography.

[Astrosurf]

That's the beastie Alex. A guide camera is used on a second scope to enable more accurate tracking (using guiding) so you can get deep sky exposures of over 2 minutes without trailing.

Hmmm, still can't picture that!

[jgs001]

Ah... a picture...

The black square with bobbles on on the blue scope (not the camera I have now but..) is a Meade DSI. That's the guidecam on my guidescope (a star is locked into software on the puter, and if it moves even minutely, the software corrects the mount position). I use my Canon 450d on the other scope to image with.

[acharris77]

Hi, I do use a phillips Toucam II 840k, which I picked up at a local bootsale for £1. I have just recently had the SC1 mod done by Andy Ellis at Astronomiser for Long exposures, which I am learning (or trying to learn) how to get good shots. I also have a 740k which I used for capturing Jupiter and it's moon, which give very nice shots of planets and of the moon.

[Astrosurf]

Thanks guys.

John, that looks like a complicated set-up but then I'm not technical!

Can someone explain webcam modding as opposed to the usual adapting?

[jgs001]

Modding involves hacking the innards with a modification to the circuits to allow the shutter to remain open for far longer. There are other mods that can be done, like turning the amplifier off, changing the housing to a cooled unit, changing the one shot colour sensor to a black and white sensor etc

[Astrosurf]

Modding involves hacking the innards with a modification to the circuits to allow the shutter to remain open for far longer. There are other mods that can be done, like turning the amplifier off, changing the housing to a cooled unit, changing the one shot colour sensor to a black and white sensor etc

Sorry I've taken so long to answer John! I'm totally clueless as to what this entails! I think I'll get to grips with my Canon 40D and use that for DSOs! Straight photography is much easier for me to envisage!

[DannyL]

I recently bought a Logitech c250 from Amazon for £19.95 (I think) on the grounds that this has a CCD chip rather than a CMOS. Anyway it's cheap enough to risk if things all go pear shaped.

The lens is held in place by a plastic focus ring, you pull that out and then screw the lens out of its plastic holder and then throw in bin.

I made up an adaptor using an old eyepiece barrell and a bit of brass I turned down to fit the barrel and the Logitech. If you dont have a lathe this is simple enough work to be cheap if paying for it.

The logitech does not have the lens thread used on the Tuocam so you cant use the available adaptors.

I recently trie this set up for the first time on a waxing almost full moon using a Skymax 127 I will try to include the shots so you can judge if it is worth the effort

27 jan 010 moon 1.bmp

27 jan 010 moon 2.bmp

[The Sailor]

Just to chuck things in the melting pot, I demolish cheapie webcams all the time, have been doing this awhile but for astromony all I have done is take the len off and replace it with a webcam telescope adapter, this was screwed on in place of the lens and was attached to the telescope lens, and worked!!

Jim

[brantuk]

If you google "Steve Chambers webcam" you'll get a good explanation of the modification process on his site. Also visit the "Astronomiser" site - Andy there does several modifications that you can choose from and he'll take the time to explain it to you - but be prepared for some brain scrambling lol.

I had my SPC900 modified and very pleased with it. They also sell pre-mod'd webcams from time to time at very reasonable prices so worth watching out for.