Overclocking WebCAM

[MaTriX]

I was bored tonight... Wanted to play Unreal Tournament a bit but my ping was very bad... Let's "tweak" something...

I had a CheapoCAM collecting dust, why not try to do something out of that useless piece of plastic...

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/original.jpg

Get the board out of it and screw it on whatever you find convenient...

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/board.jpg

The only part you care about is the CCD

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/ccd.jpg

The worst part on a cheap WebCAM is the lens, it must be replaced with something decent, I had a good one collecting dust in my basement

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/etx.jpg

I renovated my swimming pool and had a lot of remaining pieces of 1 1/4 plastic plumbing, perfect for the scope adapter... SuperGlue will hold this perfectly...

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/pipe.jpg

Click... The fit is perfect...

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/installed.jpg

It should be "slightly" more powerful now...

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/compare.jpg

Too bad, no clear sky tonight... I'll have to wait before I can see the results...

[viperdog]

What no next door, unsuspecting types? ...lol really that is cool, hey just a thought you could point it at where you work and keep track of the client....just point your monitor at the window before you leave for the day...lol

Did you catch any of the comet debris, seemed pretty light in Iowa maybe 3 in the 30 minutes I watched on sunday morning..

[MechCD]

Wow! do you acually get a clear pic from tha? Now i wanna go mod my Creative webcam and me telescope :D

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by viperdog
Did you catch any of the comet debris, seemed pretty light in Iowa maybe 3 in the 30 minutes I watched on sunday morning..
Was expecting a lot but sky have been horrible for the past 2 nights :(

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by MechCD
Wow! do you acually get a clear pic from tha? Now i wanna go mod my Creative webcam and me telescope :D
Wait for my results, I'll let you know... It didn't break anything so I can put it back in it's original case anytime if I don't like the results...

[MaTriX]

First Results...

Took the Laptop and "WebCAM" in the backyard :)

Clouds cleared and I had a shot at the moon... It was behind a tree so I had at least 30% obstruction but there was enough light to get something...

http://pages.infinit.net/jclaudev/genome/moon.gif

I also took some bugs on the side of the house, about 20 ft away... The first one is obviously a mosquito...

http://pages.infinit.net/jclaudev/genome/mosquito.gif

And this one, ???

http://pages.infinit.net/jclaudev/genome/bug.gif

There's a little dirt on the CCD, I'll try to clean it and take more pics...

BEGIN EDIT
It was a little dust, canned compressed air is so nice for that...
END EDIT

[Rizzo]

That is really good.

[Yo_Mama]

I got a spare, how much is shipping to Australia, anyhow? ;)

Originally posted by dnar
Alright! Awsome! Ok, I have 114mm Newtonian scope here, all I need is a webcam.... back soon!

[pelligrini]

Very cool...

I guess you'll hook up some servos and controll it with a joystick next ;)

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by pelligrini
Very cool...

I guess you'll hook up some servos and controll it with a joystick next ;)

That would be so nice... Astronomy is great in winter at -40, the sky is so clear when it's cold... Anyone can suggest me good strong servos with very fine movement.

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by dnar
Cheers cobber! Thanx for the offer, but shipping is probablt going to cost more than the camera is worth (guessing).
This scope uses an equatorial mount , and includes the drive gear required for time exposure tracking. Dunno why I have not fited a camera yet???
Here in Perth, I only need travel 30 minutes to get really BLACK skies..... Splitting binary stars is such fun!
No such thing here unless you travel 3 hours north... I have to stick to backyard astronomy... Not as dark but really close to my computers and fridge :D
You like doubles ? I'll try Mizar (Ursa Major) tonight if sky is ok, it's a double double... Maybe pixels are too big on the CCD, we'll see :)

[MechCD]

K sweet. Lets see.... I gotta look at my telescope, its a semi cheap one, I haven't used it in years.

Where did you attach the camera to the lens?

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by MechCD
K sweet. Lets see.... I gotta look at my telescope, its a semi cheap one, I haven't used it in years.

Where did you attach the camera to the lens?

I made a little hole for the CCD in a piece of perfboard

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/ccd2.jpg

I guess on most webcam the CCD is soldered straight on the board

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/ccd1.jpg

Motherboard spacers were perfect for that

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/screw.jpg

A 1 1/4 swimming pool pipe adapter was perfect for the scope, it was slightly too big so I sanded until I got perfect fit, I used SuperGlue (make sure it's perfectly centered before you put the glue :D)

http://www.clandoh.ca/~matrix/cam/glue.jpg

[Jodie]

:cool: :cool: :cool: That is way cool! :cool: :cool: :cool:

Worm-gear drives work best for astro-photography. I worked for Celestron for a while developing mapping software and astrophotography tracking systems... If you use a clutch on the worm and fast steppers that aren't at all accurate, you can get to within a few degrees of where you want to go, and then use the worm to start moving fractional arc-seconds...

[wylie]

Binaries???? I can think of its uses in alt.binaries....... :D

But seriously that is truly an awesome bit of work...be sure to post more piccies as the weather allows!

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by Jodie
:cool: :cool: :cool: That is way cool! :cool: :cool: :cool:

Worm-gear drives work best for astro-photography. I worked for Celestron for a while developing mapping software and astrophotography tracking systems... If you use a clutch on the worm and fast steppers that aren't at all accurate, you can get to within a few degrees of where you want to go, and then use the worm to start moving fractional arc-seconds...
That would be the best but probably cost too much for what the scope is worth. At this point maybe I should get another one (a "real" one :D) and give the little one to my kids...
Now I would also like to have a real astronomy CCD, playing with the small WebCAM CCD was cool but resolution is way too low for anything except the moon...

[Jodie]

Originally posted by MaTriX

That would be the best but probably cost too much for what the scope is worth. At this point maybe I should get another one (a "real" one :D) and give the little one to my kids...
Now I would also like to have a real astronomy CCD, playing with the small WebCAM CCD was cool but resolution is way too low for anything except the moon...

Actually, the least expensive way is with the worm gear and crummy steppers. Very accurate stepper motors are pricey toys. If you build your own clutched gearbox and use $10 Radioshack-esqe steppers, you're probably looking at a 10hr build/alignment and $25 parts cost versus $250+ for steppers. Remember you'll probably want to go both X and Y, as well.

How about doing digital resolution doubling? We actually used 300 line CCDs in our low end ($2000) product. We used some math magic to bring the resolution up to 1200 lines perceived. (Our nice product ($50,000+) was 1200 lines native and could be raised to 1600 lines with our digital techniques) If you're at all programming savvy, I'd have no problem giving you some source code that I worked on much later than when I was at Celestron - I own the rights to this stuff. Pixel upsampling and such.

Commercial time: Even though I know longer work for them, I'd highly suggest looking on ebay or whatnot for a C8 with CatStar or Star Tracker (both products I worked on) The C8 is the ultimate mid-end workhorse. It's since long been replaced by other scopes, but originally sold (circa 89-95) for $3000. I see them come up on ebay for sub-$1000 now. The Ultima or newer have some nice coatings and more precise grinds, but I have several C8's and wouldn't give them up for the world. 2min setup times, rock solid design, inexpensive, etc etc.

Another thought: Don't count-out your pixel imager yet. They're all about light, and so are scopes. The pictures aren't super, but my first impression was that your scope was a sub-4" (a 390, prehaps?) Meade or similar. An 8" scope will buy you 16x the amount of light gathering. Better optics like those an a C8 with probably double that number again. Imagine how much better you'll be with that!

Also, you might need a focusing tube that's longer to properly position your image on the CCD. If the images are fuzzy around the edges for anything smaller than the moon, try a longer feed tube before blaming it all on the CCD. You have no lenses magnifying your image, either (presumably) You'll lose some light, but how about affixing it to a Barlow doubler? You'll get better magnification (splitting binaries, for example) and not lose an ungodly amount of light. Have a look at http://www.telescope.com - the site of Orion Telescopes. All around good people. If you want an inexpensive scope that can't be topped for light gathering, look at their Dobsonians. If your sky is reasonably dark, look at the Orion XT10. I have two of those. When I go to sky parties, people spend 45mins fiddling with their setup and I pull two XT10's out of the car, point them for people, lock them down, and total newbies are viewing deep-sky objects in 15 seconds. THEN I spend 45mins fiddling with my Cadio's like the C8.

if you can't tell, I'm TOTALLY in love with home-brew astronomy projects... If there's anything I can offer to help you perfect your little CCD, let me know! Star tracking software, image enhancement, magnification... I've been down that road! I have a $25,000 CCD imager, but you've inspired me to rip apart a web cam now! (look at the phillips, btw, great CCD for the same price as that creative.. Avoid Intel - cheap CMOS detectors) Hey, how about a solar filter for your scope? Pictures of the sun are AWESOMELY captivating! Anyway, I'll stop now...

[viperdog]

How many are wondering just how many toys Jodie has around her house???

add in the fact she has had a hand in building them...you may have just crossed over into one of my images of the perfect women...lol ....:D

and no I will not talk about any other perfect women images I may have...:p

[wbierman]

One can only imagine.....

[Jodie]

Yeah, just like all the guys I meet - "wow! That's cool" (2 wks later) "Gosh, that's threatening... you need to stop doing that"
:rolleyes:

Sorry, I'll stop being a downer now:D

[viperdog]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jodie
[B]Yeah, just like all the guys I meet - "wow! That's cool" (2 wks later) "Gosh, that's threatening... you need to stop doing that"
:rolleyes:

Sounds more like the little thought bubble over those guys heads reads..."Gosh I'm so insecure". Us guys can have such fragile little male egos...lol..:D (at least when it comes to women)

[MechCD]

der my schoo has like 60 puters... all 500mhz and up..... if only I can make buddies with the admins or do some sneakin' around.........

[MechCD]

Yo X! I need them pics! My dad got interested in doin this! Me needs pics and descriptions :D:D:D:D Maybe you could could just help me out?

[MaTriX]

Wow!!!
I couldn't imagine receiving a reply notification on this thread after so long :)
How are you doing all ???
BTW the baby is due anytime now, it started around the same time when I started crunching genome, about 9 months ago...
I'll let you know...
Quiet but still crunching :cool:

[siggy]

Originally posted by MaTriX
Wow!!!
I couldn't imagine receiving a reply notification on this thread after so long :)
How are you doing all ???
BTW the baby is due anytime now, it started around the same time when I started crunching genome, about 9 months ago...
I'll let you know...
Quiet but still crunching :cool:

Good luck with baby MaTriX. Get all the sleep you can now, while you have the chance!!!!

[verT]

Yes sleep now for the love of mankind do it! Oh and if you aren't fit, get in to some sort of fitness routine. I had no idea how out of shape I was:D

[MechCD]

ARGH! I need the telescope pics......... tryin to keep this almost on topic

DANGIT! ANybody know how to hookup a webcam to a telecscope?

I know squat aboput telescopes, i just happen to have one and enjoy pokin around the sky with it once in a while......

From the sites i've visited, it seems i need to remove the webcam lense and somehow plop it on the camera...

Wherre the heck do ya put it? I've got 3 lenses similar to what a microscope has, you twist it around for different magnification. In the center of that is a hole for attachemnts, which i have only one, a T18mm thingiemajigger that sticks straight out the back

[MaTriX]

I'll do the pics Mech, I'll have to redo the whole thing because they were on my previous ISP and I switched but for you it will be a pleasure, I'll try to post a URL between now and sunday...

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by siggy


Good luck with baby MaTriX. Get all the sleep you can now, while you have the chance!!!!

Don't worry Siggy, it's my 4th (and last... click...) baby, I have experience... I enjoy staying up late and compensating with naps...

[MechCD]

Seems i have a present for ya

http://mechcd.tripod.com/tele/

pictures of my telescope and its wierd three lense part and the end hole.


hrm... dunno what to say bout baby.... me is bad with werds for occasions like this....

I think !congrats! is a good word :D

[pelligrini]

Originally posted by MaTriX
Wow!!!
I couldn't imagine receiving a reply notification on this thread after so long :)
How are you doing all ???
BTW the baby is due anytime now, it started around the same time when I started crunching genome, about 9 months ago...
I'll let you know...
Quiet but still crunching :cool:
Glad to see you pop in.
Enjoying your Friday night?
I figured the little one had already arrived, it really must be any time now.

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by pelligrini

Glad to see you pop in.
Enjoying your Friday night?
I figured the little one had already arrived, it really must be any time now.
:) Probably my last "quiet" one... My bet is next Thursday... I'll post pictures...

[verT]

WOOHOO! Playmate for mohT....:rolleyes: They can genome together:D

[siggy]

Originally posted by MaTriX


Don't worry Siggy, it's my 4th (and last... click...) baby, I have experience... I enjoy staying up late and compensating with naps...

Well then you are a seasoned pro at this. You already know the routine.

Shouldn't that read (and last one...snip, snip) :D

[X-Calibur]

Originally posted by MaTriX
Wow!!!
I couldn't imagine receiving a reply notification on this thread after so long :)
How are you doing all ???
BTW the baby is due anytime now, it started around the same time when I started crunching genome, about 9 months ago...
I'll let you know...
Quiet but still crunching :cool:

Bonne chance avec le bébé mon vieux !!!

Trans: Good luck with the baby buddy.

How original is that ?

Cheers

X'

[MaTriX]

Originally posted by siggy
Shouldn't that read (and last one...snip, snip) :D
Yep, thanks for helping me with my french->english translation :)