wasyoungonce
24-04-2013, 12:15 PM
Well I purchased an SPC900NC from a fellow IIS member and modded it by changing to a mono sensor and flashing the firmware to mono raw output. What a change it has made.
Basically you take you vanilla colour 900NC (or toucam type) change the sensor from the colour version ICX098BQ to the mono version ICX098BL. The mono version is eaactly the same but has no Bayer matrix. Thus you need to flash the camera firmware to change the output of it to fully mono/RAW output, not just a de-bayered mono image. Once done the camera doesn't run it thru a de-bayer matrix thus you get much better sensor resolution by doing so.
How much better, see attached images (sorry they are rough but focused with the OEM lens as best as I can. Ok image scales are slightly different but you get the gist...even with codec image lossy resolution.
So buy the sensor from UTSource (http://www.utsource.net/) (no affiliation with them) for ~$10+ $4 P&P. Take apart the camera, see here (http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm), cut off old sensor with sharp accurate side cutters, de-solder the left over legs (not easy as they use non-lead solder...I hate that stuff), clean up pads and put in new mono sensor, solder away (ensure it's flat on PCB, be-careful of sensor glass), clean, re-assemble and test with software like sharpcap (http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm) (or WcRmac (http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/soft/wcrmac/index.htm) or what ever program you like to use ). Be carefull with the camera apart, use antistatic procedures and some of this is fine soldering work. Very difficult to get all the old solder out of the pads.
Now when running the camera with a capture program you use WcCTRL (http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/soft/wcctrl/index.htm) to intercept the data stream then write a modified firmware macro to the camera to make it output in mono and RAW. Instructions to do this are on this page but more info here (http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm) and some more reading here (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/75194-philips-spc880nc-is-now/).
I take no credit for this project just following what others have done and I thank them for their work. This is a massive improvement on the std sensor image ...now I need some filters and a wheel..but hey I really wanted it as a guide camera or finder camera so I don't need colour...just better sensitivity, as this has done, but how much better....?.
The top link at the site: http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm
links to a study done on a toucam webcam mod like this. The result is they state ~3 x the sensitivity over the colour sensor version. This I can believe with my basic images.
For $10...I'll have one!
Sorry lots on my plate ATM to get some images under the stars but I'll endeavour to do so soon.:D
Basically you take you vanilla colour 900NC (or toucam type) change the sensor from the colour version ICX098BQ to the mono version ICX098BL. The mono version is eaactly the same but has no Bayer matrix. Thus you need to flash the camera firmware to change the output of it to fully mono/RAW output, not just a de-bayered mono image. Once done the camera doesn't run it thru a de-bayer matrix thus you get much better sensor resolution by doing so.
How much better, see attached images (sorry they are rough but focused with the OEM lens as best as I can. Ok image scales are slightly different but you get the gist...even with codec image lossy resolution.
So buy the sensor from UTSource (http://www.utsource.net/) (no affiliation with them) for ~$10+ $4 P&P. Take apart the camera, see here (http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm), cut off old sensor with sharp accurate side cutters, de-solder the left over legs (not easy as they use non-lead solder...I hate that stuff), clean up pads and put in new mono sensor, solder away (ensure it's flat on PCB, be-careful of sensor glass), clean, re-assemble and test with software like sharpcap (http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm) (or WcRmac (http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/soft/wcrmac/index.htm) or what ever program you like to use ). Be carefull with the camera apart, use antistatic procedures and some of this is fine soldering work. Very difficult to get all the old solder out of the pads.
Now when running the camera with a capture program you use WcCTRL (http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/soft/wcctrl/index.htm) to intercept the data stream then write a modified firmware macro to the camera to make it output in mono and RAW. Instructions to do this are on this page but more info here (http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm) and some more reading here (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/75194-philips-spc880nc-is-now/).
I take no credit for this project just following what others have done and I thank them for their work. This is a massive improvement on the std sensor image ...now I need some filters and a wheel..but hey I really wanted it as a guide camera or finder camera so I don't need colour...just better sensitivity, as this has done, but how much better....?.
The top link at the site: http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm
links to a study done on a toucam webcam mod like this. The result is they state ~3 x the sensitivity over the colour sensor version. This I can believe with my basic images.
For $10...I'll have one!
Sorry lots on my plate ATM to get some images under the stars but I'll endeavour to do so soon.:D