Next webcam (after the ToUcam)

[iceman (Mike)]

Defrag didn't help 19% dropped frames @ 10fps, 45% dropped frames at 15fps.

Anyway i'll try it tonight, sky is clear. Hope the seeing is good. About to go take the scope out to cool down.

I need a bigger, faster, external HD.

[iceman (Mike)]

Well I got it out under the stars last night, sky was clear, seeing wasn't too bad.

Unfortunately the CMOS chip just doesn't cut it for astronomical use. There are plenty of controls for hue, saturation, contrast, sharpness, - but none for gain and the exposure control doesn't make any difference. The only "gain" setting is "low light", which boosts the image but it's still very dim.

To give you an example, I was lined up with Saturn.. without "low light" mode off, I could see NOTHING on the k3ccdtools preview screen. With low light on, I got the planet but the white level was only at 70. Very dim, and very colourless. I captured some avi's anyway, some at 10fps (@50% dropped frames) and some at 5fps (no dropped frames). I'll process them later if I get a chance, got a busy day today.

I captured with the ToUcam at the same time, and as usual it performed well. Transparency was shocking so the gain was very high, but they might turn out ok. Will process them later.

So, good news:
- ToUcam 1.25" adapter screws right in
- True USB2
- RGB24 uncompressed data
- That's all.

Bad News:
- Not enough controls over gain, exposure
- CMOS chip not sensitive enough
- Every time you move the scope to realign, the "low light" mode goes black and you can't see anything until you've stopped moving.

So, this isn't the camera for us.

Remember though, this was the Talkcam HD - not the one I was expecting.

The Talkcam Tracer CCD (which is the one they'll send next week) has the same chip as the ToUcam, and the driver controls should therefore be roughly the same.

Can't wait for that one!

[davidpretorius]

thanks ice!

[iceman (Mike)]

I got the Tracer CCD yesterday. Haven't had a chance to test it under the sky yet (cloudy last night/this morning), but I've played indoors.

I don't drop frames, even at 15fps with this USB2 camera. I don't know why the TalkCam HD was dropping frames So far so good.

It all looks good, the 1.25" adapter screws right in, it works under K3CCDtools, however..
It still doesn't have manual controls for shutter or gain. It's only got standard gamma/brightness/sharpness controls.
If I use "PCCAM" (like AMCAP), I can also adjust white balance to some presets, but I still can't manually modify the red/blue levels. In PCCAM I also get an additional "Exposure" setting, which appears to be maybe like shutter speed. But that control doesn't appear under K3CCDTools.

I tried ICCapture, no extra controls there.

Very frustrating - the camera appears to be exactly what we need with chip, USB2, cost, screw-in adapter, but they've locked off the controls that would make it exceptional.

It's not the same chipset as the ToUcam either (even though it has the same Sony CCD chip) - the macro's don't work on it.

I'll try it under the sky when I get a chance, but without the ability to adjust gain it's going to be limited, especially in varying transparency. I'll send an email and see if they can supply a new driver that unlocks those controls.

I'm guessing that because it's a "consumer webcam", they just don't give access to them because they're generally not needed for your "MSN/Yahoo" chats.

[davidpretorius]

thanks ice for breaking em in!!

how frustrating, great that it is zinging along at 10 fps, but it seems to be one frustration after another. thanks for sticking with it

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Mike have you tried it with WcCtrl so see if you can access the gain etc that way?

[iceman (Mike)]

Yep, I tried that. Wcctrl only lets you access what the driver allows. The "gain/exposure/white balance" settings are greyed out.

I tried the WDM drivers and the DirectShow drivers - the DirectShow drivers (in use by PCCAM and Virtual Dub capture) display the additional "Exposure" setting (which is like shutter). But none of them allow modification of gain.