Cheap webcams!!!

[asimov (John)]

From memory, I stripped the cam & painted it with black paint. In hindsight, it would have been better to disable it all together.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by telemarker

I would like to put in a word of thanks for Ken. I took up Ken's offer and received a couple of flashed cams today. Another fine example of the community spirit of IIS members here.

Mine arrived today, all safe, sound and flashed. Ordered Sep30, mailed Oct04, at the office in Sydney Oct14.

Thanks Ken.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

This may be of interest: http://www.flickr.com/groups/SPC900NC

A flickr group dedicated to images produced with the Sony ICX098QB CCD sensor (aka Phillips SPC900NC/880NC, ToUcam Pro, Celestron Neximage and other webcams based on the same high sensitivity low light).

Logie.

[scopemankit (Chris)]

Flashing finalised. Now I have to turn an adapter. Great daylight images, much better than my cheapie webcam used for Skype.

[gazza83 (Gary)]

Hi,

Finally got my webcam tonight and took some video of Jupiter and the moon with my 10" dob + 2x barlow with wxastrocapture. I found that the webcam focuses with no barlow about where my dslr does, but with a barlow it is over an inch further out. Great fun when the clouds weren't in the way. Hard to focus though - a motorised or 10:1 focuser would help. I also spent some time fiddling with exposure settings etc to dim things down a bit.

I've got no idea how to process this stuff, but here is an image stacked in Registrax using default settings. This looks fairly similar to the movie which was just a few seconds long as Jupiter passed through the field of view of the dob.

Anyway, hope this helps those still considering buying one of these.

Cheers

[erick (Eric)]

Thanks Logan

And it gives a useful link:-

http://www.orion-xt10.com/philips-spc900nc-webcam.html

Originally Posted by Logieberra

This may be of interest: http://www.flickr.com/groups/SPC900NC

A flickr group dedicated to images produced with the Sony ICX098QB CCD sensor (aka Phillips SPC900NC/880NC, ToUcam Pro, Celestron Neximage and other webcams based on the same high sensitivity low light).

Logie.

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Mine turned up yesterday with adapter all ok, 15 days from from order and payment being taken.
Just as well the weather is crappy as this will give me time to flash it and I still have to finish setting up the other one I have with PHD guiding as I haven't got that working fully as yet.

Nice early shot of Jupiter Gazza, I'm keen to try registax as I haven't done anything like that yet just single shots with my slr.

Thanks to the other Ken for putting us on to this little bargain.

Ken.

[Robert9 (Robert)]

Finally! Ordered 17th September, arrived 18th October.
Now to work.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

My shots looks a lot like Gazza83's (similar setup, 10" newt).

Should we be using an IR/UV cut filter?

What brand, from where, and how much?

Will it make much of a difference?

Logie.

[erick (Eric)]

ordered 23 Sep, arrived 18 Oct. 2 cameras and one adapter.

UPDATE:- flashed both successfully. Then forced the lens ring off - eeek! But it came off, a bit worse off.

After that, I found a better picture and instructions on how to remove that lens ring:-

http://www.robertreeves.com/900NC.htm

[firstlight (Tony)]

Well the weather has finally let me give the Merlincam a run.

Bear in mind that the sky conditions were not that good (Jupiter at times looked like a balloon full of water in an earthquake), and not using a lot of aperture. Uncropped image.

Williams Optics 110 Magrez
NEQ6 (could have been better aligned and balanced)
Televue 4x Powermate
GSO ED 2x barlow
Stacked and processed in Registax 5.1


Am I a happy camper?

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

"Merlincam" ??!!
Now you've got me smiling as well.
Ken

[firstlight (Tony)]

This has been far and away the best image I have taken of Jupiter. Forgot to mention that there were about 1700 frames in the image, 60fps, pushed sliders here and there.

Thanks again Ken.

[astroron (Ron)]

Ken,Mine arrived yesterday.

Ron

[hotspur (Chris)]

Are there any Bimbos here,or people in S.E QLD getting one of these?

I would be happy to add my name to any shipment coming to S.E QLD.

My 2ucam software has gone off the rails.

And the price of these Merlincams,It would be cheaper to buy one than fix

my software.

Very impressive results by Tony-well done.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by astroron

Ken,Mine arrived yesterday.

Ron

Woohoo Ron, be interested to see how it goes.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Liz

Woohoo Ron, be interested to see how it goes.

All ready to go Liz I have attached the adapter,
Now to download the software.and try it out on the 8"
Cheers

[Logieberra (Logan)]

I took a few vids on Monday 11 October. Here are my inital results with the toucam and 10" newt. Better than my old webcam that's for sure. But still some way to go...

Cheers,

Logie.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Messed with a few colours... I'm VERY new to registax 5.1

[bobson (Bob)]

Am I the only one with the Dob (12" Bintel) that can not reach focus
I need to go in with the focuser just a bit more.

With 2x Barlow I can, but just. With Barlow its OK with The Moon but Jupiter drifts away very fast.

What can I do in order to get camera in focus without Barlow. Some focal length reducer or I need to extend it?

thanks

bob