Cheap $5 webcam

[Merlin66]

Visiting the local Kmart this morning I saw their webcams -"JLR-89363" for $5.
Bought one and found the lens just screwed off (like the ol' Philips webcams) and my std 1.25" webcam nosepiece just screwed straight on.
Fired up SharpCap and it recognised it immediately and presented all the controls as being available.
It seems to use YUY2 for 640 x 480 video at 30 fps......

May be of interest to the newbies looking for a cheaper way to get into astro-imaging (solar/lunar/planetary)????

[technofetishism]

I've done that with one i got at Woolworth's for about the same a couple years ago. Not sure the model but did a tiny bit of planetary with it. It didn't get that much use though as the scope I was using at the time required a barlow as well to allow it to focus. (and with a really really crappy manual EQ mount.)

got this pic of saturn out of it though which was happy enough at the time.

900mm 4.5" newt with 2x barlow.

[Merlin66]

Yeah.....
The interesting thing about this one is the ease of "de-construction" to add a pretty standard nosepiece. Only requires a small instrument screwdriver to remove the base.....
I'm sure if you knocked out/ drilled out the lens - you could use the plastic threaded lens holder body to glue into any suitable sized piece of tube (film canister?)

[technofetishism]

yeah, ive found any of the webcams with manual focus are really easy to dismantle. I usually find myself buying any one that looks easy to hack apart to replace the IR block filter and make cheap IR webcams for a few friends to experiement with.

The major difficulty I had when trying to do anything astro with them is the variable ability to adjust exposure settings. Some are better than others, but most of them rely heavily on 'auto' settings.

[OzStarGazer]

Interesting... If I go past Kmart I will have a look. :)

[Outcast]

I've been looking at a cheap way to give this a go.. thank you for the headsup, the local Kmart had them in stock.

I just need to figure out how to DIY an adapter or locate one cheap...

Edit: Okay, I made an adapter out of an old film canister, some careful (sort of) drilling & cutting of both the film canister & lens piece & a bit of gluing. :) It ain't the prettiest or necessarily the most robust thing I've seen but, hopeful it will do the job for now whilst I experiment.

[sharkbite]

Ditto - i have found that "driverless" or "UVC" webcams lack proper exposure control....

good enough for the moon, but useless for the planets.

I would be interested in how you go though - for $5 it'd be a good spare!

cheers,

[raymo]

I picked up a Logitech webcam for $5 in the clearance bin at HN.
It has gain, brightness, contrast, and exposure control.
Bargain.
raymo

[Merlin66]

Guys,
Under SharpCap you seem to have full control of gain, brightness, contrast, and exposure control etc.
I assume the other webcam software does the same....

[Outcast]

I've also downloaded Sharpcap..

I've never done this before so, hoping for some clearing of clouds (probably sometime around April) :) so I can get out and experiment a little with this.

[CJ]

Ditto. A 110. Got mine from Woolies for 8$. Sellotaped it to the unscrewed barrel of a crappy old EP.

[ZeroID]

What's this ? A competition to see who can take the best astro pic with the cheapest gear ?? The more DIY the better, bring out the gaffer tape and Bondofil.

[sharkbite]

[QUOTE=Merlin66;1062449]Guys,
Under SharpCap you seem to have full control of gain, brightness, contrast, and exposure control etc.
I assume the other webcam software does the same....[/QUOTE

Yep the software has the controls, but unless the driver interfaces with them
They will be greyed out and unusable.

The uvc drivers do give you some control but won't disable auto exposure
Which will (in the case of planetary) result in over exposure.

It will still work OK for lunar or any object that fills the frame.

Cheers,

[Outcast]

[QUOTE=sharkbite;1062507]

Gain, brightness & contrast controls do seem to be enabled in SharpCap. The only control I could find for exposure was under the 'Show' Filter Options button & yes, this was greyed out. I can see how this might be a problem for bright objects if you can't control the exposure but, will be interested to see just how bad or perhaps how well it fairs.

Looking forward to some clear(isn) skys here in Cairns to have a play with this. I've only ever done Afocal work & only a very little bit with my telescope before so, it will be interesting to see how this goes. At worst, it's a $5 failed experiment... at best, it is a very cheap intro to low quality planetary & lunar photography that might wet my appetite to try something a little better in quality.

I'll see how it goes & if there is any success I will be sure to post the resultant images on IIS even if they are fairly low quality.

[Outcast]

Finally some clear skies over Cairns tonight...

Had a bit of a look see with my 80mm ED mounted on a recently acquired Ioptron Cube Pro. More on that in a separate post; generally good but, will take a little getting used to.

After some visual enjoyment of Jupiter & Orion Nebula I thought I'd give the $5 webcam a go on Jupiter... hmmmm, it's not good. My first go at using a webcam of any sort but, I understand Merlin66's comments so much better now.

I managed to capture Jupiter & three moons but, they are waaaaay over exposed & despite playing with a number of controls that were available I could only succeed in making it worse. I will post a copy of what I captured here but, not right now as it's a little late....

I still would like to try it on the moon but, that wasn't possible from where I was viewing tonight without moving to the front of the house & resetting up the scope which, I wasn't prepared to do.

At least it only cost $5...:D

[Merlin66]

Carlton,
Which capture software were you using?

[sharkbite]

If its any consolation- i have found that with logitech or MS webcams
you get manual control...

just a matter of finding one for $5 ;-)

[Outcast]

Cheers, I'll be looking in the clearance bins :-)



I was using Sharpcap, there was no facility to adjust exposure that I could find. I was able to capture a minute of video but, the objects are extremely bright with no detail whatsoever.

[Merlin66]

Yeah,
I finally did some comparison tests $5 v's SPC900 webcam - NO comparison!!
I'm sorry to say it's a dud!
Don't even waste the $5 in buying one to play with......

[kinetic]

As I thought Ken,

There would be better sensitivity with the SPC900s CCD compared to
a CMOS budget webcam, but.....you never know...with enough
searching of budget bins a real find may show up.:thumbsup:

I found that some of the CMOS sensors, though quite good and sensitive on
preview, went into a different setting once you started actual capture.

Quite frustrating, see here....(link to follow)
Logitech c500 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=70999)
Driver problem: (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=681069&postcount=7)
Some more results: (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=73350)


Steve

[Outcast]

Here is a copy of what I managed to achieve with one minute of footage using $5 webcam and Sharpcap stacked in Lynkeos.

158136

Had a very short play in Lightzone but, it didn't get any better...

Very, very bright image & absolutely no detail.. My next attempt will be with my newly acquired Canon 1100d in video mode just as soon as I purchase an adapter.

[pw]

At least the subject is a good size in the frame. It's a shame some sort of exposure control wasn't available. I'm guessing that an ND filter would be overridden by auto-exposure or auto-gain or similar.

[OzStarGazer]

If you can see the moons usually you can't see any details on the surface of Jupiter itself because the ISO is too high. But if at a later stage you manage to capture details you can combine the two photos and then have Jupiter with details AND its moons. The ISO is probably automatic in such a webcam though.

[ianB]

Just by coincidence i was at the shops an hour ago and saw that very same webcam, JLR 89363 and thought for $5 bucks i have ti buy it and try it out.

I have just loaded to my laptop and it works fine.

So do i need to buy a 1.25 adaptor, i have seen somee on ebay, i just wanted to hmave it conformed by someone who has this webcam that the 1.25 adaptor will fit this webcam.

Also if u use a film cannister with this webcam, i have some, can u write out or link me to directions as to how to do this please.

Finally am i right in thinking that if i capature video of a planet with this webcam all i then need is some free software to stack the images ?

Many thanks.

Ian

[Merlin66]

Ian,
Sorry to say, based on the results so far, you may have wasted your $5....
It just doesn't seem to be capable of sufficient control to be a 1/2 good astro webcam.
I certainly would not recommend spending $15+ to get a proper 1.25" adaptor....

If you do want to try it - use the canister. Cut the bottom out and hot melt glue the top edge central to the camera body.

[ianB]

Thanks Ken,
I just brought it on spur of the moment, I will keep a look out for a Phillips web cam as they seem to be the best in the budget range, i dont know if a 1.25 adapter can fit a phillips web cam but i can research that via google.
This looks like it may be a good one for astrophotography.

As mentioned in this thread

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PHILIPS-SPC900NC-SPC-900-NC-CCD-PLA-C-CAMERA-WEBCAM-ASTRONOMIE-ASTRONOMY-WEB-CAM-/151255099914

Mind you if i can find something like this cheaper i will go for that.

ian

[Merlin66]

yes,
you can get the 1.25" adaptors for all the Philip webcams...

[ianB]

Thanks, that seems the way to go then.