I need to go to ToUcam School!!!

[ballaratdragons]

I have had some success in recent weeks but nothing I would call great. Mars looked like Mars only a bit blurry etc.

BUT! last night this is all I could get on my monitor with the ToUcam!! (see pic below) I did not bother capturing it, so this is a drawn copy of what I got, reconstructed in PhotoShop.

I had all my settings the same as every other time when I got reasonable images, but no matter what I tried last night I could not improve on this.

It looks to be GIANT pixels.

Any help gladly accepted. Oh, by the way, it is Mars.

[ving]

looks like that thru my EP :P

are there resolution settings ken?
sorry, not an expert...

[ballaratdragons]

There are settings for everything David, except how many sugars in your coffee! There are so many settings to play with I need a Masters in Settings Setting!

[Striker]

It's definetly a Resolution setting...change it to 600 x 480..well what ever the max is...not sure on exact rez setting but just pick the highest.

The setting will be under video format.

[[1ponders]]

Can't help you with that one atm Ken. (Not at home with the ToUcam to hook up to and check). I'm sure others will be able to help though. In the mean time, I had a different problem the other night (everything was in greyscale even though the B&W box wasn't ticked and nothing I did would fix it), so I clicked the "default" button (I think that was what it was called) and reset everything back to factory defaults an "Bob's your uncle", np after that.

So the short of this ramble is try hitting the default button and resetting everything and see if that makes a difference.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Tony & Paul, I will try both ideas and see what happens. It looked like a movie called 'Attack of the Killer Giant Pixels'.

[ballaratdragons]

I know it works coz here is my very first Toucam shot taken a couple of weeks ago!

[asimov]

You using the software that came with the camera? If you are, even on the default rez setting it should not look like that.

I've never seen that as yet with my toucam....Wish I could help!!

[ballaratdragons]

Yep John. Philips Toucam software.

[Robert_T]

Hi Ken, Paul's already mentioned it but "Restore Factory Settings" button is very handy for when things go wobbly (or all pixely) on you:P - from memory this bitton is in the same screen where you adjust gain, gamma etc.


cheers,

[ballaratdragons]

Oops, hang on, I stuck in the wrong moon pic above. That was with the Kodak.

This is the first Toucam shot I ever took. It worked fine back then!!

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Robert. I shall give it a try tonight if the predicted Thunderstorm doesn't come. :thumbsup:

[davidpretorius]

hmmm,

a reboot and a test in daylight would be first step to see if it can see your kitchen like when you first got it.

i would love to see your first attempts. nothing is crap around here, we are all just at different levels of experience. there may be things you pick up that we have missed, that we can all learn from.

do you have winzip, so you can compress your files and email to me or mike or asimov, we can then have a go at registax to help you.

[ving]

looks like a fine moon pic ken :)

[asimov]

Send it 2 all 3 of us mate!! How big is it first? I only have dialup.

[ballaratdragons]

Davo, Registax isn't a problem. I almost have that worked out. The pixelled image above was how the Toucam image appeared in the Philips capturing software program. (Philips Vrecord).
Plus I don't know how to use Winzip yet. Still working on that one.

Vingo, yep, I was very happy with it, especially for a first go at it.

[ballaratdragons]

Hang on Davo, I will go outside to my Cubby House Control Room Computer and stick it in the Memory stick then bring it into here.

[ving]

found this somewhere....



to change resolution... does it help?

[ballaratdragons]

Dunno David, I went out, downloaded the mars pic I am about to post and turned the pooter off again. Sorry ol' chap.

[ballaratdragons]

OK, here it is. My first Mars pic! Impressive isn't it!!!

I didn't save the video coz I need the space in the pooter but this is the result from that video after registax. You will immediately notice that it looks nothing like the GIANT pixel version and yet I didn't change any settings????
As you can see, I am an expert LOL!

[asimov]

Thats ok for your first go at mars!?? It ain't easy getting mars...gives me fits!

[asimov]

Hey Ken, how are you capturing? A-focal or at prime focus?

[ballaratdragons]

HuH! What's the difference?

I stick the Toucam in the focuser with the 1.25" adaptor screwed on.

[davidpretorius]

great first effort you silly old bugga! stop putting yourself down!!!!!! this is your father speaking!!!!!

we all have these images to start with and they are as good in context as birds are!

This is the way it will work from now on....

You will post every mars pic.

Asi & I will argue over how to improve it for ages and in the meantime Bird will offer a simple answer to get you going in giant leaps!!

Asi and I will continue to argue and then belatedly agree with Bird!!!

To the picture, did you have histo stretch ticked at stacking time?? if not I would reduce the gain in the exposure section. I find that capturing at slightly darker than you think looks right on the screen, seems to give a good end result in registax.

Make sure each time you fire up the capture sftware, that the size is 640 x 400.

Do you have a barlow??.

At the optimise stage you can get a little extra size by ticking resample, but only go 1.5?

Woo hoo great stuff!
You have got more detail than my first one from memory!!!!

[davidpretorius]

as you have it = prime focus
thru a lens = a focal

[Striker]

Ken,

did you change the image size of mars to post it on the thread.

it is tiny...only 142 x 118...way way too small.

[ving]

thats what i thought tony... i clicke on it and nothing happened :confuse3:

[asimov]

That's all I wanted to know..Straight in the focuser with adapter is prime focus. To get double the size use a barlow lens.

[ballaratdragons]

Step 1. Dunno how.

Step 2. No speaka da funny language. ???

3. Yep, but the toucam won't fit in it. The little Long exposure switch is in the way. I had to angle-grind a section out of my 1.25" adaptor to get the toucam in.

4. Still no speaka this funny language. ???

[ballaratdragons]

Nope. That's the size it captured in.

[ving]

if you go to: Options > Video Format > Select frame size you can change the size of the video resolution i believe :)

[rumples riot]

Ken things to check.

Your first image looks like the focus is out. So check and recheck focus until your satisfied it is good. Take all the time you need, don't rush this part.

Next; settings change from night to night. You want the image to look bright but not too bright. This is controlled by gain, exposure or gamma. What I like to do is lower my exposure to somewhere around 1/50 and then adjust the gain to brighten the image. Don't be afraid of the gain. You need to have gain to get the fine details. Now in your scope the settings for exposure will be different. You have a fast scope so you may have to go much lower at say somewhere around 1/100 or 1/250.

Also I would get K3CCDtools demo version. The controls are easy to handle and better than the phillips software.

Try to keep brightness at 50% and then don't touch it again. I like to leave saturation near 100% Gamma just a little over 5%.

I have found that experimentation can often lead to break throughs. So try a little experimentation. If you really get stuck go to the default settings and start again.

[davidpretorius]

i cut the switch off, but left enough so that i could still flick it from side to side. and she has been fine.

[ballaratdragons]

Paul, that is about the exact settings I had it on. Wierd huh! Davo P recommended those settings a month or so ago and I have been sticking with them.

Also, that was in focus. The best that could be acheived. Not the scope either coz I dropped an EP in and the scope was fine. Collimation was spot on. Looks as if I will have to go back to factory settings and start again.

Davo, bit scary cutting the switch off :scared:

I only just got this one when re-reading it. I thought you meant 'post it' to you. Yes, I can post all my Mars pics in here.