microsoft lifecam vx-2000

[cjamo9]

ive been ripping the guts out of a few webcams and modifying them to fit my 127mak 1.25"eyepiece holder. most have had the ir filter on the lense and when ive tried to remove them ive snaped them all into little bits. but to my pleasent surprise when i started ripping into the microsoft lifecam vx2000 i find that its not part of the removeable lense and is on the front of the chip. makes me happy and i just had to share.
Thanks.

[Garbz]

Why is this a problem? I thought removing the lens and IR filter are a good thing? Admittedly I've never tried it.

[cjamo9]

without the ir filter, planetary and lunar images blow out to much ive found. from what ive read on forums and how tos of the net most of the webcam stuff for solarsystem stuff if shot through an ir filter. i got some video of saturn last nite and jupiter this morning and its the best ive got with a webcam yet, still not good but better than my webcams without the filter.

[cjamo9]

this is from last nite

[stardust steve]

Thanks for the tip. I have been thinking of having a bit of a tinker and mod a webcam for my 8'' Newt for a bit of fun. Might go ebay surfing for one :thumbsup:

[Garbz]

That sounds more like a software problem? Webcams have poor sensitivity and quantum efficiency as it is. I would have thought if you could get more light onto the sensor and reduce the exposure in the process you'd get a better quality result...

[cjamo9]

apparently the problem is that ir focuses at a different point to the visble spectrum making it harder for the very sensitive chip in the webcam to get proper focus.( more affect in sct and refractor types) many who try these chips on the moon for example get a very milky image no mater how good their focus is. a good way to see what im talking about is to try a webcam with a lense but without the ir blocking filter during the day on sunlit object then put the filter back in. big difference. ive tried with nebula filters, moon filter, coloured filters and with the bader ir filter and the bader is the best i find for achieving focus with my web cameras. the brighter the subject ive tried combinations of these filters as well. the microsoft web cam has the ir filter separate to the lense which is good if someone wants to play with one without the threaded filters. just saying if you dont have loads of filters it would be a good webcam for planetary and lunar imaging.except for it not being very high resolution.:thumbsup:

[Garbz]

Ahhh yes of course, thanks for that. Good info for when I start hacking apart my webcam.

[2stroke]

Cheers for the tip, will stick an IR-cut into the mix on the next run with the 900nc, lol can't wait to see how this pans out. Still chasing a life cam cinema down myself for Jupiter season :)

[cjamo9]

i, ive ordered one of these about a week ago
http://au.chatandvision.com/mainproduct/view/10589-AA-GY
and im going to do this to it kind of anyway.
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/lifecam/lifecam1.html
my lap top isnt really up to the task though. video isnt in 1080 apparently according to some other reviews.

this guy has some great tips and has done lots of different webcams

[2stroke]

Yer 720p :( Its like the studio saying 1080p problem is the compression :( Not really worried about that anyhow, will run with a lossless codec and go for the best res and fps i can pending the sky :) Great thing is its a true usb2 bus unlike the 900nc which is meant to be usb1.1. Will be just following honis's guide for the mod myself lol, dam nice results hey :) As long as you notebook has a usb 2 bus and you haven't got it tied up with other devices, it should be fine. Just about anything with usb2 should be fine as long as you kill background apps virus, update crap ect

"video isnt in 1080 apparently according to some other review" oh not another 1080 interlaced and stead of progressive scan scam :(