No webcam image in PHD

[BC]

Hi,

I'm cautiously (cheaply?) approaching guiding by testing out an old webcam to attach to a 50mm finder. The webcam works fine on the laptop, but when I start PHD and connect to the camera, no image displays. I haven't connected the main scope at this point; just seeing whether the webcam can work. The PHD site talks about finding an ASCOM driver for the camera, but I don't know that this will exist for a generic webcam (VIMICRO); well I can't find one anyway. I know others have used webcams, so is it just a specific list that will work?

Thanks,
Bruce

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Couple of quick things to try,
You have to click the 'looping' button to get PHD to start taking images. Also, check the length of exposure selected - could be too short? You shouldn't need ASCOM for the camera, as it doesn't talk to the mount. Sorry if you've already tried these things.
cheers,
Andrew.

[jenchris (Jennifer)]

A lot of the webcams won't take longer frames than parts of a second, so they spit the dummy when asked to do a 2 second frame

[BC]

What a simple solution, thanks alocky. Instead of worrying about drivers, I should have tried all the buttons. Jenchris, it seems to continue to work on all the exposure settings from 0.05s up to 10s, which may prove to be quite flexible.

Thanks again,
Bruce