Modifying a Web Cam for Astrophotography
September 20th 2010 03:07
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Home made web cam image of Jupiter 900 frames processed using Registax Telescope Meade LX 90 Schmidt-Cassegrain 14 inch
Astro photography can be an expensive hobby. There are lots of goodies out that if only you just had the money.
Depending on finances there are always alternatives than just buying off-the-shelf products. A high end digital camera can set you back a few thousand dollars.
If you own a Canon or Nikon camera you can take great still images of the night sky.
Many people in Astro photography are now using video cameras or modified Web cams to capture images through the telescope.
It is amazing what you can do with a cheap Web Cam if you're prepared to do the modifications.
I found a Web camera that wasn't being used and decided to try to adapt it to capture images of planets and save the video to a format called AVI.
The advantages in using video files is that you can stack multipal images and create an overall image of the object you are imaging.
I decided to dismantle the Web camera and try to make Web Cam that could be mounted to my telescope.
The particular camera I had is just a very low resolution CMOS camera but there are many makes and models you can choose from and they need not be expensive., (my web cam cost me $20).
This project is only a guide if not confident then I suggest you use your discretion.
Items you need to get started.
A tube silicon, 1 small little plastic case measuring 3" x 2" this can be obtained from RadioShack will or hobby shop.
You will also need an old eyepiece barrel to be used as an eyepiece to mount the camera to the telescope.
The first step is dismantle the Web camera, in my case I had to un screw and removes the front and back cover.
I also had to remove the six little LED lights which are not required.
The USB cable had to be removed and re soldered, this is a relatively easy process as the cables are colour-coded. Remove the camera from housing to the chip and the cable.
The next step is to place the video chip and the cable into the box I used Silicon to attach the bottom of the chip to the back of the case. Although it doesn't look very pretty and still gets the job done using my minimalist approach.
The final step is to drill a circular hole in the lid of the case so you can attach the eyepiece using glue. The eyepiece is then attach to the telescope, like any other normal eyepiece.
Almost ready to go the last step is load the software to the computer or laptop attach the camera to the telescope and start imaging. I managed to get some good images using this very modest setup.
As mentioned not very pretty but functional.
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