How to modify a webcam to use with a telescope

[shellybirdy]

you have some great stuff here

[jorowi]

@shellybirdy thanks

[kwiky13]

tes serieuxx ou quoi ??



[NocturalRyte]

I hear coffee brewing in the background.

[jorowi]

@NocturalRyte that's not a coffee pot, it's the auto-focus on my camera

[pater429]

kind of dissapointing to see the moon, i was hoping to see graan valeys and water:P

[hashimhashoom]

Thank You Very Much . I Was Looking For A Way To Take Pictures With My Telescope A Long Time Ago .....

[whiledcam]

who do you not insert the webcam in the telescoop whitout the white sfehre

[jorowi]

@whiledcam the casing protects the electronics from moisture and dirt

[harijoel]

faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake

[usnsquirrel]

@harijoel You're an imbeciiiiiile.

[YouCanSeeYourFace]

is there anything else i can use besides a 35mm film canister? anything?

[jorowi]

@YouCanSeeYourFace if you have some kind of tube that will fit in your telescope's eyepiece receptacle you could use that

[cheddarbounce2]

I decided to use a webcam so I bought one. When I put it in the focus rack, all I can see is the secondary mirror with the primary mirror reflection. ( It is a 114mm/1000 Newt reflector) I then heard to insert a 2x barlow lens, so I did.....this made the mirrors look zoomed out even more than before. What shall i do ? Can someone recomed help to me? and recomend a good/decent not too fancy webcam under £15.

[Astromarton]

@cheddarbounce2 You have to remove the webcam's lens before you put it in the focus rack. Then it should work just fine =)

btw: the barlow lens just doubles the magnification power so it's not necessarily needed. You'll get a better picture without the barlow anyway.

[Seanbenhall]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

[livewebcams]

Amazing how far we have come in 5 years

[bicnarok]

Don´t you have to add the ocular to the camera as well or did I miss that bit?

[jorowi]

@bicnarok No. Your camera is the ocular. It has a focal length just like a glass lens. You could add a Barlow to help increase magnification if you desire but if your camera has a high enough resolution that shouldn't be needed.

[bicnarok]

@jorowi Oh ok, thanks for the info. I suppose I could plonk my digital cam corder on it as well then, that has a better resolution.

[FabioProductionsRS]

[i'm brazilian. excuse my english errors =B]

hey! i've got a webcam like yours. tried to do a mod, but doesn't worked. if i use my telescope [60x900] will work like yours? i will try to do a mod like this one...

thanx man!

[TheSpyfreak]

Does it really work?

[jorowi]

@TheSpyfreak yes, it really works.

[junyong12]

how to calculate the magnifying power without the eyepiece ?

[jorowi]

@junyong12 the same way you'd do it with an eyepiece. You need to know the focal length of the webcam. M = Objective f.l./Eyepiece f.l.

[poulter27]

just took the lens outta a ps3 eyecam waiting for the night to try hopefully clear skies ahead

[jorowi]

@poulter27 post a video when you get the chance

[poulter27]

@jorowi will do buddy

[jorowi]

@ASTROxSniper1 I don't see why not. If you have an extra one lying around or you can find one cheap it wouldn't hurt to try.

[sexykatie90]

nice  add me as a friend k

[mrastronomy15]

Thanks. But 2 questions, where can I buy one of these logitech webcam? I looked in radio shack, best buy, walmart, you name it and I couldn't find it. And how come a webcam works with this but a digital camera doesn't? Thanks.

[jorowi]

@mrastronomy15 that particular webcam is no longer for sale. Your digital camera may not work because it tries to auto-focus the image. If you can turn off auto-focusing it might work.

[lordJesus2011]

this is good stuff. but please tell me how do i use the focus now i hv take off the adjuster

[jorowi]

@lordJesus2011 Use your telescope to do the focusing.

[vanderdole]

did it.. this actually works.. very good instructions.. you might want to use photo film or insuline/medicin containers as plastic tubes, and the little light in the webcam you can cover with a bit of tape too.. i used grey tape... my pictures of the moon i used to make mosaics , they are on my blog... and pleae please be care full with these stanley knives.....lol... i wasn't.. (;

[jorowi]

@vanderdole yes, always be careful with sharp objects!

[theragu1]

I thought it was a great idea. How to use what you already have to take a picture thru a Telescope. I will try it for my self soon. Pretty ingenious if you ask me. thanks

[jorowi]

@theragu1 Thanks. I think it's time for me to update this video, however!

[You2011TubeStuffs]

tape cost money and when i use tape to nothing i be sad

[jerick237]

i have that webcam but can you help me find the software for it? cuz i dont have the cd for it to download

[jorowi]

@jerick237 Google is your friend.

[jerick237]

@jorowi it didnt help but thanks for helping

(:

[IIXCygnusXII]

Great upload and a good help, thanks!

[jorowi]

@IIXCygnusXII Thank you. Modern webcams will take much better pictures.

[0016chickboy]

lol cute

[08cz2]

I wouldn't call that great pictures to be honest..

[jorowi]

@08cz2 4 years ago it was a great picture. Today, not so much.

[greedypigg62]

@jorowi

Hi!... I took the lens off my webcam and all i got was snow on my laptops screen... does the 35mm cannister focus the webcam? or eliminate the surrounding light to prevent the snow

[jorowi]

@greedypigg62 the film canister helps keep the webcam in one place. I've found that older or cheaper cameras work better because they don't try to auto-focus.

[greedypigg62]

@jorowi I must have the wrong webcam as mine has a screw off varible focus eye.... Oh well i'll just wait till i get a Digital imager. Thanks for the reply.

Greedypigg!

[fobgirl19]

One person mentioned better magnification using this, I'd like to mention magnification will be a trade off with clarity, by adding more focal length, its like using a Barlow lens which if you dont have could save you about 10$. I wouldn't add more then 2-3 inches to the focal length

[shonmixen95]

hay today i made one a webcam telescope. i useed all of the same things u used insted of the blue panters paint. i cant see annythign out of it all i can see is a blure and for ex. when i look at a dim lite of that bolbs color and its blury. whats wrong with it? do i need to shoot it at a distent object or somthing to see it clearly liek ur pics? plz tell me

[Maxsapd]

No.. You need to slide it into a telescope focuser.

[MeSeeUTube]

Focus

[16XDVDLaserDiode]

remove the IR filter of the webcam and see what no one else can see..

[lonesuk]

does it work with National Geographic Telescopes and kids ones i love to try it but dont have a spare webcam!

[jians5]

I don't understand. How can the telescope do any magnification if there's no eyepiece? Especially with a reflector. Wouldn't you have spider vanes, and the secondary mirror in your picture? I'm looking to buy a ToUCam, or SPC900 to do this, but I'd like to know how it actually works with magnification.

Thanks.

[Maxsapd]

Use a barlow lens?

[jorowi]

Don't forget that the "lens" on the digital camera acts just like an eyepiece. You could use a barlow lens but I found it extremely difficult to get images into focus.

[DarkTemp0]

Hello. Did you try stacking images ? like recording an AVI then using one of those free stacking software available on the web. You might just loose that bluring ang get higher contrast and brightness. You could also align them with some of those software.

[jakaul]

I gave it a shot with my logitech and 80mm reflector.

The only problem is that the magnified area appears as a small circle surrounded by black in the video display.

Other than that works fine. Mebbe its different with a refractor? No idea.

[jakaul]

Sorry mine is a refractor, not a reflector, Im a NEWB.

[hunterkillertank]

Fucking class! Nice one man

[vdavid37]

WTF ?? IS REAL ??

[40chevy400]

This worked perfect, I did it and it was 100% correct

[ultimate007royale]

iam confuse about using it what you do then after you connect with your desktop

[WARPUNK]

lastima que no tengo un telescopio :(

[gaucho70]

Great dude, I'll try !

[amilldevil107]

in australia we call a "utillity knife" a "stanly knife" lol

[amilldevil107]

would this work on a refelctor telescope

[cristyro2oo7]

i have a Logitech QuickCam Express ;)) i will try to transforme it tomorrow... i hope this is real :)

[VademecumExInferis]

Was real?

I have the same cam and I'd like to attach it to a telescope...

[jorowi]

Yes, it's real

[lampecdl92]

you took those pictures with that webcam you modifyed wow way better than spending 80 bucks for realitivly the same thing you rock

[peteq1972]

i`ve been taking photos with a 35mm slr and telescope adaptor. what difference will i get from a ccd/webcam? thanks.

[jorowi]

Primarily, you'll know that the image you took is good.

[superplane1994]

this is to stick it with the telescope or it's done by it self??? please reply me :>

[jorowi]

You place it in a telescope.

[trevics]

Great vid that is appreciated much! This is going to help me out alot on my next telescope that is fully computerized! Thanks again!!!

[redwavestudios]

it happens I have very same cam ;) thanks

[BoGdAn286]

hahahaha =))))

[Brentt2]

How long of an exposure did you use to get the images of the moon in your video? We have the same logitech quick cam here at home.

[jorowi]

I used the automatic settings.

[asshol3434]

its easy use a wepcam dhe 1 layer of dhe lens take it of dhen dhe film cluster cut dhe botom end dhen take some tape wrapit on it al round dhen you have same id use normal Telescope not dhe big ones normal whit 3 legs

[mcsapsics]

i purchased an adaptor for my philps toucam on ebay and it dose work well

[YoSeIbnato]

is it true?

[suicidalkatt]

hey just a note try to take "autofocus" off on your camera so you dont get that annoying motor sounds from your camera

[cocotower]

I found this video from Googling how to do exactly this kind of hack. I have the same Logitech QuickCam Messenger model and was wondering how I could fit it to my old model Celestron Newtonian telescope. I've been holding my 6.1 MP digital cemera to the scope to get good shots of the moon, but it's too shakey and hard to get better pics. Why do you remove the lens from the webcam?

[jorowi]

I remove the lens for 2 reasons:

1.) so I can attach the film canister

2.) removing the lens changes the focal length and allows you to get better pictures in my experience

[maruchan10]

jorge vi tus videos y me di cuenta del porque dejas estos comentarios tan imbesiles...

[je101]

ya hicistes la prueba ???

y te funciono ??

[40chevy400]

je101 is a fucking idiot. Go to school and learn something.

[matthew99445]

ok... i am a astronomers for two years and this really works. This is what professional CCD and CMOS imagers are, just smaller.

[fingerhut6]

je101 is a moron...I AGREE WITH 40chevy400 this works perfect...

[successiveaspect]

what kind of telescope did you use?

[lockkepper]

amazing

[nanogirl]

Very nice.

[RET80]

Very nice modification. Simple and easy to recreate for others to try.

I will soon have a Panasonic WV-3260 CCD Broadcast camcorder that feeds directly onto my Newtonian telescope, so changing lenses should be easy. I hope.

[sardineta22]

MENUDA CHAPUZA!!!!!!SEGURO KE NO ESTA NI CENRADO EL OBJETIVO DE LA CAM!!!jajaja...

[karolissssss]

i have the same camera as you :)

[zoroastro33]

tnks man very useful :)

[biggunranger]

hey i use the web cam but do i need to take out the focus?? and also i inly have the 2.5mm and a 2.3 can i used with the 35 canister or there is another way.

[d0dgerdante]

thx alot!

[Ramirez133]

Thankssss youuuuu!!!! Very easy and cheap, and the images are nice!!!!

[applecounty]

This is remarkable! Real DIY stuff. We watched some webcam results at the observers meeting at the observatory on Friday evening. Trully amazing and relatively straight forward to produce. There is a certain irony in the use of the 35mm canister though.

[qwertyfshag]

and then put back together again (possible talking about the future). have you every seen anything that looks like a crack in the moon or anything?

[Atevra]

I just did this myself for my 200mm reflector. :)

thanks, i thought of doing this along time ago but never thought of using a film canister =D

[jorowi]

Glad I could help.

[sinclairbrett]

I have used the logitec with the lens still on - a tad more to play with but with a short focal length telescope it works well

[secretsacred]

cool

[JADEDVisalian]

fun

[stain22]

cool thanks check out my moon videos that i took with my movie cam on a trypod then just setting it next to the eye piece and maby you now what these are flying in front of the moon i thought satalites but the shape is odd thanks

[kaznidnamron]

wow

[Deepsilence80s]

Nice but isen't the Toucam Pro II better? Antoher question: were can you find the webcamadaptor for putting it in the telescope?