ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE WEBCAMS Last updated: 9 February 2003

This page documents Quickcam (and similar video/web cameras) comments, tips, and photos. Also, see the Quickcam references on the Astrophotography - Basics page. Search the site for other items about webcams. Contributions welcome.

Subject:	ETX90 Moon Photos
Sent:	Saturday, September 29, 2001 14:00:54
From:	larry@zianet.com (lsmith)
I recently finished building a sturdy tripod for the ETX (cost about
$35). With this, my computer, and a modified webcam, I took after the
moon.  I was very pleased with the results.  The tripod is very steady,
and the webcam (a Quickcam Express) did an admirable job.  I've seen a
few better photos with this size scope, but I think these would measure
as "good."

You can view the photos at:

www.geocities.com/doccpu/etx

Subject:	Webcam Astrophotography
Sent:	Sunday, November 4, 2001 13:41:19
From:	dad@headplant.freeserve.co.uk (Damian Davis)
To:	john3@optonline.net
I saw your post on Mike W's famous WebSite.

There is a group dedicated to webcam astrophotography, called the
QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group. (Fairly trips off
the tongue, doesn't it?)

Their web address is www.qcuiag.co.uk.

Give it a go.

DD

Subject:	Followup: webcams pics from kenariz@juno.com (Ken W A
Sent:	Saturday, November 10, 2001 7:34:49
From:	bernard.fournier12@wanadoo.fr (Bernard Fournier)
An answer to Ken W Anderson' s enquiry for a site helping him to modify
a webcam for astro pics.

http://www.astrabio.demon.co.uk/QCUIAG/
http://www.astrocam.org/

There he will be able to find lots of advices, tips, hints, softwares
etc....

These two sites have been of a greatfull help when I started imaging
with my Etx 125 and a Phillips Vesta Pro camera almost one year ago.

I join a recent picture of the moon (well a part of it !) to show how
fast you can obtain satisfying results, (remember that I had not even
looked throught a scope one year ago)

Sincerely yours
Amicalement

Bernard Fournier
N 5 09 / W 52 39
Kourou
French Guyana
bernard.fournier12@wanadoo.fr

And:

From:	sherrodc@ipa.net (Clay Sherrod)
That is a fantastic photograph....absolutely stunning.  Your air must be
much steadier than that of Arkansas!  Your lunar catalog is becoming one
of the best I have seen!

Keep up the great imaging!

Clay Sherrod

Subject:	Webcam
Sent:	Wednesday, December 26, 2001 20:05:51
From:	bernard.fournier12@wanadoo.fr (Bernard Fournier)
Some pictures for you to have a look to a new setup for my Etx and
Webcam :

An old f 3.5 / 70/210 mm photografic lens  piggybacked (?) on the Etx.
The webcam is fixed to the objective with a part that screws in place of
the original camera lens, some washers are required to achieve focus.
The 3 small pics are better than a long imprecise and hazardous speech.
Finally the result which is not so bad.

Maybe this short note is worth to be posted in the astrophoto/webcams
section ?

Friendly
Amicalement

Bernard Fournier
N 5 09 / W 52 39
Kourou
Centre Spatial Guyanais
European Space Center
bernard.fournier12@wanadoo.fr

Subject:	Which QuickCam Model?
Sent:	Thursday, January 10, 2002 22:05:33
From:	usrtom@mediaone.net (Thomas  Kimberly)
I want to install a QuickC on my ETX90 based on some rave review of its
use.  I have the instructions on installing it on the scope, but am
unsure of the model to buy.  I see QuickC pro, QuickC pro 3000, etc.
listed.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Tom Kimberly

Subject:	Jupiter pic
Sent:	Friday, January 11, 2002 18:12:33
From:	dschmitz@onramp.net (Dan Schmitz)
Repackaged Phillips To-U-Cam 30 frames using Astrostack and a little
unsharp mask (this is getting fun!) Will try to capture the Callisto
shadow on the 13th next

Subject:	Jupiter Double-Transit.
Sent:	Tuesday, January 22, 2002 12:13:57
From:	jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson)
Here is an image of Jupiter and the double transit of the GRS and Io
from Jan. 18th, 2002.  Taken with my DS-90 and ToUcam pro.

Thanks again for a great site!

-Jake Jacobson

Subject:	First night effort with a modified quickcam
Sent:	Wednesday, January 23, 2002 22:32:35
From:	jwhart99@netzero.net (Jim Hart)
Can't thank you enough for such a great web site (which I have been
visiting now for about 3.5 years). Using instructions from your site, I
have been able to buy a cheap ($99 dollars from Amazon.com online)
DS70EC, which I purchased for the mount and electronics only, so that I
could transform my ETX90RA into a "Goto" scope. That project took about
2 weeks is now working and complete, though I'm still learning the ins
and outs with a "upgraded" 495 to 497 controller and "rubberbanding"...

From your site, I also found a link to the QCUIAG site
(http://www.astrabio.demon.co.uk/QCUIAG/), which describes how to
convert a quickcam to astronomical use. I purchased a Logitech QuickCam
Express ($39.95) at my local Best Buy outlet, converted it to a astro
camera per directions from QCUIAG, and attached is the first nights
effort using the free software from Logitech. Hopefully I'll improve my
technique, but I'll mention that I've been trying conventional
astrophotography for several years (off and on) and have already
surpassed image quality of even my best "conventional" shots on this
first night. Image shown is using eyepiece projection at about 100X.

Keep up the great work.

Jim Hart

Mike here: With editing software you can improve the contrast and make it even better.

Subject:	Photograph with ETX 90/EC
Sent:	Friday, January 25, 2002 8:16:53
From:	pietducci@comune.carrara.ms.it (Ducci Pietro)
I made this photograph with ETX 90/EC to direct fire on 02/01/2001 using
the Webcam Philips Vesta Pro in automatic from Carrara (Tuscan), Italy.

Subject:	My first attempts.
Sent:	Friday, January 25, 2002 23:32:42
From:	tegwilym@att.net
First of all, thanks for the fantastic web site!  Your site was the
factor that made me decide to get the ETX 90EC.

I have been playing around with a webcam on my scope and came up with
the attached photos.  This is my first attempt at astrophotography
through a telescope, so they are not as nice as some of the others on
your site, but I'm very happy with the results!

The equipement: 
-Meade ETX90EC
-Logitech QuickCam VC
-Dell Latitude 400 mhz laptop

I put the camera in the main eyepiece position at the top of the scope
and used a 45 angle with the 9.7mm eyepiece to aim the scope.  Once
aimed, I would flip the mirror to the camera and focus it on the screen
of the computer.

Thanks again for a wonderful and very informative web page!

Tom
Bellevue, WA

Subject:	Jupiter
Sent:	Monday, January 28, 2002 13:57:39
From:	xrr@altern.org (Xavier Rey-Robert)
I wanted to share with you and your readers this picture of Jupiter I've
done on the 25/01/02 with an ETX90, a Phillips Toucam and a televue x3
from a 1017 frames movie. It shows the magic of image composition and
treatment (done with iris) !

Cordially,
		Xavier	

Subject:	More results - better than last week!
Sent:	Tuesday, January 29, 2002 0:57:31
From:	tegwilym@att.net
I just wanted to share a few photos I took of Jupiter tonight.  We
finally had some brief clearning here in the Seattle area, so I had to
get out and try some more Jupiter shots.

Info: 
-Meade ETX 90EC
-Time: Approximately 8:00pm PST
-Camera: Logitech Quickcam VC (parallel port)
-15 photos stacked with Astrostack
-Colors adjusted with Photoshop 6.0

Tom

Subject:	Jupiter, Saturn..
Sent:	Tuesday, January 29, 2002 1:20:47
From:	jjacobso@lainet.com (J. Jacobson)
Had a clear night, and was able to capture a good image of the ongoing
collision of the GRS and Oval BA in Jupiter.  Seeing was clear, so I
also am including a shot of Saturn from the same night.  Taken on Jan.
26th with my DS-90 and ToUcam pro.

-Jake Jacobson

Subject:	Intel PC camera
Sent:	Wednesday, January 30, 2002 16:27:26
From:	bo@bbyrd.net (Bo Byrd)
Heres my first attempt. Hopefully at 1/4 moon I'll be able to get some
real nice ones.

ETX-70AT with Intel PC Camera Pack and homemade film canister adapter at
prime focus 10sec video taken with vega at 7fps at 320x240 (although
vega reports that max camera speed is 2 or 3 fps) I went through the
"dark frame setup" to give vega a point of reference on my CCD.
AstroVideo picked out the best frame and saved as a .fit Opened the .fit
with Gimp and sharpened a little, then applied unsharp mask, saved as
.jpg.

The Intel PC Camera Pack is just a usb webcam, it has a ccd not cmos
sensor; it  can snapshot and video at 320x240. Im thinking about getting
a toucampro that can snapshot at like 1280x1024.

Subject:	Jupiter/Saturn from last night
Sent:	Tuesday, February 12, 2002 9:48:54
From:	tegwilym@attbi.com
Finally! Clear skies in Seattle for the next few days. I was out last
night until almost midnight playing around and took these images. This
time I was finally able to get the camera and 2x barlow combination to
work.  That barlow hasn't been very friendly with me, but I just kept
working at it and got some good results.  I still have to work on
focusing though, Saturn was a really hard one to focus. I sat the screen
resolution on the laptop to 640x480 so I would have the biggest image
possible on the screen so it would be easier to focus.  I'm using the
"clothes pin" meathod on the focuser to make it slightly easier. I
should have a focusing cable arriving in the mail any day now, so I'll
see how that works. I'm also finding that the brighter the images, the
less sharp it appears after processing and stacking.  I'm finding that
some of the darker ones work out a little better when stacking.  All the
images were taken from short videos (.avi files) of about 5 seconds each
and an average of around 50 frames total.  I then use AVI2BMP to pick
out the good ones and stack them.

I was hoping to get a moon shadow or a better shot of the GRS, but I
think it was too late.  I was concentrating on Saturn first, and it was
later when I finally got to working on Jupiter.

Tom
-Bellevue, WA  

Subject:	Webcam Imaging - Jupiter
Sent:	Wednesday, February 20, 2002 19:33:31
From:	lbenschop@hotmail.com (L&D Benschop)
Thanks for a great site!!
Attached are some small JPG version images that I took of Jupiter. These
were taken with a Toucam Pro webcam, a 2X Barlow and an Ultima 2000 8"
scope. Webcam imaging of Jupiter is a very enjoyable and affordable way
to get started in CCD imaging.
Technique:
- Capture AVI video with Webcam
- Use AVI2BMP to extract the steady frames (moments of good seeing)
- Stack the resultant images with AstroStack
- Process the stacked image with Cit Deconvolution and Unsharp mask,
  also in AstroStack
- Post-Process color and brightness with Paint Shop Pro

My images page benschop.tripod.ca/Images.htm

QCIUAG is a great resource for sharing ideas with a Worldwide group of
Alternative Imagers.

Best regards,
 Len Benschop
 Oshawa Ontario Canada

Subject:	Moon from February 24th
Sent:	Monday, February 25, 2002 19:24:27
From:	tegwilym@attbi.com (Tom Gwilym)
I've been having a lot of fun with the webcam and ETX.  Here is my
latest creation.....

Feel free to post in on the site if you like it!

Tom

Click for full size image

Subject:	My best Jupiter so far.
From:	tegwilym@attbi.com (Tom Gwilym)
I'm playing with a new camera that seems to give better colors than the
Quickcam VC. Here is the best shot of Jupiter that I have taken so far. 
I'm still trying for a GRS and moon shadow, but the weather and transits
never line up correctly here in the Seattle area.

I've been reading about the Philips Vesta Pro camera and from what I've
seen, that might be the one that I should try next.

Tom

Subject:	Picture of saturn
Sent:	Friday, March 15, 2002 8:06:59
From:	THOMAS.MORETTO@rmc-france.fr (THOMAS MORETTO, FR)
Here is a pic resulting from a AVI file, from my observing session of
the 10 march 2002 at Boissy St leger (near Paris, France). As I saw
there was few french people in the gallery, I thought I could send you a
pic from my part of the world ;-) the data are as follows :

ETX90EC, camera Philips To U Cam Pro, Barlow 2X. avi converted with
iris, compute_trichro1 of 50 pics out of 105, wavelet x y 6 on each
color channel, added x3 3times and x2 8 times, final adjustments in
xnview to remove some noise and soften the picture.

Thanks a looooooooot for your site, The greatest reference on the ETX !
Bye and have a nice stary night !

Thomas Moretto

Subject:	A picture of M57
Sent:	Tuesday, April 30, 2002 12:34:36
From:	nviegas@mail.telepac.pt (Nelson Viegas)
Here's a photo of M57 taken with a modified webcam on an ETX70 at prime
focus. This is a ~50secs. exposure and was processed mainly to reduce
the heavy light pollution. The ETX70 is a great deep sky objects scope
too!

Subject:	First timer...
Sent:	Wednesday, May 15, 2002 3:03:13
From:	v.schutten@kpn.com
I bought a ETX90EC two weeks ago, because a friend of mine told me it
was the best telescope for its price, and its very portable....(im going
to sweden and other contries soon, and i want to take as much pics and
look at the skye when im abroad.

My friend makes a prog that creates pics out of avi files, made by a
webcam. This site of yours has so much info for making pics with a
webcam and modifiing the webcam for it, so i went and modified my
webcam. Yesterday i made my first pics!!!

ill include a pic... its not much compared to the rest i see here, but
very soon i hope to create better pics, as soon as i can focus better...

Greetz and lotsa luck with your site!

Vince

Subject:	M13 Photo
Sent:	Friday, May 17, 2002 10:37:07
From:	jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson)
I finally got the nerve to open my ToUcam and get out the soldering gun
in order to modify it for long-exposures.  This is my first astrophoto
of a Deep Space object - M13!  Taken with my DS-90 and modified ToUcam,
and captured and

processed on a Mac laptop!

Thanks again,

-Jake J.

Subject:	After an extended absents, I have returned
Sent:	Sunday, May 26, 2002 14:51:57
From:	joerodricks@attbi.com (Joseph Rodricks)
I am expecting to (well, I'm going to) graduate from High School in
about a week. I have been very busy for a while now and have put
astronomy on the back burner for a while. just recently I networked my
house and now have a high-speed internet connection in my bedroom. As a
birthday present, my parents allowed me to purchase all the components
so that I could build myself a new PC. I have. I have just used it with
a 3com "webcam" CCD chip and my ETX-90. I have attached one of the
pictures. It was taken out my bedroom window, while using a tripod on my
rug. The pictures was black and white and utilized a 26mm EP. Since my
last visit, to your site, there was much debate over the ETX mailing
list and ListBot wanting to charge. I was wondering if you could tell me
if the mailing list has relocated. With school over I am beginning to
catch up for the months of non-observing I've missed. Thanks for the
help, and as always, thanks for the great site, I'll be spending some of
my graduation money on your book.

Joe Rodricks

Subject:	Moon shots with webcam.......
Sent:	Tuesday, May 28, 2002 7:49:53
From:	beruberu@freesurf.ch (Philippe HAAKE)
Here are two pictures made with my ETX-90 and a ToucamPro (Philipps).
They have been processed with the new Registax (
http://aberrator.astronomy.net/registax/index.html

A really nice freeware to use with your webcam....

I hope you will find those pictures nice...

Thanks for all... read you soon....
Best Greetings From SWITZERLAND
Phil
ICQ 3128404
http://astroclub.net/sag/index.html
http://astroclub.net/sag/ephemeride/index.html
http://community.webshots.com/user/beruberu1
beruberu@freesurf.ch

Subject:	M13! and modification (Toucam pro/Macintosh) details.
Sent:	Wednesday, May 29, 2002 13:35:48
From:	jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson)
Here is another of M13 in color.  Much better than my first attempt!
Captured with my DS-90 and modified ToUcam Pro on my Macintosh!

As you requested, I am also including a schematic as to how I modified
this camera for long-exposure photography for use with a Mac.  I will
also be creating a webpage on my site detailing the modification at:

http://jjacobso0.tripod.com/themeadeds90ec/

These webcams can be used for an extremely low cost (Under $70)
planetary and deep sky imager.

Thanks again for your great site - I am sorry I will be missing you this
year at the ETX star party (the last one in Borrego was great!)

-Jake Jacobson

Subject:	SOFTWARE FOR QUICKCAM
Sent:	Thursday, August 29, 2002 14:54:34
From:	the-bigun@mchsi.com (THE BIGUN)
i'm having a real big problem finding some software to run my b/w
connectix quick cam!!! i modified it the way they told me on one of your
links but can't use it because i have lost the software!!!! i'm in need
of "quickcam for windows version 1.0" or some software to run a b/w
quick cam!!!!

i hope you can help or have a suggestion as to where i can go!!! i
checked the logitech site but they have nothing for a b/w cam!!!

thanks and great site!

jim mohnen

Subject:	Moon shot with ETX105
Sent:	Sunday, October 6, 2002 02:38:49
From:	olivier.cioni@wanadoo.fr (Olivier Cioni)
I took this Moon picture on the Sept. 17rd from Grenoble/FRANCE. This
picture shows Copernic and Eratosthne. For this shot, I used   an ETX
105 and a webcam TOUCAM PRO.

    Olivier Cioni

Subject:	Intel CS330 Webcam
Sent:	Sunday, October 27, 2002 12:33:53
From:	cscappaticci@adelphia.net (Chuck Scappaticci)
I searched several of your web sites and found references and images of
folks using Intel Webcams at prime focus.   I tried this with the lens
on and got real nice images of the inside of my telescope (baffling,
secondary, etc.).  Very educational, but not what I was looking for.  Do
I have to take the lens off exposing the ccd?  If so, do I lose the
focusing ability (it has a manual focuser) on top of the camera.   I did
some experimenting and found that the camera can focus within 2cm of the
lens.   Anyway, any help appreciated, and thanks for your help with my
N80GT mount in the past.  It worked great ...

Chuck

Subject:	Moon
Sent:	Monday, November 18, 2002 12:07:23
From:	p.v.camerijk@wxs.nl (Peter van Camerijk)
Her are 2 pictures of the moon I took with my ETX 125. I used a Phillips
Vesta Pro webcam direct on my ETX without a barlow lens. These pictures
are 1 frame each; I did not stack anything. I only did some contrast
changes. I took them out of the window of my bedroom.....not a very good
palce to tajke some images but when you are so eager to use something
new ......well you know what happens then!!!

Next time I hope to send you some more , better images of the moon and
planets.

Clear skies to you all.
Peter 

Subject:	Pic of Saturn
Sent:	Saturday, November 23, 2002 16:00:15
From:	TPMiles@charter.net (Tony Miles)
I took this pic a few weeks ago with my ETX-125EC and a modified
Logitech Webcam. It's an unprocessed pic of course!

Subject:	saturn and M42 photography
Sent:	Sunday, December 1, 2002 14:59:41
From:	k2_71828@yahoo.es (Kacper Wierzchos)
Thanks to your web and all information about Meade ETX series of
telescopes half year ago I have decided to be a user of ETX 90EC. From a
few mounts, together with my father, we try to obtain some
astrophotographs using webcam (Philips TouCam Pro not modified).




Saturn: Here is my first image of Saturn obtained on 10/11/02 at 6:20
am; Meade ETX 90 EC; Barlow 2x; Philips TouCam Pro; 300 images processed
by Registax. Medium weather conditions. I hope be able to do better in a
few months.




M42: Here is my first image of M42 obtained on 30/11/02 at 23:20 pm;
Meade ETX 90 EC; focal reducer; Philips TouCam Pro !not modified!; 400
images processed by Registax and Adobe Photoshop trated; urban sky. I
hope be able to do better in a few months.

Kind regards,

Kacper Wierzchos

Few days ago I have send you the image of M42 taken on 30/11/02. Next
night (1/12/02 - better weather conditions) I have taken the next image
of Orion Nebula too. The Scope, webcam and adquisition conditions were
the same as firs night. You will find this new image in attachment
(orion_M42bis.jpg). If you like, you can put on your web both these
images of M42 or only this last one - a little beat better with more
natural colours and some better resolution. Thank you.




Kind regards,

Kacper

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