WebcamScoping! (1 Viewer)

Following on from the interesting technique of phonescoping, detailed on another thread in this section (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=27471), I don't know whether any other forum members have tried using a webcam in conjunction with their scope. I borrowed this method from astrophotography, where a webcam is used to image planets and the moon via an astronomical telescope.

The great thing is that you can take still and video pics through your telescope with a £20 webcam. It's a bit of a hassle if you don't own a laptop as you're tied to your home PC. I have found the best method is to remove the plastic lens from the webcam, and place it in where the eyepiece of the scope normally sits (a piece of toilet roll tubing and some sticky tape makes a good adapter to start with!)

Be careful not to take huge clips as your hard drive will fill up before long. Attached are two frames from my recent first experiment with this method.

Looks interesting, how far away are the birds and what is the picture quality like when bigger, I have contemplated buying a cheap laptop and webcam but I had using it, so 2 or more of you could study the same image in real time and save them if any good.

Mick

Mickymouse said:

Looks interesting, how far away are the birds and what is the picture quality like when bigger, I have contemplated buying a cheap laptop and webcam but I had using it, so 2 or more of you could study the same image in real time and save them if any good.

Mick

Click to expand...

These were shot as 320 horizontal resolution pics so are full size. Most webcams have 640 x 480 chips so can take that resolution. The snag is that if you're recording it munches up disk space really quickly! Fine for live pics to view, though.

The birds were at the end of my garden approx 25 yards away, shot through a Leica Apo Televid 77 without an eyepiece, but via its photo adapter and toilet roll tube. The mag and focus point are much different without the adapter. The alternatives would be to keep the eyepiece in and keep the lens on the webcam. But I suspect this would magnify too much and the picture would degrade.

You're quite right, it's nice to be able to show a group of people the same live image. It's not so easy centering on the bird as the field of view is very small!

Hi again Neil
I would say keep experimenting because its early days yet with that technique, who knows what you might achieve, when I can get the spare cash I intend to go down that rout, sounds like fun.

Mick