Has anyone mounted a web cam/network cam to your scope? (1 Viewer)

I was wondering if anyone found a web cam or a network cam that was easy to mount and matched the eyepiece of a spotting scope. I'm assuming you would have to have the eyepiece very close to the lens on the web cam or network cam since most if not all of these cams have no psychical zoom just digital zoom.

If anyone has done this with good results could you say what the web cam or net cam was and how you attached it to your scope?

Are there any web cams or net cams out there that have threading around the lens to connect a step up ring or step down ring, etc?

I would like to mount a web cam or network cam to my spotting scope to watch the birds while at my computer. I don't want to run a cam out to the feeders at this point. I could leave the scope out pointing at one feeder for the day and then put it away and aim it at another feeder the next, etc etc.

Thanks

Hi YellowBudgie,

I know lots of point and shoot cameras have a webcam type feature,that route could make it easier to find a way of attaching to the scope,and you may get a better picture quality and resolution that way too.

But i've not tried it myself so im not sure,webcams may of improved since i last looked years ago.

Good luck with it :t:

jc001 said:

Hi YellowBudgie,

I know lots of point and shoot cameras have a web cam type feature,that route could make it easier to find a way of attaching to the scope,and you may get a better picture quality and resolution that way too.

But I've not tried it myself so I'm not sure,web cams may of improved since i last looked years ago.

Good luck with it :t:

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. I was just thinking that way I could maybe take pictures as well. My scope is very cheap and the photo's may not come out great but thats okay with me.

I did find a solution to my question, I was surprised they sell what I'll post next.

Answer to my own question

I found out they sell adapters to do just this. You unscrew the web cam's lens and screw in the adapter, connect to your eyepiece and now your web cam is using your scope's lens. These adapters use some type of projection since the lens on a web cam is so small.

I'll post the link from the first web page I found that had these adapters.

http://www.buytelescopes.com/whats_new.asp?sid=2&did=&mid=67

If you search this page for webcam you will find the adapters. This is perfect for what I was looking for.

Now I have to find a nice webcam. Any good web cam review web sites?

I started out with an opticron which only cost me about £50,and managed to get some half decent pics through it with a bit of practice.

The only problem i can think of if your using a camera instead,is that i can imagine a few models might frazzle if they're left switched on for long periods,like days at a time,but maybe not.


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Im not really sure about some of that kit....maybe someone else here knows more about webcams and stuff

For astro use, we generally use the Toucam 840, which has a CCD NOT CMOS sensor.

I use one occasionally for birds in the garden, grabbing 640x480 videos. I use a similar adaptor, they are available from loads of astronomy/telescope stores, and the whole thing then just takes the place of a 1.25" eyepiece.

These are the ones :
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=6789&m=
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=6788&m=

You may need an extender tube, as "out focus" is sometime not be enough.....

Good Luck

g8ina said:

For astro use, we generally use the Toucam 840, which has a CCD NOT CMOS sensor.

I use one occasionally for birds in the garden, grabbing 640x480 videos. I use a similar adaptor, they are available from loads of astronomy/telescope stores, and the whole thing then just takes the place of a 1.25" eyepiece.

These are the ones :
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=6789&m=
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=6788&m=

You may need an extender tube, as "out focus" is sometime not be enough.....

Good Luck

Click to expand...

Thanks,

I saw a lot of people using the Philips ToUcam Pro II 840K Webcam for astronony use when I did a search for it. Can you get 30fps at 640x480 when you were watching the birds in the yard to snap a picture?

Does the lens screw out of the webcam from a threaded base in the ToUcam Pro II 840l?

I made a mistake of buying the QuickCam Pro 5000. It was not in the compatibility list but it looked like the QuickCam Pro 4000. I could not get the lens out, it must be sealed in there. It's still a nice webcam, the video is smooth at 640x400 but watching my backyard isn't to exciting

Would you have an example picture of a bird to post or have them already available someplace?

Thanks

jc001 said:

I started out with an opticron which only cost me about £50,and managed to get some half decent pics through it with a bit of practice.

The only problem i can think of if your using a camera instead,is that i can imagine a few models might frazzle if they're left switched on for long periods,like days at a time,but maybe not.


.
.


Im not really sure about some of that kit....maybe someone else here knows more about webcams and stuff

Click to expand...

I was worried about using my good cameras and have them running all day like that. But maybe an inexpensive camera that can do 640x480 video at 30fps and can link to the PC to display the video. I'm not sure if there is such a combination out there but maybe. I guess using the tv outs may work to. But then I may as well buy a cheap video cam that does low video resolution for $100 more than the web cam. I'd really like to get this setup but just don't know which new cams in the store will work with a adapter. Their compatibility list seems outdated.

I may start looking at network cams instead of web cams. These cams usu-sally have all the hardware to be a web server so your pc could be off but someone else in the house could watch. Cheaper on electricity.

Help before it snows! I want golden finches while they are still yellow.

When I was at the pc store today they had a microsoft webcam that did 1.2 megapixels for video and photo's. It's lens was wider than most webcams. That appeared to be a nice cam but I know nothing about it.