[ATMoB-discuss] Webcam wanderings...

[John Boudreau]

For those club members interested in webcam imaging, currently the best CCD-based webcam in production that's well suited for lunar and planet imaging is the Philips SPC900NC, which replaced the popular Philips ToUcam Pro 840k. For the last few years these particular model Philips webcams have only been distributed in the US by a few astronomy equipment dealers that include Adirondack Video Astronomy (AVA) and Oceanside Photo and Telescope (OPT), along with a miniature microscope manufacturer called PocketScope. These dealers have been charging over $100 for the webcam alone, and from $130 to $150 for the webcam with a 1.25" telescope adapter.

Recently on a couple of Yahoo astronomy-related groups, some people have reported that these webcams are now sold through Wal-Mart... at least on their website. And the price is only about $60:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5044149

A 1.25" telescope adapter is still required, such as the one sold by AVA:
http://www.astrovid.com/prod_details.php?pid=3322

And for any of these webcams used for lunar and planet imaging, an IR-UV blocking (or cut) filter is also recommended. This is especially true for refractors, because they don't focus near-IR and deep blue light very well.
http://www.astrovid.com/prod_details.php?pid=286

Removing the NPC900NC's lens assembly and replacing it with a 1/25" adapter isn't as straightforward as it was on the earlier 740 and 640 ToUcam models, but it's still no too difficult. Here's a link to the procedure:
http://www.robertreeves.com/900NC.htm

And as brought up recently on the NSAAC list by Jim Foy, there are no official Philips drivers to get the older ToUcams or SPC900NC webcams to work with Windows Vista. Recently on the web forum Cloudy Nights, Tim Jensen posted that a Vista-compatible  ToUcam driver is available for download at his website. The driver is written by Atli Jónsson. The related CN posts are here:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1519987/Main/1501047

This is a direct link to Tim's download page:
http://members.cox.net/t.jensen/drivers.html

While some report these Vista drivers work fine, at least one person I know of hasn't had any luck with them as of yet.

---John Boudreau