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QuickCam AstroPhotography Modification Additional Information

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Below are some pictures of Saturn that I have managed to capture, using a 60mm Refractive Telescope and a Logitech QuickCam. This was my first attempt, and I had no filters, which I could use to reduce the glare and improve the contrast. The image was processed in order to reduce the pinkish glow, which was a result of the telescope I was using. The telescope does not auto-slew and it is an alt-azimuth mount, so taking this photo was an exercise in patience and steady hands.

My new scope is a Meade ATX-70AT, which has a computer controller, allowing auto slew and goto, which makes the whole process a lot easier. The ATX is a 70mm and although it is still a relatively small telescope, its optics are far better than the 60mm used to obtain these images. I am still waiting for some additional lenses and barlows in order to increase the magnification to a point where some reasonable images can be taken.

Below is the single picture of Jupiter. The next ones that I take should at least have some of Jupiter’s moons visible. (There is one moon in this picture but it is hardly recognisable.)

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Logitech QuickCam AstroPhotography.

In order to take photographs with my telescope, I decided to use a color QuickCam for couple of reasons.

· they are relatively cheap now (particularly if you purchase an OEM one.)

· they are reasonably well supported.

• they are easy to modify.

· they are relatively easy to get your hands on. (somewhere like Harvey Norman)

I wont run through connecting the quickcam to the PC or how to use the software or settings to achieve the best results. This is available in a number of places on the Internet. What I will explain though, is how to modify the quickcam easily and cheaply in order to mate it to your telescope.

The picture here should give you an idea of what the finished product looks like.

The Modification

Required Parts:

1 x Logitech QuickCam

1 x Plastic 35mm Camera Film Canister

Super Glue or Araldite or Plastic Cement

Silver Plastic Tape.

The film canister is used to make a barrel for the camera that will be inserted into the end of your telescope. This worked for me, because the canisters that I had available, were almost the perfect size for the eyepiece of my telescope. You may have to search around for the right size canister, as they do come in various sizes.

The quickcam has a plastic shield mounted onto the PCB with a hole in it that both lets the light through to the CCD and provides a screw thread for the little lens that the camera employs.

We will drill a hole in the bottom of the film canister so that it fits flush over the hole in the PCB shield, leaving the raised and threaded piece of shield sticking through. This will allow us to glue the bottom of the canister to the shield and still be able to screw the lens back in if we want to.

One other advantage of using the film canister is that when the camera is not in use, we can place the original canister lid back on top, so as to keep the dust out.

Disclaimer and warnings.

*Before going ahead, I should point out a couple of things that you NEED to be aware of:

*This process will completely and utterly void the warranty on your QuickCam, but hey if you were worried about that then you wouldn’t have read this far anyway.

*As with most electronic circuitry, it is important to remember all the rules about devices that are sensitive to Electro-Static Discharge (in other words ground yourself and try not to touch anything on the circuit board.)

*The CCD chip is sensitive to dust and this modification will expose the CCD to the open air, so be careful and work in a clean dust free environment.

Dismantling the Camera

Okay, are you still game? Well then let’s get on with it.

Firstly, go out and buy yourself one of the ball shaped QuickCam cameras. Get the highest resolution/color that you can afford, mine is a 640x480 with 256 colors. I can’t vouch for the quality below this, but as always, you get what you pay for.

All right, now it’s time to void the warranty. Most of the ball QuickCam seem to have a single screw holding the case on. Take the base off the camera if it is attached, and then remove the single screw holding it all together.

Okay, the circuit board with the Lens still attached, should now be pulled out and stored in a safe location because we are now going to work on the case.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the camera while I was in the middle of building it, so I can only show you what it looks like once it is finished. I will however insert pictures of the completed camera at various stages through the explanation.

Making the Barrel-Hole

Now we are going to make a hole in the plastic case that the film canister will protrude through.

• Screw the quickcam case up again, without the inside workings.
• Use the open end of the film canister up against the case as a template and mark out the circle that we are going to cut out. Make sure that you have the circle centred around the existing hole, otherwise the bottom end of the film canister won’t sit squarely on the PCB shield.
• Pull the quickcam case apart again, in order to make it easier to cut the hole out.
• Take out your mini-drill, or drill or round file and cut the hole out to the right size. This requires a fair bit of patience. I used a mini-drill with a routing/cutting stone attached. Remember, we are trying to cut a hole, not melt a hole.
• Once you get close to the right size you may have to make a few adjustments to get the hole perfect. Snap the case back together and try inserting the canister until you get the hole right.
• If you make the hole a little bit too big, you may be able to silicon it closed later, in order to keep the camera sealed. This is only a problem for the electronics though, not the CCD, as the canister should keep the lens sealed.

Modifying the film canister.

We are now going to drill a hole in the end of the film canister, in order to fit it to the quickcam PCB.

Once again I should point out how important it is to keep dust off the CCD, because it is impossibly difficult to get any dust off the CCD without damaging it.

· Take the PCB that we pulled out of the case earlier and unscrew the lens off the front. (It should be designed to screw right out).

• Now carefully put the not the size of the raised circle in the middle of the PCB shield (you should be able to see the CCD chip through the hole.
• The outside of this ring is the size of hole that we require in the bottom of the film canister. If the hole is a little bit too big, it shouldn’t matter, as we are going to glue the canister to the flat part of the shield, around the hole.
• Cut the hole in the canister using a drill or file, making sure that the hole is centred, and is big enough to fit around the hole in the PCB shield.
• Now place the lens back into the camera and put it safely away again.
• The last step in this process is modifying the canister so that it is the right size for the telescope. Mine was a few millimetres too small for the hole where the lens goes, so I used some plastic silver tape wrapped around the canister a few times in order to thicken the canister up. Do this, and cut any excess tape off, being careful to remove any small pieces that may be left over.

Putting It All Together

Now we are ready to put the whole thing together.

Once again I cant stress enough how important it is to keep dust off the CCD, so BE CAREFUL, you have been told ;-)

We are now going to glue the canister onto the PCB and place everything back into the case.

· Before assembling everything, make sure that all the pieces are clean and free from dust and small pieces of plastic

· Check that all the pieces are clean again. (The last thing you want is dust on the CCD, or even worse, inside your telescope).

· Remove the lens from the CCD again; put it aside where it will stay clean, as you may need it again some time in the future.

· Place some glue or prepared araldite onto the PCB shield outside of the raised ring. Make sure you put it all the way around. Don’t use too little glue, otherwise the canister won’t seal properly, and the canister wont be fixed firmly enough to hold the weight of the camera and the connected cable.

· Place the canister lid back onto the canister, in order to keep the dust out.

· Allow the glue to dry, making sure that the bond is strong enough to hold the canister onto the PCB shield firmly.

The amount of time it takes for the glue to dry will depend on what you are using. Read the instructions, and wait at least as long as it tells you to. You do not want to be re-gluing this later, as you can end up with a real mess.

Make yourself a cup of your favourite caffeinated beverage, sit back and relax.

· Okay, now that the canister is firmly glued to the PCB, we can place the case back on.

· Insert the PCB into the slots provided in one half of the case.

· Make sure that canister is sitting properly against the hole we cut in the case.

· Make sure that the grommet around the cable is sitting in its hole properly.

· Put the other half of the case back on, making sure that everything is where it is supposed to be, and ensuring that none of the wires are going to be pinched when we screw it back together.

· Screw the case back together.

· Stand back and admire your excellent handywork.

Now we are finished with the camera, make sure everything is clean, and that the canister is still firmly attached, and is aligned reasonably straight into the case.

This is what the finished product should look like.

Using it all together

As I mentioned earlier, I will not go into the details of using the camera or software, and the like. However here are some pictures and comments that you may find useful when using your camera.

Sometimes, the camera may not be pointing at the correct spot inside your telescope, this may be because of the way it is held into the telescope, experiment with moving the camera around inside the lens holder. This may explain why you have trouble seeing anything once you have your camera inserted. It may also explain why you get an image that has the edges cut off in a partial circle.

This is a close up showing the camera inserted into my Meade ETX70-AT.

The ETX-70AT is my first telescope, it is only relatively small, but it has some great features at a relatively inexpensive price.

The ATX is a 70mm and although it is still a relatively small telescope, its optics are far better than the average department store 60mm. It has auto tracking, auto slew and goto functionality which basically means, you align the telescope with two or three known stars, and then select what you want to view, and it will automatically follow it across the sky. It is controlled via a hand controller with a two line LCD output, that shows you information about the object you have selected.

It can find and track al sorts of objects such as Galaxies, Globular Clusters, Planets and is even supposed to be able to track satellites, although I haven’t tried this yet. See the images links at the top of this page in order to see some of the images I have taken using this telescope and the quickcam.

I generally have the QuickCam plugged into my laptop so that I can sit outside and watch the screen whilst sitting next to the telescope.

I have found that the QuickCam and the eyepieces vary greatly in focal length, so you will probably find that you will have to do a fairly large refocus when switching between camera and eyepiece.

Here is all the gear together.

Now go have some fun, and if you happen to take any interesting pictures, then feel free to email them to me, and I will post them up on my images website.

- David Peters

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