Philips Toucam, any good?

[Guest Jamie S]

Anybody used a Philips toucam 2 for astro imaging? I know you can upgrade the firmware to that of the stc900 supposedly. It's a cheap old camera and im not after perfect results yet, just want a cheap toe dipping exercise if you know what I mean. Cheers in advance. 😀

[Brantuk]

Not used the Toucam Jamie - but yes they are a very dated webcam - one of the first to be modified by Steve Chambers (if I recall correctly) for long exposure astro photography. But if you have one and it still works then there's no reason why you shouldn't have a go with it.

 

I think you may be confusing it with the Philips SPC 900 NC though. I'm not sure if it's the same chip as the Toucam but the upgrade you mention was from the Philips 880 model to the 900. It was just a software upgrade to make the 880 appear as a 900 to the computer - but they did have the same chip.

 

All three are now out of production and hard to get. Hth

[+Ibbo]

the Toucam is an excellent start point if it is the ccd version for planets and the moon

 

you can use the cmos as well but I reckon the ccd is better

 

using free software to run it like Firecapture or sharpcap helps

 

registax5 to stack the results (if you are adventurous registax 6) and photoshop or the free Gimp

 

 

Steve

 

 

Steve

[glider]

Yep, nothing wrong with web cams for planetary or lunar imaging.

 

Dion on Astronomy Shed got excellent results also on some Deep Sky Objects, he really pushed the technology to its limits.

[Guest Jamie S]

My mistake, I thought I saw it as the Toucam PRO but sadly it's the Toucam with the CMOS sensor, I'll have to keep an eye out for a bargain. Thanks for your advice.

[+Ibbo]

depends on the cost if its cheap it may be woth it

 

it can still take images

Edited January 10, 2014 by Ibbo

[Guest Jamie S]

It's £11 shipped from Spain.?

Here is the link.

http://bit.ly/KaZZVU

[+Ibbo]

for that price I'd have a punt

 

you will need a nose piece and an IR cut filter

[Brantuk]

Excellent price - deffo worth a punt

[Guest Jamie S]

Brill, I'll get one ordered then. 😀

[Guest AstroOlly]

Not used the Toucam Jamie - but yes they are a very dated webcam - one of the first to be modified by Steve Chambers (if I recall correctly) for long exposure astro photography. But if you have one and it still works then there's no reason why you shouldn't have a go with it.

I think you may be confusing it with the Philips SPC 900 NC though. I'm not sure if it's the same chip as the Toucam but the upgrade you mention was from the Philips 880 model to the 900. It was just a software upgrade to make the 880 appear as a 900 to the computer - but they did have the same chip.

All three are now out of production and hard to get. Hth

You can upgrade the toucam pro 1 and 2 to the same firmware as the SPC900 nc, it will be recognised as such by a PC and you will then need the SPC 900 drivers, I have all the software and bin files to do the upgrade, have done many.

All the toucam pro cameras have the same sensor the pro 1,2 and SPC 880 and 900

Regards

Olly

Edited January 12, 2014 by AstroOlly