[AZ-Observing] Re: TouCams Available
- From: Andrew Cooper <acooper@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 21:01:54 -0700
The TouCam Pro uses a Sony ICX098 CCD, not a CMOS sensor. This is one
of the reasons for the far higher performance of this camera vs. some
other webcams. See http://products.sel.sony.com/semi/PDF/ICX098BQ.pdf
for the datasheet. As you can see there are 640x480 pixels, the higher
1280x640 resolution is synthesized in software.
Yes! the <1 lux is important, you need all the sensitivity you can get.
This helps keep exposure times as short as possible helping "freeze" the
seeing distortion, allowing the performance and great photos you have
seen (or done yourself) with smaller instruments. The sensitivity is
mostly a function of the pixel size in these cameras, with some of the
sensors with higher resolution using ever smaller, and thus less
sensitive, pixels.
I have looked at the deep sky some people are doing with modified
webcams and can't say I am impressed. The biggest problem here is
dynamic range, the webcam is only eight bits, a noisy eight bits at
that. Even the lower end CCD cameras for deep sky are twevle bit, most
are sixteen bit, giving 256 times more dynamic range. These cameras
also have carefully designed analog and A/D circuitry for much lower noise.
Andrew
Jack Jones wrote:
>
> Jeff,
>
> I checked the one I have and it's the Philips ToUcam XS (PCVC720K/17).
> According to website www.pc-cameras.philips.com, under manuals, the XS has a
> CMOS chip with 352X288 pixels and resolution of 640x480. Illumination is <10
> lux. The ToUcam Pro (PCVC740K) has a CMOS chip with 640x480 pixels and
> resolution of 1280x640. Illumination is <1 lux. Whether the extra resolution
> and illlumination is going to make a difference on the screen for bright
> objects remains to be seen. 640x480 should give me some good pics. Neither
> one is good for dim objects so I wonder about the 1 lux claim.
>
> Jack Jones
> Saguaro Astronomy Club
> Public Events
> Phoenix AZ
> spicastar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--
Andrew Cooper
Tucson, AZ
mailto:acooper@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.whitethornhouse.com
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