toucam problems!!!!

[Tony G]

Hi all,
just wondered has anyone experienced any problems before with the toucam playing up in cold weather. I was taking images of Mars last night (the first time it has actually looked like Mars and not the glowing Sun, after a few adjustments to the camera controls ie brightness, saturation, etc.) when the camera stopped and i lost about 125 images, and the rest of the night was spent trying to retrieve the images from the laptop, camera, anywhere i could possibly think they might be but to no avail.
so if anyone can help or advise it would be appreciated.

Tony G

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi, I have not seen that before, it sounds like it might just be that the settings are saving the AVI's somewhere odd?

Chris

P.S. That was probably no help at all, sorry.

[Tony G]

Well Chris , I looked everywhere in the garden, but still couldn't find them there either.

Tony G

[Ian]

hmm, had this sort of fun with modified cameras, not pristine ones. I'd be inclined to point the finger at condensation, it was pretty wet out last evening.

Is the laptop working ok?

[JohnP]

Hi Tony,  A few ideas...:

Often you might drop a few odd frames during capture - 125 sounds excessive. What frame rate are using normally it's best to use 5pfs or max 10fps - I normaly use only 5fps. Are you using the timer to capture a certain length avi i.e. 60 secs or so... Might I suggest that you set the timer for say 15 secs & use 5 fps - set brightness to 50%, gamma to zero & saturation to 50% - select a shutter speed of 1/25 or 1/33 (possibly 1/50) & then adjust the gain until image looks reasonble on the laptop - aim for say 200 on the brightness meter (you don't want to saturate) - then capture the avi to to file explorer find the file & make sure you can play it back in windows media player..  If the capture of the avi file doesn't finish correctly then you'll loose the file - that's why its safest to use the timer... Once you've confirmed everything is good for a 15 sec avi try a 60 sec or 120 sec depending on tracking etc...

Give me a call if you've got any questions...

Cheers,  John

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.
John i will try that next time there is a clear night, its a bit overcast out there at the moment tonight.
Cheers.

Tony G


PS Ian who said anything about a laptop, i have to carry the computer desk, then the tower and the 19" CRT monitor down to the end of the garden, thats why it is taking so long to get any images they've usually gone by the time i've set up.  
(only joking, the laptop was fine)

[Tony G]

Sorry
that last post was from me, forgot to sign in.  

Tony G

[Tony G]

Hi all,
still had a few problems with the Toucam which would take a series of photos and after about 10 images would show a caption saying internal error. This was the case some weeks ago and i though it maybe the daughters laptop, but i have tried it on another laptop and the same thing is happening, bearing in mind that the webcam is brand new and when i set it up on the desktop it works again.
Could it be the cold weather?

Tony G

[JohnP]

To Be honest I doubt it is the weather... Mine has never failed me yet ...'touch Wood' & I've used it in all sorts of sub-zero temperatures.(You might have a duff one of course..) I actually have 2 ToUcam's so if you want to borrow one to eliminate anything i.e. laptop it's not a problem.

Cheers,  John

[Tony G]

Thanks for the offer John,
i'm going to have a look at it tomorrow if I don't get dragged out shopping. Astrophotography without the Astro.

Tony

P.S. looking at getting a digimaxt 40 eyepiece anyone have any comments.