TAKE STALKING TOTHE NEXT LEVEL: BUILD A USB TELESCOPE

Webcams have never been so much fun

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ISSUE 225

APR 2009

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PCF225.cover 1 20/2/09 12:21:52 pm

Much like The Wombles we’re always looking to do interesting and what the kids might describe as ‘cool things’

with other people’s – and frankly our own – discarded rubbish. While Management considers our all-day Ebay surfi ng as frivolous waste of company money and most recently, a sacking offence. We deem it an essential core to our job description, but that’s just between us and an industrial tribunal.

On a more recent eBay trawl we came across the lucrative SLR fi lm market. As the entire world has moved to digital there’s a huge glutt of old and cheap fi lm SLR cameras to be had. Even better is that many manual focus lenses – useless in this electronic metering day-and-age – are still in top-notch working condition and can be snapped up for effectively peanuts.

Combine the lens with a webcam, and you have an instant digital telescope. The only problem being how to

Make a USB telescopeMake things that are far away much closer, then do naughty things to them in Photoshop…

effectively mesh the lens and webcam? One solution would be to use a suitable 70mm drainpipe to create a mount. However, it struck us that it’d be easier to buy either a mount-converter and epoxy this to the pipe or better yet just buy a suitable SLR fi lm back!

We actually felt quite bad as the SLR camera we got was in such good condition it was obviously loved by its previous owner. So here’s how we destroyed it… ¤ Neil Mohr

What you will need¤ Spare webcam¤ 200mm telephoto lens¤ Suitable SLR fi lm back¤ Or suitable piping and adaptor

64 April 2009

Future Publishing Limited provides the information for this project in good faith and makes no representations as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions in this project do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgment in determining the appropriateness of parts, equipment, sealants and other

adhesives for a particular use.. Protective clothing, gloves and goggles/safety glasses should also be worn at all times, when using adhesives. Always read the label before use of adhesives and seek medical assistance in the event of ingestation or irritation. Use of the USB telescope may void a product’s warranty (like you care, but we have to say this

for the stupid people). To the fullest extent permitted by law, Future Publishing Limited takes no responsibility for any person relying on the information relating to this project and disclaims all liability for any errors, omissions, damage or injury to users or their equipment as a result of or relating to their making and use of the USB telescope.

Cost:

£25

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PCF225.make 64 23/2/09 12:13:41 pm

Make a USB telescope

How to make a USB telescopeWe’re going to put that into there and then attach the other. Let’s get going (1). First, open up the webcam and remove intact the internal PCB and lens (2). We won’t need the webcam’s own lens, so remove and discard. The camera’s lens will do all the focusing onto the detector (3). Here’s our telephoto lens. As you can see the mounting is suitably complex, which is why we opted for the SLR back option (4). If you don’t have an old SLR back the best alternative is to grab a lens adaptor and screw it to some suitable 70mm piping and using an end cap, mount the webcam around 35mm from the len’s end (5). Continuing with the SLR back. It will have a movable main mirror and shutter curtain, these can both be taped open, though you will have to fi re the camera to trap the curtain (6). The webcam sensor has to be mounted vertically and horizontally central at the rear of the camera back. Like here in our rough test (7). We stuck the sensor to a wide strip of plastic that could be moved until it was in the perfect position and fi xed this in position (8). Before fi nishing we test. This old webcam still has our infrared mod, which is why we have red images. But you can see the zoomed version verses a standard view, about 10x magnifi cation (9). Finally we knocked out the fi lm infowindow and fed out the USB cable (10).

April 2009 65

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9 “Combine the SLR lens with a webcam and you have an instant digital telescope”

PCF225.make 65 23/2/09 12:13:45 pm