Using i-tec icam 1.3 mega pixel CCD Webcam in 2024

 

I-Tec iCam Tracer

• Plug: USB
• Type: webcam
• Dynamic range: No data
• Exposure time:
• IR: no data
• Used for astrophotography: Yes

 

Sensor :: ICX098BQ

• Type: CCD; Color
• Sensor size: 1/4"
• Pixel size: 5.6 x 5.6 (micrometers)
• Image format: 640 x 480
• QE max: 38%
• Specs: Download PDF
  
• Used in: 10 cameras

 

Cameras with this sensor

• Unibrain Fire-i Digital Board Camera Kolor: industry cam , 8 bit A/D
• I-Tec iCam Tracer: webcam
• Unibrain Fire-i Digital Camera: webcam , 8 bit A/D
• Philips SPC900NC / SPC880NC: webcam
• Philips ToUcam Pro II (PCVC-840K): webcam
• Philips ToUcam Pro 3D (PCVC-750K): webcam
• Philips ToUcam Pro (PCVC-740K): webcam
• Celestron NexImage: for simple astrophotography , 8 bit A/D
• DBK 21 AU04.AS Imaging Source: for simple astrophotography , 8 bit A/D
• DFK 21 AU04.AS Imaging Source: for simple astrophotography , 8 bit A/D

Above camera has a CCD sensor, and the camera has been used by few for astrophotography. I got hold of two such cameras with windows drivers (Windows XP/2000) which were not working on Windows 10/11. After trying out few things, I decided to check on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux. Through below steps, I was able to make both cameras work.

 

1. Trying to identify if the webcam is identified by Ubuntu. The webcam did show green light when connected to Ubuntu based laptop, which did not happen on windows 10/11 machine. 

fmpeg -y -f vfwcap -i list

The above command did not show the device, then installed v4l-utils,

sudo apt install v4l-utils

 Then ran the following command,

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

 

 This showed the device as shown in the above screenshot.

2. To Capture Video from ffmpeg using v4l2 and the device connected at the USB port close to power port.

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -framerate 25 -video_size 640x480 -i /dev/video2 output.mkv

3. Using VLC to open the video camera

Media > Open Capture Device , The window that opens up, visit Capture Device Tab, Video Device Name  enter  "/dev/video2" in the field.

4. GNU Cheese Camera app did not detect the webcam.. GTK + UVC Viewer allowed me to directly view the video.

https://guvcview.sourceforge.net/downloads.html

 

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pj-assis/ppa