From: "James Lerch" 
To: "ATM List" 
Reply-To: "James Lerch" 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Anderson-Lee" 


> James, you may have mentioned this before, but what sort of camera setup do
> you use?

The camera I'm using for all my recent testing adventures is a Sharp 8mm
'ViewCam' produced in the early 90's.

Here's my web page on the camera's I've used in the past, with some brief
descriptions:

http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm/rtaft_release/Cams.htm


> I've been trying to find an inexpensive yet decent digital camera to use for
> taking foucault and ronchi images.  Most inexpensive web cameras seem to be
> RG/GB in that they have two green pixels for each red and blue and don't
> give access to a true BMP or TIFF image but rather a lossy JPG.  Also, I've
> yet to find one that I could zoom the image so that the disk filled up most
> of the picture.  A simple monochrome camera would be great, but I can't seem
> to find one.  I'd like to have it working in a "webcam" (computer
> controlled) mode, so that I can see the images from the monitor and take
> pictures under computer control.
>
> Another option might be to use a PCI or USB framegrabber plus either a
> firewire or NTSC camera, but once again I'd like to keep the price down and
> the pixels up!
>
> Any recommendations (anyone)?

Our ATM lab is almost done building  Robo-2, (Same Idea as Robo-1, just
using nice machined parts instead of wood)  When I went scrounging for a
camera, I found a camera repair shop.  Told them I was looking for a
Cam-corder with a non
functioning Tape transport system.  A few weeks later, they came up with a
Fujitsu 8mm Camera that was eating tapes.  Picked it up for $50.

Another idea is a B/W security Cam or USB web cam, and a zoom lens for a
35mm camera.  Getting the two parts to become one, can be a challenge, but
its doable
and also inexpensive.

Personally, If Robo works, (am I started to sound like a broken record?
) and
I want to take it to the next level, I'm keeping my eye on the consumer
High Definition Video Cameras (~$3K).  The HD Camera and an HD capture
card,  could offer some impressive video resolution at a 'somewhat'
affordable price.

Megapixel still camera's seem promising for single image projects, but I haven't
found one yet that will stream a live image into a computer (asides from
the video out port on my Sony Camera, which must have the worlds cheapest
Digital - Analog converter (5bit))

Hope this was helpful,

James

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