Forum

Webcam for tracking

vvvv beta question
#1

hi,

i´m working on a new version of my “brickquencer” (see here), and i need a new webcam for the colour tracking (dv-cams won´t fit in the case).

the picture quality of the Logitech® QuickCam® Fusion™ i used for the first version was fine, however, on reboot, the driver automatically adjusted to the lightning (AND enabled a face-tracking mechanism), and all my settings were lost.

there was no way turn the autoadjustment of (i contacted logitech about this, and they said it was a “feature” that their costumers “loved”), and generic drivers didn´t recognise the camera, so i had to mess with the camera properties every time i started the machine.

so i´m looking for a new camera, logitech is obviously not an option (or has anybody found a way to hack the drivers?), the PHILIPS Webcam SPC 900NC seems to be in the same price range, has anybody experiences with it (and the consumer-friendliness of the drivers)?

other ideas?

vielen dank,
florian

#2

don’t think you will get very far with 60 EUR. How about the apple iSight? It mounts as a regular uncompressed firewire camera - no hassles expected here - and I believe there is some open source tool to adjust a few cam parameters. Just can’t remember the link. Haven’t tried it, either. Oh, and wikipedia says it’s autofocus. that’s bad.

I’ve been pretty happy connecting a PS2 EyeToy camera with a patched third party driver. I believe it’s too dumb to do auto-setup. Image quality was okay. I can give it a try once I’m at the office.

m

#3

in most situations you’d have better cards (literally) using a cheap hauppauge impact VCB capture card (PCI) in conjunction with a cheap analog camera. They can be rather small, too. ELV.de has a wide choice of cameras, starting around 80,- european. Plus you get niceties like exchangeable lenses, which is usually a pain with webcams.
on the downside, you’d have to deal with interlacing here.

If you’re willing to spend money, you can check out the stuff at companies like imaging source or matrix vision but if you don’t have to impress your customer, you probably won’t need these.

#4

impress your customer ? mmm, i use imagingsource cams because they are a lot more sensitive to infrared light than standard surveilance cams. this is important when u use daylight filter to cut off projection light and reduces the amount of required infrared spots.

but yeah, i.s. cams look more professional too ;)

#5

thanks for the replys,

there should be an isight camera somewhere at my university, so i´ll try that first.

this is a low-budget “private” project, so the i.s. cameras with their impressive prices are no option.

grüssle,
florian

#6

okay i’m a bit late to this tread … but i shopped awhile ago the PHILIPS Webcam SPC 900NC because i had exactely the same problem that fleg menioned with my logitech cam :)
so for me PHILIPS Webcam SPC 900NC works a lot better then logitech … image quality is good but not so good like the firewire ones (like imaging source) and don’t go for the isight! because when it comes to infrared you will see nearly nothing!

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