Camera

vvvv beta question
1

hi,

i am looking for a video-camera to use with tracking in vvvv - maybe someone got a hint:

features:

  • works well with v4 (of course)
  • wide angle, should be able to catch ~10m from ~10-15m distance. if less, nice as well, but a webcam is too narrow
  • switch off auto exposure if possible, so it does not adjust around all the time
  • pricing of course. don’t have to be cheapo, but reasonable. if it can be rented for a week, even better!

not needed:

  • resolution. the purpose is just a very lowres 1-axis position track

ps: infrared is not an option, no place to have lamps for that.

if anyone should have a suggestion or would like to share experience, i’d be very happy.

cheers, aksel

2

hi aksel, i tried many cameras in the last years, and i really love the gige ueye. it is a gigabit camera, so you don’t have the problem of the distance). they have all the solutions you need (every speed you want, color or monochrome, any resloution, cmos or ccd sensor, gige or usb, all the lenses you want). I have a Ethernet Camera IDS model UI-5220SE-M-GL 752x480 1/3" CMOS Global Shutter, and i love it.
it’s not the cheapest camera but it work very well for me.
But, for visible light applications, the best choice if you want a really cheap cam (not the same quality of ueye, of course) is the microsoft life cinema.
max resolution 720p, very stable images. it has a sort of software filter for noise removing, very useful for tracking. I use it every day, very smart solution. and it has a digital zoom very useful (not the same to scale via software the image, because it takes only a part of the hd image, difficult to exaplain in english for me).

3

hi screamer,

thanks a lot for the nice reply!

as for distance: i didn’t mean cable distance, but rather the lens. how do the two you mentioned do in terms of a little wider angle lens than a normal webcam, goal ist to catch ~10m from ~10-15m distance.

thanks, aksel

4

hi aksel, for the microsoft life cinema it should have the wide you need, and for the ueyecam you must use the correct lenses. For doing the calculation of the correct lens you can use, for example, the calculator on this page,
Remember to put the correct camera type (for example my model of ueye is 1/3" sensor, so if i make the calculation i obtain that i need a 4.8mm lens for covering the distances you need).