7 ms·

This blog post is kind of a playful idea on the iSight. However, if you want to take it seriously, you should consider using the High Quality Camera with the Pi

• numpad0 6y ago
  7.9mm(1/2.3”) diagonal is not exactly huge, same or smaller than many smartphones.
  • pier25 6y ago
    Maybe jimmies meant compared to webcams?
  • jimmies 6y ago
    To be honest, I didn't realize that that sensor just about the size of an iPhone's sensor. I would have guessed the iPhone's camera sensor is smaller. It really blew my mind how compact the whole iPhone camera package is.
    • HALtheWise 6y ago
      I'm not entirely sure about this situation, but sensor size numbers often don't reflect an actual measurement of the physical size of the sensor. It's all based on old film standards.
      • numpad0 6y ago
        Fractional inches notation is based on imaging tubes, not films. There were of cylindrical fluorescent vacuum tubes that has rectangular imaging area at one end. Inch size notation like 1” or 1/1.2” for CMOS sensors denote size of equivalent imaging tube diameter for its imaging area. “135 full frame”, “APS-C”, “Super 35mm”, “Medium format” on the other hand refers to film sizes, and thus respective imaging area dimensions.
    • dannyw 6y ago
      Flagship smartphones are cameras first, and phones second. The iPhone camera module is among most expensive parts in the bill of materials, at about $37.60. The Apple processor is about $30. NAND and RAM? $40 combined. TrueDepth? $17.
• wellthisisgreat 6y ago
  I see there are different lenses available for it (wide angle, telephoto etc.) are these photos using any of those? Or would lenses make it even better? Also what is the output? Can it do 1080p60? Forgive my naivety if I am asking something obvious
  • jimmies 6y ago
    - The wide angle (6mm) is the one I used. It has a good angle of view but with quite a bit of lens distortion. - I haven't had time to look at the custom lenses, as this is quite confusing to me. - Output is 1080p30. Here is the link for the specs: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/camera/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/camera/
• jonahhorowitz 6y ago
  I have a mirrorless laying around, so I only had to buy a cable and a $12 HDMI to USB capture card off of ebay. The image quality is fantastic. My colleagues frequently comment on how clear my video quality is. If you have a mirrorless that has a clean HDMI out signal, I highly recommend it.
  • jimmies 6y ago
    Yeah, if you have an expensive mirrorless camera in a fixed setup then it's not bad, but it's quite a hassle if have to carry it around and expensive to buy.
    • sudosysgen 6y ago
      IME, a cheap a6000 with the kit lens is very light and easy to carry around, and it's one of those things you keep for a very long time. Then again, I'm the type of person to lug around an A7ii with a 135 2.8 and a 28-75 2.8 everywhere I go!
      • Jaruzel 6y ago
        I wouldn't call ~450 GBP, 'cheap'... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ILCE6000LB-Compact-SELP1650-Electronic/dp/B00IE9XHE0 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ILCE6000LB-Compact-SELP1650-El...
        • sudosysgen 6y ago
          That indeed isn't cheap. They sell on local classifieds for around ~250 CAD here. It's not a production model so buying it from Amazon doesn't make sense.
          • Jaruzel 6y ago
            I've been looking for a DSLR/DSLM on eBay for a while now to hook up to my Elgato Cam Link, and prices there aren't any better. It's like every youtuber has worked out the DLSR + HDMI output = Webcam trick, and it's inflating used camera prices.
• m463 6y ago
  I don't know why people don't just come up with good single-use-case enclosures for the pi. for example: 1) hang on the wall with official display 2) sit on the table with official display 3) hang on wall with tiny display 4) hang on wall with epaper display 5) outdoor webcam 6) indoor tilt/shift webcam 7) webcam on top of monitor 8) small server case with space for gpio breakout inside and ports either routed to the back or through grommets I mean heck, I've ordered a raspberry pi on amazon and I recall it was "#1 selling barebones" so I think there is money in it.
  • imhoguy 6y ago
    I still wonder why open hardware hasn't taken over the consumer electronics market yet. Hackability/upgradability is a feature I would pay for... ah wait! these things (Pi, 3D printing) are even cheaper than many closed designs.
    • m463 6y ago
      I think it's hard to get funding for that business model. Really, the chances of getting funded go way up when you have patents, exclusivity, a monopoly, etc.
      • piva00 6y ago
        Because it's easy to commodotise it. If all the designs are open then the race is to who can manufacture it better but there's a technological limit to that and the return on investment is quite low. What would be a company's market differentiator in this? Quality of construction is easily achievable nowadays, price will be low (as the market is very price-sensitive, who will be buying US$ 100 cases for their Pis?), there is not much incentive to participate in it, even more as the market is quite niche. Maybe a company doing the packaging and selling of open-source hardware as whole product, much like as Mutable Instruments did with modular synthesizers, could work but then you aren't simply making cases anymore.
        • srtjstjsj 6y ago
• milofeynman 6y ago
  Have you considered adding a ring light?
• spockz 6y ago
  Last time I hooked up my 5d3 to Teams I saw a nice capture but the other participants saw something that appeared like a 5kib/s 320p feed. When I switched back to the internal webcam the picture was 720p so it wasn’t my connection. Any ideas on this? (macOS, ODS, cam twist, and 5d3 over usb.)
  • faeyanpiraat 6y ago
    It might have been too high quality, and teams squished it to save bandwidth for every participant?
    • spockz 6y ago
      So why not squish it down to the same level as the internal webcam instead of completely down?
• rcarmo 6y ago
  I have been working along these same lines, but am still waiting for a Canon lens adapter to arrive so I can have decent glass in front of the sensor (the basic is OK, but I have a few Canon lenses that knock it out of the park). Meanwhile, I have a slightly tweaked version of uvc-gadget that does not jump to 100% CPU when the camera is off: https://github.com/rcarmo/uvc-gadget https://github.com/rcarmo/uvc-gadget
  • ranma42 6y ago
    I tried the K&F Concept lens adapter, but the big caveat is the sensor size difference, so effectively you get a huge zoom factor. Using the Kit lens from my Canon, I either need to put the camera module meters away from my face or meeting participants are only going to see my nose. :)
    • rcarmo 6y ago
      I have a 18-55(?) which is blatantly overkill but might be easier to tune in that regard. Biggest concern I have right now is aperture size, and I certainly don't expect things to be perfect on the first try :)
      • formerly_proven 6y ago
        The crop factor of this camera is about 5.6, so 18 mm behaves like a 105 mm telephoto. For a portrait shot the camera needs to be about 3-4 meters away from you.
• Jnr 6y ago
  Video quality for the demo video on showmewebcam github page is quite bad. I suspect it is mainly caused by the lens. Are there any good lenses out there that don't cost a lot? I could not find any good demo videos from the Rpi HQ camera. There are either macro shots showing the background blur, or some terrible medium range ones. If a good lens costs an arm and a leg, it is probably still cheaper to buy used entry level mirrorless camera, and it will also have autofocus. I really wish there were better webcams and I would not have to result some bulky mirrorless/dslr or iphone with droidcam.
  • bmurphy1976 6y ago
    See my other comment to the parent, but yeah, the lenses are a challenge. The 6mm is not great. Finding a workable cost effective lens is my biggest hurdle right now.
• fhars 6y ago
  I've been looking at the specs of the HQ camera for some time, and I'm not quite sure I understand it. I mean, the sensor is outright TINY for its resolution, at 1.55µm pixel size. I have found some C-mount lenses that claim to provide an optical resolution matching a sensor with 3.5µm pixel size (which would give you an effective resolution of slightly under 3MP with that sensor), but they are at least in the same price range as a a Sony A6000 mirrorless with the kit lens which will have a much higher effective resolution. And that is less hassle as you don't have to deal with two PCBs connected by a ribbon cable...
  • formerly_proven 6y ago
    The sensor is pretty much the same size and density as a smartphone camera (~1/2.5", 12 MP).
  • brirec 6y ago
    The sensor definitely isn’t too tiny to be useful, and you can get some nice C-mount lenses for cheap on eBay and Amazon. Incidentally, my favorite lens for my Canon M50 mirrorless is actually a C-mount lens with an adapter that cost me $30. It goes for about $20 new on the bay. Edit: $50 for the Pi HQ camera, $30 for the lens, $20 for four Pi Zeroes (just in case it’s not as easy to find them for $5 where you are). Still comes out to way less than half the price of a used A6000 with the kit lens.
    • fhars 6y ago
      But as far as I can see, that lens (assuming the default 6mm lens offered with the module) will give you about the same effective resolution as your standard webcam, with maybe slightly better control over depth of field, far worse image distortion near the edges, and no autofocus. The cheapest 6mm lenses that come even remotely close to using the sensor resolution start at 400€.
    • deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    • epmaybe 6y ago
      What lens? Always a fan of interesting old lenses
• bmurphy1976 6y ago
  A few notes for those going down this path (I'm doing the same). 1. This doesn't work on OSX yet. Works really well in windows though. 2. There's no microphone. I'm looking for a directional mic setup for the rpi but haven't found anything I'm satisfied with yet. 3. The 6mm lens is total crap. The 16mm lens is decent but the zoom makes it difficult to use as a webcam. I'm still looking for a good rectilinear lens in the 4mm to 8mm range that has minimal distortion and doesn't cost an arm and a leg (after all, the whole point of this is to do it on the cheap). There's no obvious candidate yet. 4. Commonlands has a couple M12 lenses that look promising. I'd prefer a C mount but you have to go with what's available. I'm going to pull the trigger on one of them to test out when I get back from vacation. 5. Arducam has a bunch of lenses, but I find them to be very strange. Maybe it's a language barrier issue, but the videos and the marketing copy are all very odd and don't quite tell you what you want to know. It feels like a Chinese company masquerading as an English company. It's all weird enough that I'm not ready to pull the trigger and purchase one of their lenses. 6. Focusing is a pain in the ass with all these lenses. You will not have the same experience as a typical webcam but once you have the focus dialed in things look great. Just don't move. 7. The HQ camera is very capable but it's limited by the bandwidth limitations of the pi interface. 1080p 30fps is the max you'll get. Don't expect 4k video.
  • ISL 6y ago
    Regarding point 7: Are there other interfaces like the Pi's, but with higher bandwidth, for the Sony sensors? I've had good luck making use of the Pi-cam in the lab, but would love to be able to configure them with a higher-bandwidth connection to a computer with a burlier processor/GPU.
  • jimmies 6y ago
    We just figured out How to solve point 1 about a week ago. It is now working well on macOS. Try it :)
    • bmurphy1976 6y ago
      That's great! I'll take a look first chance I get.