MojoResin
Member
So I got to playing around this afternoon and came up with a fun toy. I'd be surprised if nobody has done this before, but this just worked out so great that I had to share.
I got my hands on an ActiveEye 30X loupe with an LED light. On a whim, I decided to put it in front of a webcam to see if I could get anything from it. To my surprise the thing fits perfectly on to the end of a Microsoft HD LifeCam. That is, the inner ring of the loupe fits right around the outer diameter of the camera with a near perfect fit. It's snug enough that it will actually stay on there by itself, but I added a little tape to make sure it can't fall off. I also added a small piece of tape over the little light on the front of the camera that tells when it is on so it wouldn't reflect off the lens.
To view the output and take pictures, I used a piece of free software called YawCam. (http://www.yawcam.com/) It has a lot of features, but one is to set it so it will take a picture every X seconds and save it to disk. It also has a great preview window so you can view the output on your monitor as you manuever the camera. With both enabled it's possible to move the camera around and the pictures get taken automatically without you having to take your eyes off the screen to click a button. I set it to take a picture every 2 seconds. Then you can sort out the good ones when you're done. (Hint: YawCam also has a motion detection mode that can send you alerts if motion is detected...yes, it is an awesome piece of freeware that has many uses for the clandestine horticulturalist. I also use it to take timed snap shots of my PPM, PH & temperature displays and create time-lapse movies.)
You can access the camera device properties through YawCam, and I had to make a couple of tweaks to get the pictures to come out right. First, the LEDs on the ActiveEye are pretty bright. So you have to adjust the camera brightness down a hair or it looks washed out. I set it down to a brightness value of 70 (the default is 133). The camera's autofocus works decently with the loupe in place, but for some pictures I disabled it and set the focus to 0. With autofocus disabled, you focus only by moving the camera closer or further away. Both methods have their advantages and drawbacks so I had to experiment a little with both to get a good feel for it.
And here are a few of the best pictures that came out.
I got my hands on an ActiveEye 30X loupe with an LED light. On a whim, I decided to put it in front of a webcam to see if I could get anything from it. To my surprise the thing fits perfectly on to the end of a Microsoft HD LifeCam. That is, the inner ring of the loupe fits right around the outer diameter of the camera with a near perfect fit. It's snug enough that it will actually stay on there by itself, but I added a little tape to make sure it can't fall off. I also added a small piece of tape over the little light on the front of the camera that tells when it is on so it wouldn't reflect off the lens.
To view the output and take pictures, I used a piece of free software called YawCam. (http://www.yawcam.com/) It has a lot of features, but one is to set it so it will take a picture every X seconds and save it to disk. It also has a great preview window so you can view the output on your monitor as you manuever the camera. With both enabled it's possible to move the camera around and the pictures get taken automatically without you having to take your eyes off the screen to click a button. I set it to take a picture every 2 seconds. Then you can sort out the good ones when you're done. (Hint: YawCam also has a motion detection mode that can send you alerts if motion is detected...yes, it is an awesome piece of freeware that has many uses for the clandestine horticulturalist. I also use it to take timed snap shots of my PPM, PH & temperature displays and create time-lapse movies.)
You can access the camera device properties through YawCam, and I had to make a couple of tweaks to get the pictures to come out right. First, the LEDs on the ActiveEye are pretty bright. So you have to adjust the camera brightness down a hair or it looks washed out. I set it down to a brightness value of 70 (the default is 133). The camera's autofocus works decently with the loupe in place, but for some pictures I disabled it and set the focus to 0. With autofocus disabled, you focus only by moving the camera closer or further away. Both methods have their advantages and drawbacks so I had to experiment a little with both to get a good feel for it.
And here are a few of the best pictures that came out.
Pretty clever.
