High-Resolution Weather Cam

[Sebec]

Ok, I have written my own Olympus digicam camera controller.  You can check it out at www.SebecTec.com or the easy to remember www.WickedGoodWebcam.com  My goal was to make it easy to use.  It has the capability for on/off times that correspond to local sunrise and sunset throughout the year.
-Mike

[niko]

This software may be of interest to our members but you should mention that you are selling it. Please don't spam our forum with multiple postings, we ban spammers. Thanks!

Ok, I have written my own Olympus digicam camera controller.  You can check it out at www.SebecTec.com or the easy to remember www.WickedGoodWebcam.com  My goal was to make it easy to use.  It has the capability for on/off times that correspond to local sunrise and sunset throughout the year.
-Mike

[TokKiwi]

I have tried it out and works well for a semi-old Olympus C750UZ and also all the sister variants of the 3-4yo vintages.  It may work with some newer Olys but used a non manual written back-door entry into the camera with the memory door switch and a two button combination.

Now the camera has 10x optical zoom and 4Mpxl, - the software recognises the max range and provides the full range in the registered version.  It also has an FTP module and a text overlay feature.  I'm not sure what full operating features it has over camera control, ie film speed, aperture control etc, but it worked well with one minute snaps.  It does not do streaming video.  It can go as fast as 2 sec snaps I think (camera USB1 limitation), Michael reported doing a 7sec sequence on one other camera.  I think the software is particular to camera manufacturer - ie Olympus and only certain models. The software is cheap still at US$50.

I now have a second C750UZ Oly for a cheap trade on a NZ Trade-Me equiv of EBay for around US$30 - the rear LCD screen was not working.  So my next project is underway - 360 pan and 25deg tilt camera box for remote control... for weather watch at home - a third camera!  I am also getting another PC to cover this and the Lightning radar project, both sited in the garage soon - both equipment sets above the roof there.

TK

[Sebec]

Niko, sorry about that.   

[PSJohn]

Anyone want to recommend an outdoor enclosure for these Olympus cameras?

[TokKiwi]

The camera is quite "weighty" and solid.  I am mounting mine in an electrical Junction Box - moulded fibreglass style with a clear ABS front panel.  I will also fit a PC PS fan at 7.5vdc and three resistors at 20V for 20W heating/demisting as I have done before for my externally roof mounted logitech.  You can see the effect of the heating circuit on this image - the red line and has 10degC bumps over a three hour period at morning and evening. There is also an ambient temp cold switch in series with the timer - if ambient is hot it won't come on.

http://inmanavenue.com/extrarealtimegraph.gif

Later I hope to have a pan and possibly tilt operation and drive the whole box around, so I need it large enough for bits inside and small enough to use servo motor drives to aim it.  Also the cables both attach to the camera at the same port side door (6.5vdc supply and the small USB cable).  Hopefully it is 8" wide x 6" high and 4" deep, ie 200 x 150 x 100mm.

I will post more when I have the equipment.

TK

[southfreo]

Anyone want to recommend an outdoor enclosure for these Olympus cameras?

I've mounted an Oly SP-350, looks similair dimensions. You can use a Halogen light for a cheap option. Been there for 2 years now through rain,hail and shine (not so much hail). Which is more than I can say for my 1-wire setup which seems now be unreliable for wind/direction.


Lots on install details here http://members.iinet.net.au/~kevinbruton/thisstation.html


Whilst I'm here I'll mention one more thing, the laptop which originally ran the config, seemed to have a fan which died frequently, so I used VMware copypc program to copy the complete PC to a VM image, now it runs on my media center quite happily in the background.

The VM configuration is very cool, as I was having issues with WD (invalid gif image), tried for hours to fix it, then thought, hey I've got a snapshop of the image, let's try that. 5 minutes later, back up and running. VM windows is better than normal windows IMHO. I was tempted to move it over to my iMac where my other VM images run which is also a very good option if you want a Mac version of WD.

[TokKiwi]

I have found in our very high humidity and damp climate, that we need to absorb moisture with silica gel crystals (Damp-Rid or similar for cupboards/wardrobes) and have it heated with three resistors and a 20Vac power supply and PC fan - all on a timer and temp control in series.  The camera box front face gets frosted over so the heater comes on three hours before daylight.

The new box has not arrived - one did but was unusable for the purpose, also the heater resistors are not here either.

It will be running within the next week or so.

[TokKiwi]

Well I have a temporary siting for the camera still in the garage looking West over the fields, an in between angle to both previous webcams, but there is a real improvement in image quality.  I will soon hope to increase this image size with the registered software.  My junction box/webcam box arrived and needed returning as it was not as advertised. The next size up is still on indent.  Most other pieces are ready for it though.



http://www.inmanavenue.com/webcam.html

Sigh... everything seems to take so long...

I'm not sure if the ftp process is working on sequence or not... hmmm

If it is, there shoul be a new image there about midday for those in the US.

<Edit>  Oh bother, the focus was on auto and struggled after sunset, I'll have to trysetting up the focus on manual tomorrow.

Fixed now... (Wed)

OOPS! Many, many thanks to arthurhh for donating not one but 2 PC's - the first was stalled by the other function the Lightning Radar "Engine" which is very demanding, but this 2GHz Celeron just eats the workload!!  Many thanks again Arthur...
 
</Edit>


Also thanks too to Michael for his homemade software from Sebectec.com that controls the camera and FTP functions very well!  Especially for making almost obsolete digicameras come back to life!  This one - an Olympus C750UZ - has lost both the LCD screen and the CRT viewfinder.

I aim in the future planning to mount it above the garage roof and have it panning and tilting some (upwards) and possibly later as an internet adjustable feature... intentionally looking at the sky and clouds.
TK

[weatherc]

Inspired of this thread and also in need of a new webcam and with the luck to find a cheap used cam from local actionsite i took the challenge of this.
For the price (50 eur), what is much less than what a resonable normal webcam cost here, i got a Canon PowerShot A80 (4 mpix). Took just few minutes to get the Canon's RemoteCapture to work and take images on a testground so that was really easy. After twiggling a bit about where/how to seat it its now there and must just say WOW, what a difference.  

Overlay and weatherdata is plotted by a php-script called with a rewrite-rule in htaccess-file so when visitor call the .jpg it is resent to the php instead.

Result:


 

[cmcgill]

Your webcam looks great.  Congratulations.  Using a digital camera is the only way to go.

[Bashy]

Inspired of this thread and also in need of a new webcam and with the luck to find a cheap used cam from local actionsite i took the challenge of this.
For the price (50 eur), what is much less than what a resonable normal webcam cost here, i got a Canon PowerShot A80 (4 mpix).

Hi m8

I would be really interested to see a night shot of a clear sky, i.e. can it show the stars in the image?

[weatherc]

Hi m8

I would be really interested to see a night shot of a clear sky, i.e. can it show the stars in the image?

Hi Bashy!

Don't know about the starts yet as it isn't totally dark here at night yet but here is one from last night with moon, taken at 02.23 local time (The cam has moved tonight to better place)



Henkka

[Bashy]

Hi Henkka, thanks for the image, thats a great shot...

[TokKiwi]

Well done Henkka!  The Canons were the other route to take and the software was already available for them. That is a lovely shot of the clouds and of the night sky too.  I found I needed a good quality USB2 cable for the camera connection - this is an active cable too, despite the camera only needing USB1 - and the comms speed is now much improved, (less delays from commands to preview picture) and the signal for the manual focus system is now working where it didn't before.

Graeme