High-Resolution Weather Cam

Check out the new FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) board for a growing list of hints, tips and diagnostic suggestions.

[darrell110]

I just replaced my Logitech weather cam, with a used, "broken" Olympus 4MP camera I found on eBay. It is broken in that the LCD on the back does not work (but who cares when it is a weather cam).

I cannot believe the results!  I do lose the ability to have a live, streaming camera, but I gain resolution and unbelievable low-light capabilities. At night, when it is cloudy (and the light pollution from the city is refelected back) it looks like daytime on the camera.

I am also experimenting the compression on the time-lapse videos. Now that so many people have broadband internet access, I'm making the videos a bit larger for better quality.

View the camera here: http://itsyourweather.com

Darrell

[daveq]

Darrell, I just get a red X placekeeper.

How are you controlling the camera?  ie taking a picture every X minutes.

--Dave

[darrell110]

A red X?  Scary.  The image is being served up locally (from the weather station) but the rest of the site is being hosted by a service provider. Can you check it again?  Maybe refresh a few times in case the station was busy doing something else?

The camera is taking an image every minute. Image Salsa is then adding text to the image and saving it. Movie Salsa is used for the time lapse movies.

Darrell

[niko]

Works OK for me, nice image but I just wonder what your neighbors think 

[anchorageweather]

I just replaced my Logitech weather cam, with a used, "broken" Olympus 4MP camera I found on eBay. It is broken in that the LCD on the back does not work (but who cares when it is a weather cam).

I cannot believe the results!  I do lose the ability to have a live, streaming camera, but I gain resolution and unbelievable low-light capabilities. At night, when it is cloudy (and the light pollution from the city is refelected back) it looks like daytime on the camera.

I am also experimenting the compression on the time-lapse videos. Now that so many people have broadband internet access, I'm making the videos a bit larger for better quality.

View the camera here: http://itsyourweather.com

Darrell

Darrell:

Wow, the stills look great!!  However, my media player could not download the correct codec for the time lapse video.  Do you know where I can go to get the codec?

[darrell110]

I just wonder what your neighbors think 

The neighbors don't know.  My older camera, I pointed at the sky and the camera could only see the roof of the houses. As soon as I find a better mount, I will do the same with this camera. However, at this angle, I do like seeing the snow pile up and melt.

No special codec is needed. It is standard, Windows Media.  I'm not sure what the problem is.

[daveq]

A red X?  Scary.  Can you check it again? 

Couldn't get back to you earlier and sorry for the scare.  It gave me the placeholder in IE6 at work but works fine in FF at home.  Nice and clear.  But... how are you getting it to take a picture every minute.  I have an old 1.3 MP that takes very good pictures but don't have a way to trigger it remotely.

--Dave

[darrell110]

From what I understand, there are only a handful of cameras that can be controlled by a computer. The software I am using is called VM95. It is free, and can be found here: http://www.video-monitoring.com/hobbyist.htm

I have only been using it for about a week, but I am really happy with it. It has had no problems, and the weather station is only a 800 MHz Pentium III, running WD, VM95, and the Salsas.

[daveq]

Well I do have a C5050 but don't think I'll be mounting that outside.  The older Olympus I have doesn't appear to be supported.

Thanks for the info.

--Dave

[niko]

What model is the older olympus? 

[daveq]

My daughter has it right now and I can't remember the model number.  Only know it is 1.3 MP at the moment.

--Dave

Edit:  Just remembered I had the box for it.  It's a D-360L.

[darrell110]

Mine is the C4000. It is NOT mounted outside. Just looking out a window.

[niko]

My daughter has it right now and I can't remember the model number.  Only know it is 1.3 MP at the moment.

--Dave

Edit:  Just remembered I had the box for it.  It's a D-360L.

Quite a few software options here. These two (and probably more) http://www.pinetreecomputing.com/camctl.asp  http://www.sabsik.com/Cam2Com/ appear to support the d360l (but aren't free).

[weatheroz]

I just replaced my Logitech weather cam, with a used, "broken" Olympus 4MP camera I found on eBay. It is broken in that the LCD on the back does not work (but who cares when it is a weather cam).

I've got my old Canon Pro90-IS camera sitting around here doing nothing much at all, and I've thought that I should extract my digit and chase up this software and see if I can get it to work with my camera, as I've already got the Salsa's here to do the rest.

[daveq]

Quite a few software options here. These two (and probably more) http://www.pinetreecomputing.com/camctl.asp  http://www.sabsik.com/Cam2Com/ appear to support the d360l (but aren't free).

I've been to steves-digicams quite a few times but nerve looked at the software.  Both you found look like they'll do what I want.  IF I can find the serial to video cable that came with the camera. 

Thanks for the info!

--Dave