Greetings all! My weather station has been running with the Olympus C-4000Z as my High-resolution webcam for more than 5 years now 24x7, using the VM95 remote capture software. Over the years I’ve had some stunning captures and it’s always nice to have a 4 Megapixel image and the good low-noise night capture too that is only possible with a digital still camera.
My Colorado Rocky Mountain views are gone and now I am in the process of relocating my entire weather station out to Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, WA. I have a great view of the water and Mt. Baker in the distance and want to set up the high resolution camera again. But it’s not so easy… This time I need to locate the camera a bit further from the PC than the USB-extender would allow and I need to locate it on the roof (in the weather). This has caused me to stumble in need of a new solution.
Since more than 5 years have passed, the technology of cameras and networking has accelerated (not to mention smart phones). There are now low-cost digital still cameras with 12 Mpixels with built-in WiFi. There are WiFi enabled SD cards for most any camera and there are plenty of low-cost smart phones with excellent cameras that can run their own FTP apps and connect directly to the WiFi.
Before I go build a big weather-tight box for my aging old Olympus and try to figure out how to get power and USB connections to my roof, I wonder if anyone could suggest some new, more up-to-date options for solving this problem. (I don’t want to use an “IP Security camera” since they are all suffer from poor still photo resolution.) I do want to continue using a digital still camera with all their excellent control, high quality and low noise images. I have some budget for new gear, but need to keep it reasonable. Suggestions anyone?
How about some build-examples that are placed outdoors using a digital still camera?
I wanted to attach an example photo taken from the target location for the new camera, but the 400kb limit won’t allow it. Would love to capture these at more than 4 Megapixels. See example here: http://www.coupevilleweather.com/
Thanks!
David
EDIT: Oh, I forgot to ask if anyone has successfully attached a “GoPro” camera as a weather cam? They now have a WiFi mode and a nice waterproof case.
What would the PC-cam distance be? Would it be worth trying a USB-Cat5 extender? The less expensive ones are only USB 1.1 but that may be OK for the Olympus.
Hi 2 Wheeler instead of a go pro try the 808#16 key cam, it has HD, built in time lapse, video out different lens etc here’s the link http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1777846 I have three of these little things. There is a lot of reading on this website, if you want to buy one use the links on the web site because there is a lot of fakes out there, hope this helps.
Thanks for all the kind replies. The point of using the Digital Still Camera is the high quality still images. I don’t want to use a webcam (even HD ones) since they are designed for video quality and their still image quality can not compare to even a cheap pocket digital still camera. The sample picture was actually taken with my smart phone! Here is an example of a lunar eclipse that was automatically captured from my rusty old Olympus and posted to my weather page… http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/6489463891/in/set-72157600077378070/lightbox/
The distance from PC to camera is now about 100 feet, (30M) if I were to string a Cat-6 USB extender cable. I think this is approaching the distance limit for these USB extenders. This might be possible, but running the cable through the very old house will present some problems. I can do it, if nothing more modern or wireless presents itself. Ideally, I would like to connect using WiFi and power the camera with a battery and solar panel so it is completely wireless. If anyone has done a wireless camera hack, I’d like to hear about it.
I would also like to hear about construction ideas for weatherproofing the camera in a way that still allows power and connectivity.
Here is another company that has developed controlling software for the Olympus SP500UZ digital still cameras to use them as a webcam: http://sebectec.com/
Here is an example webcam using this camera/system live: http://www.skunkbayweather.com/SkunkBayWebcam.html
It looks like the current still image size is 1920x1080 (2.1 Mpixel), but could probably be much higher.
I’m also using Sebectec Software in-line with an Olympus SP-500UZ digital camera. Using an older digital camera in my opinion is the only way to go. Although the SP-500 is a 6MB image, it’s outstanding quality, and as someone said before it does bring to life an older camera that might otherwise be in a drawer somewhere.
The Sebectec softare is pretty straight-forward, but I’ve not been able to find much documentation for it. But I will say that I’ve emailed Mike (The Author) and he’s quick to respond to any issues/question that I may have had. I’m not sure if the Sebectec software will work with any other Olympus models other than the SP500 and I believe the C4000 ( I could be wrong on this model).
The camera is in a housing mounted on the NW corner of my house facing the lower end of the Appalachian Mountains, near the start of the Appalachain Trail. It’s attached to my computer via a 100 foot run of CAT5 cable with USB extenders on each end. I’ve had this paticular setup mounted outside since last October or so without any issues.
The software will allow you to do Long Exposures of each image during the night (automatically) of up to 60 seconds in the setup options if you’d like. I’m not doing it, as I believe my camera may not be set up properly, but I’m running tests on another SP-500 that I have and if all goes well, I’ll replace the camera in-line that I have now with the test camera on the bench. The long exposures allow me to follow the movement of the stars, etc in a time lapse movie the software produces each night.
@Jim: Your camera looks great. Yes, I like using the long exposures at night too. VM95+C4000z also enables this. Be sure to set the camera’s long-exposure noise reduction on. It’s great that you can go 100 feet on the CAT5, I will start down that path as soon as I get my enclosure built. What are you using for the camera enclosure?
-David
Its actually a housing I got from Mike at Sebectec.com for the SP-500.
I was hoping to get in it today and swap out SP-500’s but I never got around to it. Maybe tomorrow. I want to get the long exposure shots working before the Spring time storms come in. During the long exposures the night-time lightning shots across the mountains are really nice to see! Here’s one from last summer.
Although a bit “grainy”, the software has been updated numerous times since the shot I posted back last July and Mike addresses these Noise issues in the software, but like I said earlier, the documentation is very limited on “How To”, but once you mess around with the settings, you can kind of get a feel for it. One thing that the photo shows is that it’s not very sharp. Keep in mind that it’s dark out, and probably was a 50 second exposure or so. So, since the lightning strike, clouds may have moved across the area a bit dulling the area where the strike occurred in the frame. During the time lapse movie, you cant even tell
Also, I need to point out that I was using a “Home Made” housing which was a basic conduit box. I used a 1 1/2" hole saw for the lens and a 3" round piece of glass from an old picture frame. I then used Gorilla Glue to secure the glass inside the box (let it set up for a few days) and the silicone along the edges inside and out to keep out moisture. I drilled a 1"hole in the botton for routing cables in and out of the box for Power and CAT5. I threw in some dry packs and sealed it up. All was well for a few months until cracks developed in my silicone and I had issues. The only reason I can thing of for the cracks is possibly that I didn’t use silicone that was UV rated?
Jim, If you turn on the camera’s noise reduction it will remove those white speckles:
Top menu [MODE MENU] [CAMERA] [NOISE REDUCTION] [ON] / [OFF]
With my 4000z, this setting is “forgotten” when there is any power loss, so it has to be reactivated each time you turn the camera back on, which can be annoying if the camera is boxed up outside somewhere. But it really helps improve the images.
Hi 2-Wheeler
I have also been using the VM95 software for a few years now - works a treat. The camera attached is an Olympus C-765, and I enjoy the high resolution photos. My camera is placed inside the attic window, so occasionally if there is a large moon, this will cause reflections due to the 3-glas windows.
I made a housing for the camera to be used outdoors. I took an ordinary halogen outdoor lamp, took away the bulb and even the metal reflector, and placed the camera inside instead. There is already a rubber-nippled hole for the wiring, and the front glas is hinged with a rubber gasket that will keep it all waterproof. I can send a few snaps if you wish.
All the best,
Kjell
What a great idea. I have already built an enclosure for my old Olympus and now am struggling to run the 15 meters of CAT5 cables through the walls of this old house. I hope to get the camera mounted as soon as I can complete the wiring. For now it is running in a temporary position on my desk, looking out the window. http://www.coupevilleweather.com/Weather/weathercam.jpg
-David
H
Thanks for all the help. I finally got everything installed and working. The USB extender seems happy enough over the very long CAT5e cable to my roof. The aging Olympus is still taking great high definition images. I ended up using a water-proof electrical box with a cut-out and window to mount the camera. It survived the first rain storm, so it seems to be holding so far. I can’t attach a full-size image due to the 400kb upload limit for this site, but you can see actual live images at my weather page: http://www.coupevilleweather.com
You have a nice view from there! I wish I had some equally as beautiful to show on my cams. My cams do 1080p pics/video but I severely diminish the quality because for 1, there’s nothing THAT interesting to see, and 2, to save on bandwidth.
This piqued my interest as I have a C765 ‘resting’ in a drawer.
I was disappointed the VM95 software won’t work on Windows 7 though, any alternatives out there?
I do have an elderly XP tower I could try it on and it could be run during interesting episodes.
