Thursday, May 1, 2008

Buying a New Webcam

After experimenting around with my first table revision, I realized that my camera had to go. It was a USB 1.0 connection, and the delay was pretty much unbearable. From the nuigroup forums, it looked like there was two firewire cameras that were commonly used for multi-touch projects. There is the Unibrain Fire-i™ which runs for about $120 and the Firefly® MV for about $300. I got the Unibrain Fire-i. Now that the USB 1.0 is gone and replaced by firewire the delay is almost unnoticeable. Another plus to the Unibrain Fire-i is that it worked on OS X without the Macam driver. It certainly was more expensive, but the upgrade was much needed. If anyone else is interested, I would definitely recommend this camera, but be warned that the lens comes with an infrared block coating that cannot be removed without damaging the lens. I ended up buying a replacement lens, being really careful to note that it did not block IR.

2 Comments:

Blogger Bill said...

Hello Bridger,

What lens did you go with. I'm having a hard time deciding on the focal length. I would rather going with something that is known to work.

Thanks

June 6, 2008 8:12 AM  
Blogger Bridgeyman said...

I used the regular lens (http://www.1394store.com/eshop/product.asp?pf%5Fid=2043&dept%5Fid=56). I am going to try the wide angle lens though. Probably ordering that today.

June 10, 2008 1:08 PM  

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