web cam versus digital camera

[dmehling]

I need to determine the best imaging method for my book scanning robot.  Up to this point I have been thinking of using a standard digital camera to capture the images.  However I realized with the limited battery life and storage capacity of a standard camera, I would have to purchase an additional AC adapter and use a camera capture software program which usually only works with higher end cameras.  All in all the cost would be at least $400 but probably closer to $500.  It seems reasonable that I could probably get a decent web cam at a lower price that could give me a good enough quality image.  Most of the web cams I have looked at have a 1.3 megapixel capability but with software enhancement can take a picture of about five or six megapixels.  Would I be able to record a fairly good image of a page so the text is legible?

[Gertlex]

I'm assuming you're a library of some sort... One bet in general would be to do some testing with a webcam in someone else's posession. Perhaps the library owns such already... perhaps there's a nearby university that has well equipped labs that a friend could get you into?

I've never heard of this reprogramming of webcams to get 4 to 5 times the megapixels o_O

Keep looking around the internet too for any sort of software that can be used to sync a camera that is plugged into a computer and taking pictures, storing them directly on a hard drive.

Google has a partnership with various universities to digitize their libraries (one example is the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor).  Contacting people at these libraries might be helpful too.

[Tsukubadaisei]

The number of megapixels in a camera is determined by the number of photosensors inside it, i.e., it is hardware. There is no way of increasing it unless you change your camera. However, if you are experienced enough you can program an AI to translate the blur letter in the real letter given you have enough samples and constants(like lightning, distance, shape of the printed letters). good luck

[dmehling]

If a Web camera won't cut it, what are some other options?  It would be really great if I could have a low cost camera that could be controlled by a computer, and each image would be automatically uploaded after it has been taken.  There are programs for controlling cameras but they are almost exclusively designed for DSLRs which are too expensive and too powerful for my needs.

[Soeren]

Hi,


Perhaps you should check out some IP cams. They come in a variety of resolutions, can usually be controlled in various ways (locally or via a browser (or both).
IP stands for Internet Protocol and they need to have their own IP number of course, since they're like a web server.

[Robotboy86]

or.

Get a capture card, and an actual camera.

Boom, done

[JonHylands]

I believe RoboRealm can take snapshots (from a webcam) and save them to disk.

http://www.roborealm.com

- Jon

[Tsukubadaisei]

I believe RoboRealm can take snapshots (from a webcam) and save them to disk.

http://www.roborealm.com

- Jon

My webcam cames with a software to take snapshots and save them. I think all webcams have this feature.

[Admin]

I own a Cybershot digicam I bought 3 years ago for $150, it can do 3 megapixels which is more than sufficient for taking high res pics of book pages, and my $70 4GB memory card can do 3 straight hours of video, or 5000 3mp pics . . .

I use two 2500mAh Ni-MH batteries that will last for at least one hour straight of video (much longer actually, but Ive never tried to see how long).