Garrett

I'm looking to buy a few cameras for some installation work I'm making and I need the cameras to be flexible for a variety of needs from just capturing video to motion tracking etc. I'm thinking of just buying some dv cameras on ebay but I really don't need them to have lcd screens or a tape deck so am wondering if there are any cameras out there that might work out cheaper or the same price but be more flexible for lens etc. Can any one recommend any cameras?

I'm looking to buy a few cameras for some installation work I'm making and I need the cameras to be flexible for a variety of needs from just capturing video to motion tracking etc.  I'm thinking of just buying some dv cameras on ebay but I really don't need them to have lcd screens or a tape deck so am wondering if there are any cameras out there that might work out cheaper or the same price but be more flexible for lens etc.  Can any one recommend any cameras?

cameras-for-jitter-work

An intriguing new option for low-cost webcam for Jitter is the PS3eye camera made by Sony. It requires installing the latest Macam drivers on Mac, but otherwise appears to work really well for a $40 USB2 camera. The picture is consistently clear in a variety of lighting situations and there seems to be a growing community of people using and modifying these cameras for CV and interactive video applications. Another interesting feature of these cameras is the 4-mic array that is available as a 4-channel input to your system. Seems pretty hackable. I've only tested on Mac, so YMMV on Windows.

Aside from that, offerings from 1394store and ImagingSource are known to perform well, and can accept a wide variety of lenses, and you might be able to get cheap consumer-grade webcams to do a passable job with the right drivers.

An intriguing new option for low-cost webcam for Jitter is the PS3eye camera made by Sony.  It requires installing the latest Macam drivers on Mac, but otherwise appears to work really well for a $40 USB2 camera.  The picture is consistently clear in a variety of lighting situations and there seems to be a growing community of people using and modifying these cameras for CV and interactive video applications. Another interesting feature of these cameras is the 4-mic array that is available as a 4-channel input to your system.  Seems pretty hackable.  I've only tested on Mac, so YMMV on Windows.
Aside from that, offerings from 1394store and ImagingSource are known to perform well, and can accept a wide variety of lenses, and you might be able to get cheap consumer-grade webcams to do a passable job with the right drivers.

Thanks for the suggestions. The PS3eye camera is a little cheaper than the second hand sony dcr I was looking at, nice and compact/discreet but this has me worried:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=753086

and its only 640 x 480 as far as I can see. Imagingsource is way out of my budget unfortunately.

Thanks for the suggestions.  The PS3eye camera is a little cheaper than the second hand sony dcr I was looking at, nice and compact/discreet but this has me worried:

and its only 640 x 480 as far as I can see.  Imagingsource is way out of my budget unfortunately.

If you use mac, you will be able to connect only one DV cam on it. Apple support only one DV device through Firewire (driver issue)

Just to worn you in case you will use more then one DV cam.

If you use mac, you will be able to connect only one DV cam on it. Apple support only one DV device through Firewire (driver issue)
Just to worn you in case you will use more then one DV cam.


That's a good point which had slipped my mind! I'm mainly going to be using the cameras for separate works on separate computers but I think a combination of firewire and usb cameras might give me the most flexibility for future works. Thanks.

That's a good point which had slipped my mind!  I'm mainly going to be using the cameras for separate works on separate computers but I think a combination of firewire and usb cameras might give me the most flexibility for future works.  Thanks.

So I've bought an PS3 Eye Toy on Andrews advice. It's not bad, quality is not as good as an iSight but seems better than the DV cam I was using (in terms of colour quality, noise etc. - not video size).

Anyway it was easy to get working but I'm getting this error:

CoreAudio: WARNING: An audio device has been added or removed to the system. You may need to restart MaxMSP.

Anyone had this and know how to eliminate it?

So I've bought an PS3 Eye Toy on Andrews advice.  It's not bad, quality is not as good as an iSight but seems better than the DV cam I was using (in terms of colour quality, noise etc. - not video size).

CoreAudio: WARNING: An audio device has been added or removed to the system.  You may need to restart MaxMSP.

Anyone had this and know how to eliminate it?  

Cameras for jitter work