Hello Folks,
I would like to upgrade my web camera, which is a cheap camera I picked up a while back. Does anyone have any suggestions on brand, style? How are web cams mounted for beauty shots, inside shooting out a window or are there specially made web cams that can be placed outside in the elements?
Any info would be great.
For cost and ease of handling I highly recommend the Logitech Pro 4000/5000
Have one of each and they are both outstanding…
-Bob
Thanks Bob, checked out the 5000 at tigerdirect and for $65 I just might have to pick one up. Thanks for the info. :thumbright:
My 4000 is providing this image:
http://jaxweather.net/WeatherImages/WD/webcamimage.jpg
It has been running about 3 years now…
The 5000 is this image:
http://jaxweathercam.net/WebCam2/webcamimage.jpg
The size difference is due to the machines I have them hooked to.
The color on the 5000 is good it is just the way the light reflects this time of day…
I like em both.
I also have a Microsoft VX-6000 here:
http://jaxweathercam.net/WebCam/webcamimage.jpg
I personally prefer the Logitechs…
-Bob
Well, here is my stupid question of the day :roll:, are you shooting the cameras out through a window or are they mounted outside?
The 4000 is inside a window. The 5000 and the MS 6000 are both mounted outside under eaves but with no enclosure…
-Bob
I also use Logitech Pro 5000 and have it mounted in a box I made fom plywood and some spare glass. Then covered it with roofing felt.
As mine is in the sun for part of the day I had to put a couple of vents in it and paint it white to stop the condensation on the inside of the glass.
The side panel comes off to allow access and I just run a new bead of sealer around it when I put it back on again.
The camera also has a “Low Light” feature which works quite well. 
The results can be seen here: http://www.hebrides-photos.com/weathervideo.htm
This the box in it’s original form:
Budgie & Jax,
Thanks for the info and the links. You two gave me some good ideas, now the only problem is figuring out how to get my camera working correctly and how to create the time lapse video. :scratch:
Martin, If you have some spare time, can I trouble you for some help on creating a weather video. I tried poking around the “All Day Video” on the Web Cam screen with no luck. Any info on what needs to be check off to create the video and which files needed to be upload would be greatly appreciated. I would love to create something like what you have done.
there are some good FAQ’s in the FAQ section on the all day video creation/setup
Dan,
As Brian has said, the FAQ is the way to go. I used THIS FAQ to help me setup the video for my site. Just follow it through and you should be fine, if you get any problems then just ask and we’ll try to point you in the right direct.
On your site I would start with some buttons that just link to the .wav files so they open in the viewer’s own default movie media program. The problem I have with the embeded video on the page I posted above is that it doesn’t work in some browsers so I’ve left the buttons there just in case.
If you want to use the embeded stuff later then I can point you in the direction of the Dreaweaver tutorial I used.
Ok, upgraded to the Pro 5000 and the picture is 100% better. I am still having an issue when the image is saved. For some reason when my computer saves a new image, it will not update to a new image. So I will have hours of the same image. I can go to the Web Cam Capture vers 6.9 page and select SAVE and that will restart the saving of new images. I have the time lapse video on my home page to check out.
Any one have any ideas why this is happening :?? I am using Windows XP, Logitech Pro 5000
make sure you leave the wdwebcamcapture.exe running all the time and the switch is on in the file save setup screen
Yup, got the “File Create On” button on along with the “On” button above the “Start” button. I also leave the wdwebcamcapture.exe running while my computer is on. I do turn the computer off at night and then fire it back on in the morning. Do I need to leave the computer on 24/7?
Dan…
I don’t think it should matter about running 24 X 7 or not but I do so have no first hand knowledge with not running 24 X 7…
How often is the camera image freezing, not being updated?
Have you checked the time stamp on your local webcamimage file to see if it isn’t updating or isn’t getting uploaded.
If the time stamp says the file is recent but you are seeing an old image on your web site your browser may be cacheing the image…
The more details the more likely we can help 
Good deal on the 5000, tis a great camera IMHO I like it better then the MicroSoft VX-6000…
-Bob
Are you saving the timestamped images in a seperate file within WD or in the WD’s webfiles folder?
If you’re saving them in the webfiles folder then try creating a new folder and saving them to that.
The only problem I’ve had is the video stopping at the same time even though it was uploading a new video every hour. It turned out that one of the timestamped images was causing it to stop as the PC had crashed at that time.
I deleted all the timestamped images in the webcamimage file and let it start afresh, that seemed to sort the problem.
a good debug is the moviemakerlog.txt
what does that show ?
(for if doing all day video updating)
To start, thanks for all your help. I know you all have better things to do than to listen to me go crazy. Thank you.
I do save all my timestamped images in my WD’s webfile, and check to see if it is saving new images by going to the folder itself, not my website. I would have to imagine that it will freezes up about twice a day, and if I don’t resave my web cam settings it will stay frozen.
Windy, here is a portion of the txt file from moviemaker. I don’t know what to look for. In the mean time I will delete all my web cam images to clean out any corrupted files.
Will create last day video
Time/Date: 7:56:43 PM 8/11/2007
Filename for the source time stamed files :jpgwebcam.jpg
Directory set for the time stamped file :C:\Program Files\wdisplay\webfiles
Deleting file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\0000jpgwebcam.jpg
Deleting file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\0001jpgwebcam.jpg
File date =08/11/07 now date 08/11/07
copying file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\webfiles\1955jpgwebcam.jpg to C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\1955jpgwebcam.jpg
File date =08/11/07 now date 08/11/07
copying file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\webfiles\1956jpgwebcam.jpg to C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\1956jpgwebcam.jpg
Starting movie creation now
Doing final part
recording completed
Doing all day now
running bat file now C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\encodenew2.bat
checking option to upload file :yes
checking to see when to upload file
checking for file: C:\Program Files\wdisplay\finish.txt
checking for file: C:\Program Files\wdisplay\finish.txt
found and deleting file: C:\Program Files\wdisplay\finish.txt
executing the ftpupd.exe program now and closing
File date =08/11/07 now date 08/11/07 copying file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\webfiles\1955jpgwebcam.jpg to C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\1955jpgwebcam.jpg File date =08/11/07 now date 08/11/07 copying file C:\Program Files\wdisplay\webfiles\1956jpgwebcam.jpg to C:\Program Files\wdisplay\alldayvideo\1956jpgwebcam.jpg
are those files OK and current/up to date, that are being copied to the all dayvideo folder?
Yes sir, they are the same images being copied from \wdisplay\webfiles to \wdisplay\alldayvideo, at least from what I can tell. I will delete all images in both files before I turn in tonight and restart it new tomorrow morning.