Designing new light, projector mount, and camera for table

For the wall mount camera, I ordered a 32' version of that USB cable with the built in repeater. (the ceiling mount camera was 24'). It worked with the Mokose body, but not with the ELP body. I ordered a charger to attach to the cable (it did not come with it), and that made it work with the ELP body. As soon as I disconnect the charger, the camera goes dead.

If anyone gets one of these repeater USB cables, I'd get the charger with it right off the batt for extra chances it will work with whichever camera you have.

I actually wonder if any of these cameras are available with ethernet connections only. The USB cable is quite bulky.
 
I really wanted this 4mm prime lens to work, but I just could not get it to work with either body. I think the size it makes the table is just right. IDK what type of body it's made for. I guess I'll put it in the return bin.
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This picture looks good, the lens the body came with.
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For fun, I zoomed in to the max on that 2 ball. Its is so clear. There could be a camera like this right over the rack to check for gaps. Optical zoom is really nice to have.
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Edit: the 4mm lens does work with the Mokose body. I think I like this. Straight off the camera, no filters to correct the distortion. It focuses well on the entire table.
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I don't like the glare on the end rail. Here is a mousepad just to try a matte black material. Super nice improvement. Maybe in the future I'll cover the end rail with some flat black vinyl to try.
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I thought the table might be a hair too bright. Here I adjusted the iris closed a bit. Maybe this is better? I'm colorblind, so I don't know the right colors. But this blue looks better I think? And the center of the table does not look as bright?

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1 min video showing the iris moving. Skip ahead to 25 sec, the time before is me climbing the ladder.
 
Next up is the PCB camera. It was pricey at $106 but I decided to give it a try since it claimed a 110deg FOV and no distortion. It's 4k, but over USB2, not USB3, which confused me. No microphone on this camera.

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This thing is small! Would make a good candidate for an integrated 3D printed mount plus camera to sell for pool tables.
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I mounted this with masking tape as best I could for a few min to try.
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The FOV is HUGE.
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This is 44" from the slate. Yes some distortion, but wow, if you have a very low basement ceiling, this might be the ticket.
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15 sec youtube clip of mounted to ceiling. I think the ball I'm throwing speeds up towards the middle and end of its path. That could be the lens distortion if it's actually happening and not my eyes playing trick on me. I promise, the table is level.


10 sec video of cam at 44in from slate. Sorry, I had to hold it against a long ruler and kick the balls with my feet;) Quality looks good. I do think I see the ball speeding up again.
 
FYI, my ceiling is 72" from the slate. All the lenses sit a few inches below that due to the various mounting methods and camera body/lens sizes. My ceiling from the floor is 9'. My table is on blocks to elevate it 4.5".
 
Next I decided to go the "normal" webcam devices at 4k. With autofocus. I actually could not find a 4K one with manual focus. Maybe they improved enough over the years and they are now good enough.

First up:
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It came with something that looks like a calibrating device. I didn't bother with any of it. I think OBS completely ignores any camera specific drivers and just takes the raw video feed. I'm not sure on that, but it sounds good to me:)
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It mounted nicely:
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The focus is good. Lines slightly arched. FOV about perfect. Some grainyness.
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20 sec video. Quality seems ok but grainy. I do think the industrial cameras from a couple weeks ago were better quality. Focus and white balance hunting when my body got in the frame was not too bad, I could live with it. This camera has a mic, and the sound was not in sync. IDK why. Might be an OBS thing?

I found a sound sync offset, and calcuationed it a 233 miliscioncs by counting the frames in iMovie. Here is a 5 sec clip with the sound now synced. So that's good, if I run into this problem again, I can solve it.
1 sec video with good sync:
 
I'm actually getting sick of testing these cameras. I bought way too many. I have to do the returns by tomorrow so I'm trying to finish them tonight. I might just end up returning all of them, including the ones I have not opened yet, as I'm running out of time. Maybe just keep 1 of the industrial ones.
 
Logitech Brio next:
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The noise on this seems to be by far the best of the webcams I've tested thus far. About as good as the industrial cameras imo. Focus really sharp. But lines are curved.
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15 sec video. I actually like the quality. Focus, pixelation, is all excellent. Just the curved lines. Also the auto sync issue back, so I guess its something with OBS.
 
I just plugged that logictech camera with the USB cable it shipped with directly into the computer. The sound sync seemed better. Maybe still a hair off.

The cameras have all been going from the camera, to the USB cable they came with, then to the 20 foot extension USB cable, then to a USB hub on my desk, then to the computer.

5 second video:
 
2 more cameras I think...

This one had a big lens.
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Biggest lens of the webcams. Maybe even bigger than the one industrial camera that had a separate lens.
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This looks great! Focus very sharp, lines almost straight. FOV a lot, prob more than I want, but might be good for mechanics.
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20 sec video. The balls look great! Maybe my favorite of all cameras thus far? Even though they are far away, I can really tell which ball is which. The sound is awful. I think the mic has some built in stuff that is messing with the sound. I think with any of these cameras, I might get a separate mic anyway and hang it somewhere. Moving my body in front of the camera did not mess with the focus or white balance.


Here I cropped it digitally on OBS and the quality is still super good. The focus looks great and the pixelation looks great.
20 sec video:

BTW, OBS has a function where I can have the same camera, and multiple versions of it as a source. One could be zoomed all the way out, one all the way in, etc. I can switch between any of them with the click of a button.

One note with this camera, I had to plug in the power booster brick on the USB active cable. The camera was dead without it. Now I wonder if not having it on any of the other webcams could have affected the pixelation? IDK, and I'm not retesting them. I'll leave the power booster on though, for the rest of the tests.
 
Last one. This one also has a very big lens.
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20 sec video. Sound I could not get to show up at all on OBS. Like the sound signal was not there. It's supposed to have sound. Video quality seems quite good. Lines straight. Focus good. Maybe a tiny bit more pixelation than Wyestorm? But the lines are straighter. Focus hunting and white balance hunting were super good when my body was in the frame.



Here is the OBS cropped version. Picture quality is still super good.
 
Those are all the cameras I have in Atlanta. I've got to pack up all the losers and return them before I take off for Philly, or I'll miss the return window.

I also bought 2 in Philly, where I'm going today. Those are ethernet based security cameras. I wanted to try controlling everything over ethernet. I know that's how the digital pool guy sets up the rooms. I saw the room in Philly he set up. I was having a lot of trouble with that a couple weeks ago. I couldn't get the computer to see the cameras. I have 2 more weeks to play with them before I have to return them. I might just scrap that idea entirely, idk.
 
I just put the Maxhub on the wall, for the end rail typically view. The thing is too smart for me! It follows me around the room. ha ha. IDK how to turn it off. I guess I was lucky that mode didn't activate when it was in the overhead position? I guess this one is going back, I don't need it following me;)

30 sec video. Please excuse my hair sticking up;)
 
:(:( I just put the Wyrestorm on the wall and it is tracking me too.

I don't have time to mess around with them to figure out how to turn it off. I think I'm going to return everything, and then look at all my notes, and rebuy one of the manual industrial lenses, and one of the webcams (especially if I can figure out how to turn off the tracking in the mean time).
 
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