Camera mounted to light above table
- Thread starter Bowmer
- Start date
I tried it a few years ago. I bought 2 different power wide angle lenses off of eBay for cheap. The one that was wide enough to see the whole table made the whole picture look like crap. This was with me holding the camera with my hand to test the idea, with the camera all the way to the surface of my 8’ ceiling. If it had worked, I was going to build a custom light with a hole in the middle to accommodate the camera.
Based on my experience, it’s not worth even trying unless your ceiling is significantly higher than 8’ and you can use a regular lens that does not distort the picture.
YMMV
Based on my experience, it’s not worth even trying unless your ceiling is significantly higher than 8’ and you can use a regular lens that does not distort the picture.
YMMV
It seems to me that there's got to be some lens that at least makes the cushions look straight. I see some images from directly above with cushions looking bowed out. If there's no lens that can do that well, post-processing ought to fix it.I tried it a few years ago. I bought 2 different power wide angle lenses off of eBay for cheap. The one that was wide enough to see the whole table made the whole picture look like crap. This was with me holding the camera with my hand to test the idea, with the camera all the way to the surface of my 8’ ceiling. If it had worked, I was going to build a custom light with a hole in the middle to accommodate the camera.
Based on my experience, it’s not worth even trying unless your ceiling is significantly higher than 8’ and you can use a regular lens that does not distort the picture.
YMMV
I think if someone solved the problem they could sell a lot of light/camera combinations, but the connection to the recorder/viewer and the software would take a lot of additional work.
In a tournament situation you would want a way to view a recent shot quickly and not wait five minutes to download or post-process a file.
I tried it a few years ago. I bought 2 different power wide angle lenses off of eBay for cheap. The one that was wide enough to see the whole table made the whole picture look like crap. This was with me holding the camera with my hand to test the idea, with the camera all the way to the surface of my 8’ ceiling. If it had worked, I was going to build a custom light with a hole in the middle to accommodate the camera.
Based on my experience, it’s not worth even trying unless your ceiling is significantly higher than 8’ and you can use a regular lens that does not distort the picture.
YMMV
Same results with a 10ft ceiling. I guess it’s all about the lens. More info to be gained on a photography forum.
fisheye
Unfortunately the only way to get everything in the image at close range is with a super wide angle lens. That is always going to give major distortion, the bowed rails.
Post processing to correct the bowed rails is pretty easy in still images, I don't know if there is any way to do it rapidly to video, correct one frame and say apply to all.
Another possibility might be to use multiple cameras and have software sew the images together. I think this might be the better idea but I know almost nothing about video and video software.
Hu
Unfortunately the only way to get everything in the image at close range is with a super wide angle lens. That is always going to give major distortion, the bowed rails.
Post processing to correct the bowed rails is pretty easy in still images, I don't know if there is any way to do it rapidly to video, correct one frame and say apply to all.
Another possibility might be to use multiple cameras and have software sew the images together. I think this might be the better idea but I know almost nothing about video and video software.
Hu
Because if you want to see easily exactly where the balls are, you need to have the camera centered over the table. A frequent observation in the standard situation of having a camera on the wall at the end of the table is that simple cut shots look impossible.
It seems like some kind of lens would at least get the rails straight. You would still have the problem that the end rails would be viewed from something like a 45-degree angle while a ball in the center of the table would be viewed from directly above. I think I could live with that until someone figures out how to put the images from several cameras together as mentioned above.
Several billiard video producers manage to get an overhead view, but I'm not sure how high their cameras are. I think Accu-stats tries to get something like 15 feet above the floor.
For my garage I use a logitech C930 webcam connected to an old laptop running free OBS Studio software. Pretty inexpensive solution to get decent quality. Microphone is built in to cam.
Eight foot ceiling, cam is mounted about 3" below ceiling, 3' away from edge of table.
Sample video:
https://youtu.be/O1b6r1T3dmQ
Eight foot ceiling, cam is mounted about 3" below ceiling, 3' away from edge of table.
Sample video:
https://youtu.be/O1b6r1T3dmQ
That's like a $80 camera. Nice result. Did you ever try it directly over the table?
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These people are developing a lighting/video recording system - http://smartbilliardlighting.com.
The video quality looks VERY good, just a tiny bit of fisheye from the full table view directly above the table. Particularly cool is the small, inserted view of the shooter, the system seems to be able to automatically detect where the shooter is and displays the shooter when the balls aren't moving. The frame includes perimeter LED lights and appears to be mounted a normal ceiling height above the table. Lot of potential here, every pool room could have a 'TV' table setup. Wouldn't mind having one in my basement!
The video quality looks VERY good, just a tiny bit of fisheye from the full table view directly above the table. Particularly cool is the small, inserted view of the shooter, the system seems to be able to automatically detect where the shooter is and displays the shooter when the balls aren't moving. The frame includes perimeter LED lights and appears to be mounted a normal ceiling height above the table. Lot of potential here, every pool room could have a 'TV' table setup. Wouldn't mind having one in my basement!
ahh, thanks for the tip on the obs software, working my way to a little control cockpit set
up to break apart and mix stuff, does this software have ways to layer graphics and such - like scores?
I will wait for the official unrelated and unsponsored and unbiased and uncredible denwhit review.
Since the camera would in a fixed in position it would be possible to have software perform the perspective corrections needed for a single lens in real time.
I haven't, but I should just to see if I can get everything in frame. I use 2 LED tube style lights, so it should be easy to spread them apart and get the camera to see between them. If I do I'll report back with results.