Its another one of those threads Im afraid. I know Ive asked similar questions in the past, but this is slightly different.

The entomologist at work wants to sort out a "Beetle cam" to get a feed going on the Giant African Ground beetles. Little is known about them so being able to watch day and night would be handy. Unlike my previous questions this doesnt need to be standalone power and recording, a webcam is fine.

Problem is deciding on the best option.

Hunting around my options seem to be:

1:
El cheapo "nightvision" webcam from the likes of ebay. Whether its actually infrared or just white LEDs is a gamble. Also quality is likely to be pants

2:
Slightly less cheap but still not expensive webcam with LED illumination. If its cheap enough, I could see about replacing the white LEDs with IR LEDs.

3:
The likes of Logitech or Microsoft webcams that can do "low light" shooting.



I know I can take a generic camera and remove the IR filter, but really we need to be shoot day and night so I dont want to impact daytime shooting. If I got an IR lightsource that was powerful enough would it illuminate the area sufficiently for the IR filter in a webcam to not filter all the light out? IE, would it still be a dark image but things would be visible? Were only talking a small fishtank here.

HD shooting would be a bonus, which pretty much is restricted to option 3.

Thoughts?

I recently installed a few of these in a local pub as a form of cctv.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190895

They just plug into the network switch and can be viewed by any computer on the network they can record the streams to the hdd.
The picture quality is excellent and so is the night mode.

Might be abit more expensive than you are planing on spending though.

the microsoft lifecams shoot HD & fairly inexpensive. you get 2x one for day & one for night maybe you can find a recording software
that allows timer so they switch
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2009/08/17/microsoft-debuts-720p-lifecam-cinema-with-30-fps-glass-lens-autofocus-and-4x-digital-zoom/

I bought one for less than £30 with the idea of using in my telescope, but never
got around to modding it.
The instructions are http://ghonis2.ho8.com/lifecam/lifecam1.html
& there is a mention of removing the infared filter on page 2. - you may need to use an IR illuminator less than £10 on ebay
... I have a nightvision security camera & its good enough
to see up my driveway, but the life cam imo would be a better option because of its small
size - its diameter is about the size of a 2p piece & a little longer than a AA battery (measuring using things lying around:D)

Thats one of the ones I was thinking about. Is it possible to not just flood the IR filter though by getting a £10 IR lightsource, at 1m range surely some IR would get through the filter, eliminating the need to take it apart?

Quote from: Eggtastico

the microsoft lifecams shoot HD & fairly inexpensive. you get 2x one for day & one for night maybe you can find a recording software
that allows timer so they switch
http://nexus404.com/Blog/2009/08/17/microsoft-debuts-720p-lifecam-cinema-with-30-fps-glass-lens-autofocus-and-4x-digital-zoom/

I bought one for less than £30 with the idea of using in my telescope, but never
got around to modding it.
The instructions are http://ghonis2.ho8.com/lifecam/lifecam1.html
& there is a mention of removing the infared filter on page 2. - you may need to use an IR illuminator less than £10 on ebay
... I have a nightvision security camera & its good enough
to see up my driveway, but the life cam imo would be a better option because of its small
size - its diameter is about the size of a 2p piece & a little longer than a AA battery (measuring using things lying around:D)

Thats one of the ones I was thinking about. Is it possible to not just flood the IR filter though by getting a £10 IR lightsource, at 1m range surely some IR would get through the filter, eliminating the need to take it apart?

I wouldnt be too sure about that. IR focuses at a different length to visible light so can cause issues in cameras, so they tend to use the strongest filter they reasonably can.

Ended up getting a lifecam cinema yesterday while I was out. Low light works really well, to the point I think a single LED will be enough to illuminate a tank in total darkness. Just a case of getting the balance between illumination and disturbing the night activity. Ill have a look at the day/night cctv camera link though as Im still trying to figure something out for myself.

Hmm, looks interesting. Will keep that one handy for if I decide to see if I can record stuff in the garden. Its only 0.3mp though which is a little pants.