New webcam at Island View Beach

[bwd]

Today Grant and I installed a new webcam at IV in the big tree in front of his place on the hill. We were both high up in the tree at the exact moment a nice wind and rain squall hit

This camera was sent in for an upgrade to a motorized zoom lens. Since the house is about 1km away from the water the wide angle is super wide (you can see the south end of James Island, Sidney Island and D'Arcy). When the camera is zoomed in it is about the same field of view as the old webcam, but it's better quality and 4x the size. Let me know what you think of the zoom - I might look for a 1.5x or 2x tele converter, but I'm not sure it will work. It would be nice to get it zoomed in a little more. Other options are a wireless link so we could get it near the water or find a closer location (maybe someone can talk to the RV park?). Any suggestions are welcome - maybe it's fine the way it is. The wide angle might be good for seeing wind lines and cloud movement...

This camera will be moved back to Gordon's in the spring (unless we can raise enough $$ to buy a new Gordon's cam and then we can keep it here).

Thanks Grant and Kendra!

dave

[JL]

[WindePendanT]

Dido JL's post!!!!

[Russian Dood]

dood, you rock!

[Kite Kook]

Good work, guys! Thanks

[more force 4]

Lovely!

[Gareth]

Wow, What a great addition. The angle is great. Thank you.

[KUS]

hey, nice work people I do like the zoom feature but I am not sure we are getting so much more out of this unit than the original one with the 4 pix to toggle back and forth on. Maybe if this one is preferred by most we can find another location at Willows, Cattle Point for those early year NE'ers or another spot for the old IV cam then?
I think it is cool, don't get me wrong and nice effort, kudos to the volunteers. I just think perhaps more locations are better than improved picture? Thoughts Thanks again guys Pat and I are still talking about a fundraiser/swapmeet/slide or vid show, perhaps involving the RVYC if someone can do a technical presentation of the MM5 or the site, any takers (apart from the obvious gurus and usual contributors)

[bwd]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Kus: The main reason we moved the zoom webcam to IV is that the old one is slowly losing colour and fading (it's been going since Dec 2002). Also it takes quite a bit of work to keep the old one going (it is a basic camcorder that runs from a PC and Grant & Kendra also have to try and keep the window fog free). We will likely stop running the old cam in the near future since it is a little redundant now. Remember the image from the new one is 4x the size and will be way more reliable.

I totally agree though, I would rather have more locations too. If someone can scout out a location at Willows I would be happy to set up the old camera there. The only problem is that the old camera requires a computer to run and if we also have to pay for the persons internet then it gets expensive. I have an old PC we could use and perhaps we could offer to pay for 1/2 of someone's internet. Maybe someone could volunteer to knock on some doors down by Willows? There should be someone along the water that has internet and doesn't mind a small PC and camera in their window?

Another option is to move the old cam to Columbia and use it for a streaming cam. But as you said, more locations are better.

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming.
thanks
dave

[bwd]

Ok I need some feedback. It looks like I can get a 1.5x or a 2x tele converter for the new Island View cam. This will give us more zoom, but it will cut down on the wide angle view. So here is what the new views will look like:

The view now: wide angle shown with box showing full zoom view


The view with 1.5x converter: wide angle shown with box showing full zoom view


The view with 2x converter: wide angle shown with box showing full zoom view


The last 2 images are cropped and of course the actual image will look as good as the top one. It's just to give an idea of the new views. So...should we go for the 1.5x or the 2x or leave it as is? I'm a little worried since with the 2x we lose some light going into the camera and the exposures will be longer. Plus we may have problems with the tree moving in the wind...not sure.

thanks
dave

[Gareth]

AS is, works for me. I prefer the wider angle when zoomed in. I think it gives a better picture of what is going on.

The 2X is obviously better for frame grabs, but that is not really the purpose. I assume that the angle of the camera could be adjusted for the 2x converter so that it shows the shorebreak.

Thanks again.

[Kite Kook]

1.5 makes sense to me. but don't count my vote, as I hardly ever get out to IV!

[JL]

AS IS looks awesome Dave..Can we have a few weeks to observe it. Looking fwd. to digging through the pics..WOW ! I just watched the last 10 'java' & was very impressed with the cloud movement. Loaded 'zoom 2.0' extension for firefox 1.5 & clicked fit image on full zoom. Now I am able to observe full screen beach to James Island......Sweet.

[WindePendanT]

I think AS IS will work just fine too. It looks great.
I almost hate to bring it up, just in case it doesn't work out. But I know the guy who lives in that house (the only house) to the right as you drive up to the beach. We work at the hospital together. It has crossed my mind before, maybe I should talk to him about having a cam there?
What do you think dave? (before I go and speak to him)
I really don't know what he'd say or his wife, so like I say I pause even bringing it up, for fear of disapointment.
But if it worked out, that would be ideal eh?

[bwd]

I almost hate to bring it up, just in case it doesn't work out. But I know the guy who lives in that house (the only house) to the right as you drive up to the beach.

It would be ideal! Yes please ask and I'll try not to get my hopes up. If you mention to him that the webcam runs on its own without a computer and it can be outside. I could pay his monthly internet bill (I'm not sure if they can get high speed internet there?).

I've been meaning to ask them at that house, so this would help out a lot. The other option is the RV park downwind. I've talked to the caretaker there and got the phone number for the owner (they have no internet). We could also look at a wireless option. Or we can leave it as is,

thanks
dave