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Does any one know how to focus this cam? — Parallax Forums

Does any one know how to focus this cam?

roughwireroughwire Posts: 78
edited 2007-09-18 18:02 in BASIC Stamp
I got a CMUcam, and the moron sitting next to me, without me knowing, started carelessly turning the lens head. Now when I try the Demos for the cam, they don't work very well because, it's way out of focus. So I was wondering if someone knew about how many turns, or whatever from the beginning would put it back to it's factory ajustment. Now apparently you can see what the cam sees, by dumping a frame or something right? I haven't really worked with this cam much, but I'm planning on using the one demo to follow a certain color, but the color is to be at about 4 ft away; so obviously I need to learn what is the best way to focus it... Thanks.

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MIKE

Comments

  • cyplesmacyplesma Posts: 76
    edited 2007-09-12 16:57
    if it was messed up manually you'll probably have to fix it manually, I would suggest turning the power off on it though. if the power is applied it might strip something, hopefully it's not already beyond "readjusting".
  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2007-09-12 17:49
    I don't think the CMU-Cam does 'autofocus', so there's probably nothing 'with power' on the focus ring.

    I haven't used it myself, but it does sound like the best way to proceed would be to figure out how to 'dump' an image to a PC, then twiddle the focus ring to get a focussed picture on the PC.
  • LilDiLilDi Posts: 229
    edited 2007-09-12 20:14
    If its the CMUCam 2, then I think the correct focus starting point is to turn the lens so it is exactly flush with the lens housing. Repeated image dumps using the JAVA application will get you the rest of the way. My experience with the CMUCam focus was very frustrating for me. The problem is that the image dump is of such low resolution that its very hard to tell true focus. I tried putting my scope on the analog video out pin and tried to focus to the cleanest video signal, but that proved difficult as well.

    Good Luck!
  • roughwireroughwire Posts: 78
    edited 2007-09-17 16:21
    can you give me the program that you used to dump a frame?

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    MIKE
  • LilDiLilDi Posts: 229
    edited 2007-09-17 17:44
    roughwire,
    I e-mailed the Java GUI for image dumps
  • roughwireroughwire Posts: 78
    edited 2007-09-18 16:29
    thanks, how does it work though? The window just stays black...

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    MIKE
  • LilDiLilDi Posts: 229
    edited 2007-09-18 18:02
    Its been a while since I worked with the CMUCam, but now that I think about it, it seems to me there are some versions of JAVA RTE that don't work with the CMUCam GUI. I was totally frustrated with the thing. Gave up on it. Its a good step forward for robot vision, but a long ways from being anything useful. Thats just my opinion.

    Go to the CMUCam web site. I get sick to my stomach just talking about the frustrating thing.

    CMUCam web site:

    http://http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/

    Im much more interested in a brand new product from Recognetics. An object recognition chip. A neuro net memory array with a companion FPGA processor. Brand name CogniMEM. You train it by example to learn objects and it then remembers that object next time it see it. Here is the website for this amazing new product:

    http://recognetics.com

    Local website:

    http://general-vision.com

    More info:

    http://www.recognetics.com/download/DS_CM_IR1K.pdf

    Post Edited (LilDi) : 9/18/2007 6:17:02 PM GMT
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