I have just shared a new project: “Backyard Birdcam”
IntroductionI had been thinking about how best to capture clear close-up photographs of some of the many birds we see around our property for quite a while and mulling over a variety of Raspberry Pi based ‘trail cam’ options. Birds regul…
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Hi Roger,
I love this project so much! There are so many ways you could build on this, a few that I thought of were:
- The photos you are getting back are excellent to my eyes! But if you’re someone with a spare DSLR, most have an IR reciever or a shutter release cable that a Pi or Arduino could trigger: Making an Intervalometer | IR Sensor | Adafruit Learning System
- Tim posted another cool AI-fuelled project on identifying birdcalls from sound, this could be handy for getting a shortlist of birds in your area to identify the ones that stop by
What an awesome project Roger, thanks for sharing it with us!!
-James
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I must try this project when I can afford all the components. Thanks.
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Thanks James. Apologies for the delayed response. Festive season distractions with visiting family, excursions away from home etc. Thank you for the great suggestions which I will explore further. I have also been looking at the Cornell University bird recognition AI work. Analysing bird calls is a complicated subject for several reasons. Cornell seem to be amongst the world leaders in this space and have a variety of fantastic accessible resources.
Roger W
Thanks Rooppoor212784. Its been a lot if fun for me and the cost is not huge albeit not insignificant. Will be good when we can buy RPI boards again!!
Roger W
Hi Roger,
It would be interesting to try this with the new V3 cameras.
They have autofocus and I wonder if that could be used as a trigger to take an image.
I just ordered some and noticed the link to the forum on my order acknowledgment.
Gavin
Thanks for the tip Gavin.
I did look at the Arducam autofocus lenses but wasn’t sure they were up to this task on other specifications. I’m not across the V3 cameras so will certainly have a look at that.
Roger W
Hi Roger,
I will let you know.
Graham sent me a note that my two cameras just shipped <1 hour ago.
Will have to get OS and Libcamera upto date on some uSD’s.
Still early days for the V3 but Pi support is a bit better than Arducam.
Arducam have some great cameras but I cannot buy everyone, haha.
I just got my 3018 Mill today with laser from Vevor $298AUD.
Insane pricing but was missing the router bits:(
Will have to assemble it and get some cutters to cut some some camera cases.
Off to Bunnings for some MDF and Marine plywood, maybe a Dremel bit too.
Could probably make a weatherproof case with 6mm expanded PVC sheet.
The white foam will act as insulation from the sun.
Regards
Gavin
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Will be interested in how it all goes for you Gavin, including the Vevor CNC mill. Sounds like useful fun! My cameras are still weather exposed so I also need to make some cases, which at this stage I think I will 3D print.
I had a quick look at the v3 lens information but need to go back to it. I have found the 35mm Arducam lens I am using gives me some good close shots but the depth of field is very narrow and quite often parts of the bird are slightly out of focus, depending where I have pre-focused to and where the bird lands. More depth of field would be great and brighter days help with that of course, as I can close the aperture down a bit more.
Roger W
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I have been using clear supermarket containers for years, cheap but the plastic yellows after 5+ years then it is hard to find the same container. Now I buy them two at a time and keep one stored for years.
There is a lens designed by an Aussie camera man for taking close ups yet still have long depth of field, try something like that on the HQ?
Not sure about depth of field yet for the V3, too new and mine are still mid shipment.
Took me 2 hours to assemble the mill and get it moving, made a few mistakes and put things in backwards etc.
Could have saved 1/2hour+ if I had spend 10 minutes finding all the parts and lining them up at the start and paid careful attention to the pics.
Bit more practice and cordless screwdriver maybe 1/2+ hour to assemble?
Regards
Gavin
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Hi Gavin
I think from memory (dealing with CCTV etc) depth of field is directly proportional to aperture opening as Roger has noted with better results on bright days by being able to close down the aperture a bit.
Like portrait shots with a camera (not phone). By opening the aperture as much as practical and carefully focussing on the subject you are able to nicely blur the background.
Thinking along these lines I think the actual camera sensing device sensitivity would have a direct relationship also. More sensitive, smaller aperture, greater depth of field.
I don’t think the lens itself has a great deal to do with it. I thing this part of things is all physics.
I believe there are cameras and phones around now that will take good pics at night and my camera (Sony) very rarely needs the flash, mostly used for effect. This indicates to me there are some quite good sensor devices out there.
Cheers Bob
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That’s the simple way of dealing with depth of field problems. The Frazier lens is a much more sophisticated approach.
It was invented in order to provide adequate depth of field for close-up wildlife scenes in low light.
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I will let you know soon, postie just delivered the V3’s.
Got a normal NOIR and wide daylight.
I have one of those Sony Starvis USB cameras on MotionEye OS as part of my home security network, I will be comparing the NOIR V3 against it.
MotionEye is no longer in development so V3 won’t work on it.
Pikrellcam uses the motion vectors from the h264 compression.
The V3 use libcamera so both motion detect security cam software I use won’t work.
I’d never heard of the Frazier lens, cool to see it was an Aussie invention!
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Hi All
Neither have I. Must look it up for interest. There has been much work in the field of lenses and photography. While I do not get too far into it Silicon Chip recently did a series of articles on stellar photography. Particularly the lengths they go to to get pics good enough for analytical purposes of stars etc almost invisible to all but the most sophisticated telescopes. Mind boggling.
Cheers Bob
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Hi Jeff.
Just had a look at that link. Very interesting but I would think a bit out of reach for the amateur shutter bug. Don’t think you would find many hanging off RPi either. Interesting to see how it all works. Are there any other sites with more detail??
Cheers Bob
Quick test, update/upgrade to install latest libcamera stuff.
libcamera-hello worked.
Will have to get some more Pi power supplies, don’t have enough for the camera Pi’s now. 2.4A USB charger was not enough.
Hi Gavin
Tip.
Get a decent 5V supply with a bit of grunt, enough to run your whole set up. Saves a lot of plug packs and double adaptors. To run a few XMAS lights, and is there to use for other things, I use a 5V 14A MeanWell supply. Saves a lot of grief and cost probably less than 2 x 3A plug packs (or Wall Warts to use the US phrase).
Cheers Bob
Hi All
Just had a look at some Frazier Lenses. I think I will have to stick to aperture, light and sensitivity to get the result I want. That thing is mind boggling and way past my pay scale. You can’t buy one anyway. Can only be hired from Panavision.
Cheers Bob
Thanks James.
Sorry for the delay in responding. Festive season distractions with being out of town and having family visiting. Thanks for thecsuggesti9ns which I will look into further.
Roger W
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