Introduction

I would very much like to document my projects in still images and video. Having live-footage to stream via OBS would make me able to engage in more social making, i.e. via twitch. The main purpose of a suitable camera is to capture my workspace in an overhead view. However, I would like the opportunity to hardware-zoom to a detail or to change the angle. An electric viewfinder would aid a lot with achieving this on-the-fly. My current housing calls for a wireless solution, but I want the device to support wired comnication, for the future. Since streaming live is one central use-case of the cam, I would like to control the camera without leaving the workbench and perhaps even hands-free. Lighting is poor in my workspace but essential for quality images. The cam needs a light-source, too.

My wishlist

• IP-based camera
• Recording and streaming video in 1080p
• Taking still images while recording
• supporting WiFi and LAN
• SFTP-server to access still images
• Optical lenses to zoom and/or swap
• Electrical viewfinder / display
• Control-panel +/- pedals for hands-free control
• Status-display inside control-panel
• Mounting-system for overhead recording and adjusting angles:
• female 1/4’’ thread for mounting to a tripod
• ball-head mount for quick adjustments
• Rugged, suitable case for a dusty workshop
• reasonably powerful, detachable LED ringlight
• No 3D-printing, CNC-routing or lasers (pewpew!) required

What’s on the market?

Since my wishlist is somewhat long and specific, I do not expect the market to offer a pre-made solution that perfectly suits my needs or my wallet. However, a few products exist that a maker should be aware of before re-inventing the wheel:
ModMyPi offers a solution that comes reasonably close to my wishlist, it lacks the viewfinder and controls, though. It also has no lighting. The design looks thoughtful and -just by its looks- is likely to suffice for your average surveillance-project. Most of the missing features could be added as peripherals, but I would like a tailored and integrated solution. So off to the drawing-board it is…

Turning my whishes into a concept

The RaspberryPi and its camera-modules easily cover the five first (and central!) items of my list. The combination of my need for LAN-support, “decent” computing-power for streaming and the ability to connect peripherals of my own design (both via USB and GPIO) let the RasPi3 appear to be the best solution, despite some promising results achieved with the RasPi zero.

The electrical viewfinder could be created by connecting any HDMI-capable screen. GPIO-based solutions, like in this example, will leave the HDMI-port free to use, while effectively blocking only a small amount of GPIO-pins. While a resolution of 320x240 px is certainly not enough to set a correct focus for footage recorded in 1920x1080 px, it would suffice as a viewfinder in situations where the focus is set to infinity and therefore will not need to be adjusted. Besides, because of the nature of a streaming cam, any device with a 1080px-display and a connection to the network can be used to set the focus, if necessary. Since this kind of viewfinder is only requiered when adjusting the view, the TFT could double as a status-display.

For reasons of compatibility and ease, I want to integrate as many pre-made solutions from photo/video-sector as possible. This flexible arm seems like a good solution to center the mounting system around.

Now for the central part, the camera itself, decisions are tricky: While the the original v2-camera had some issues regarding its focus, the sensor looks decent and I want a solution of equal or better specs. As far as lenses go, people have achieved interesting results with magnetic smartphone-accesoirs like these. Changing lenses constantly and thereby exposing the sensor or lens-mount to the dusty environment seems less than ideal to me, though. Recently however, inofficial camera-modules are being released, that carry C- or M12-mounts as are being used in CCTV-applications, allowing for a wide range of zoom-lenses to be attached. This model by Arducam features the very same sensor that is used in the v2.1-original while providing a CS-mount. My weapon of choice…

As for the case, lens-mount and lighting, I will have to come up with my own design - at another time…

For now, the tasks ahead are:

• obtain the first and central batch of components:
  • RasPi3
  • Arducam 8MP module with CS-mount
  • piTFT+ display
• set up hard- and software to demonstrate the working concept
• obtain remaining components
• design control-panel
• design pedals
• design enclosure(s)
• build the thing
• bask in video-awesomeness

This is going to take a while. Off we go!