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Failing sight... is webcam & monitor an option?

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evildrome:
Hi All,

 Once of my very oldest friends is now in his mid 80's. He's physically & mentally very capable but, sadly, he's having real trouble with his eyes. He recently had a cataract operation but it hasn't helped as much as we'd hoped.

 I'm wondering if a webcam on a flexi shaft coupled to an appropriately mounted 14" flat screen monitor might let him get back to machining on his Colchester Bantam.

 I'd just go ahead and do it but I'm not sure what sort of camera to get.

 I suppose that what I'm trying to do is blow up a 2 to 3 inch field of vision onto the monitor. I'm guessing I do not need a USB microscope for this. A normal modern webcam would work?

Given that a webcam expects to be connected to a PC (usually via USB) does anyone know of a suitable camera I could just plug directly into a monitor? Or a monitor that will take a USB camera directly?

Money's not really a problem. I've got a budget of about £300 in mind.

TIA,

 Wilson Logan.










 

micktoon:
Hi Wilson, sorry to hear about your friends sight problems, to test your theory you can rig up a normal camcorder to a flat screen monitor.
  Doubleboost will probably comment too but he uses this type of set up to help when making his videos but has commented on it being helpful to see in more detail than standing looking.
  The good news is it should work and also not cost much to set up either, I will mention the post to John Doubleboost.
  Cheers Mick

David Jupp:
Couple of points to watch out for;-

1. normal distance to subject for a webcam may not be close to that for you application.   Check focal range.

2. as standard, webcams tend to show a mirror image (feels more natural if you watch your own picture on screen) - this isn't what you want for the described application.  There will be a setting in the software to remove the mirror effect.

colin563:
What about an opti visor

Cheers colin

doubleboost:
Hi
As Mick mentioned I use a computer monitor when I am recording video.
On several occasions I have found it easier to watch the monitor than the actual job
A cheap video camera (thousands on ebay)  a monitor and a break out box to convert the video signal to something the monitor will recognise
The break out box is not expensive
If you need more just pm me
John

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