FINCHforum

It has come to my attention that several people in the bird world have cameras in their Nest boxes. Where would one find such a camera? Does anyone here have one? any pictures of your setup?

This was my nestcam thread

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5827

I just set a web cam up myself, decided to go cheap till I saw how well it worked. I got cheap USB web cameras off of ebay (under 7.00 with free shipping). Was concerned about not enough light because I have 6 inch deep boxes with hole openings but there is plenty of light for these cameras. The camera sits in a piece of plywood with a hole for the lens, which fits over the nest box top. I can move the camera from nest to nest this way because nothing is permanent. Just about every bit of the box floor is viewable. So far I'm very happy with it and if it turns out that I feel I really need to use the cameras I may go and get good camera software and maybe better cameras but for now this is just fine. Right now it's just a fun thing to do, not sure it's really needed.
Debbie

Debbie - could you post a URL to the ebay ad of your web cam?

Thanks Debbie! Do you know if you can take pics and videos with that or just live MSN videos?

If pics and vids are possible - do you have any to share?

Right now I'm only set up with the freeware from the site I use to monitor it online. At some point I may end up buying a better software program that will allow me to monitor multiple cameras and store videos and still pictures. It's fun to see inside the nests but I'm not sure I want to invest all kinds of money into it just yet, waiting to see if the novelty wears off.

Debbie,

Do you have any example of a picture from your web camera?
I do have webcam Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro and there are lots of things I don't like about it. It's supposed to be 1Mpixel camera, but the picture is sharp only when the brightness is high and I don't want to point LEDs. It also has a wide view, so it's good only when I put it 4-5cm away from an object; in other situations I have to use a digital zoom and the quality suffers.
I've seen lots of cheap webcams from e_bay. They tell you that there are 5-10 Mpixels, but in reality, when you read the small print it is maximum resolution for the pictures not actual optical resolution for the sensor.
Examples of the pictures from my webcam:
-Good light

-Bad light

-Object is too far away. Zoom will not help.

I don't have a picture. Right now we have had nothing but rain and clouds so I'm not sure how good it's going to be once the sun shines. All I can say is I can clearly see in the box what is what and who is who but I can't say it's a perfect picture with perfect lighting. That's why I say for now what I'm looking to do with it I'm very happy. If in the future I decide this is really something I need to keep monitoring the birds I might go get a better camera and spend money on better software.