Camera (UK based)

[Martin Berriman]

Does anyone in the UK have a recommendation for a suitable camera module?

I guess I could buy direct from lightburn at £60 but they state that the end user is responsible for import taxes and fees and I have been stung by those in the past (and also the fee which the courier charges for issuing the invoice) so I'm reluctant to do that.

Storepixie.co.uk seems to have them but at £110 each that seems a bit steep!

AliExpress and Banggood both have them for around £21 but they don't seem to have the same adjustable lense so I suspect they are not quite the same.

[Martin Berriman]

I've bought one off Amazon.co.uk which seems to have a very similar spec and at £21 is a great price. It's slow delivery so probably coming from China but I will be interested to see if it works ok when it arrives - worth a shot

[Doug Fisher]

Let us know what you bought and how it works out. I bought one of the earlier ones from LB. I believe those are 5 mpx cameras and would definitely buy the 8 mpx camera over it (or higher if possible). It used to be necessary to get a camera that defaulted to outputting at its full resolution which most cameras would not do on Windows. The cameras from LB had the firmware changed to accomplish this. I believe the camera coding within LB was changed and that may have changed this necessity. The other feature that really makes a difference is the ability to manually change the focus on the lens. They are often just slightly out of focus from the factory. Getting the focus exactly right really makes a difference with the low resolution 5 mpx cameras. The cameras from LB come with the lens glued to lock in the focus. You have to very carefully twist the barrel without cracking the circuit board to break the glue loose. Correcting the focus often means just rotating the lens a mm or two.

If your camera purchase doesn't work out, you can find videos on Youtube where users explain how they adapted webcams from Logitech, etc., to work with their lasers and LB. Of course, Covid has often made it a challenge to find the high quality webcams in stock.

[Lightburn Admin]

I've had decent luck with Spinel and ELP cameras from Amazon.

We had to drop international postal deliveries for now because the delays from COVID were so bad that the number of "where's my package?" emails was starting to overwhelm support. And yes, UPS charges ridiculous fees for the customs brokerage.

[Martin Berriman]

Let us know what you bought and how it works out.

Thanks Doug, useful info - I will update here once it arrives and I can play with it. I'm on Linux so that may have it's own peculiarities...

I've had decent luck with Spinel and ELP cameras from Amazon.

Thank you, I'll investigate if the one I have on order doesn't work

[Martin Berriman]

Quick update - my camera has just dropped through the letterbox!
Wow, it's tiny, much smaller than I was expecting - look at it compared to the USB connector.

camera.jpg

So I've plugged it in and Linux recognises it and I can use it as a webcam. Fired up lightburn, gone to lense calibration and I can see a sensible image

I now need to 3D print a mount for it so guess what I'll be doing this weekend!

[Philipp Pap]

I made a simple camera holder. It uses the holes from the handle from the upper door to mount.

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[Gene Uselman]

Very well done- this is the kind of job I often design in Fusion 360 [because it is so much fun] and then redesign to cut on the laser because it is so much faster and I can do a quick prototype... revise... and then cut the final version.

[Martin Berriman]

I made a simple camera holder. It uses the holes from the handle from the upper door to mount.

Nice job

I decided to go with the lightburn holder - 3d printed.

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After that, I stuck it to the machine door using double sided foam tape and then configured it in Lightburn.

I have to say, I am very impressed with the lightburn implementation - After calibration and alignment, it operates superbly! - If I could improve anything, I'd go for the 8MP camera but overall, this is a brilliant upgrade.

[Philipp Pap]

Nicely done. Yes, lightburn works so well with a camera that I should have choosen the 8MP version
And yes, it was intended as a prototype but it worked so good that I just kept it. To be honest, it could look nicer