So we should talk about the Zero camera…for me, it’s not even as good as the original Pi cam.
I’ve tried playing around with v4l2-ctl parameters but can’t seem to make any difference to the grainy image. Although I did manage to stop the over-exposure which just blew out any white filaments and made them impossible to see any detail on cam.
Anyone done any cool mods for a better image?
My picture quality improved once I took the protective sticker off the lens.
Removing sticker is definitely better, but even after its still not good.
Can compare maybe with ESP-Cam, OV2640. Lot of noises, small resolution, loose focus.
For Ender3 i used Logitech usb webcam connected to Raspi, and then some aliexpress usb 1080p barebone camera (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005249688226.html). Both do much better picture quality.
Would be cool to adopt Sovol camera housing for something like that aliexpress camera.
Can you post a couple of pics..??
I happen to have a light about 4’ above my Zero, sometimes I have it on sometimes not.
If you take camera board out of the holder does the lens focus by turning?
Step file attached if you want to modify.
MP4602-09000 ÉãÏñÍ·×é¼þ camera module.step (638.9 KB)
Wel… this is sure better that no camera, for quick observation of spaghetti or similar things, but could be better)
Night:
Day:
And cheapest usb camera on Ender, even without direct led light, and with overexposure of background. Much less noises, little more focus (possible configurable):
Very strange.
Here is the result on my SV06ACE. I’m pretty sure the camera must be the same.
It’ll be ridiculous for Sovol,for economic reasons, to use different cameras.
This is with the lid off, door open, all the lights in the room on:
This is with the door closed, lid on, normal lighting:
Marginally better with more light, but still really sub-par compared to other printers or even Pi cams. Is it like this for you?
I’ve got a couple of cams with similar dimensions and hole placements on the way from AliE. Fingers crossed!
Have you removed the protection sticker and adjust the focus?
More light is more better but even with good supplemental lighting at the optimal angle, the low cost camera image is grainy and low resolution. It’s generally good enough to detect a failed print although with the stock LED light when printing black filament on a black build plate with black interior enclosure, it’s a bit of a black hole with no light escaping. The stock camera is nothing you’d want to use for a time lapse print video but I don’t do that. In fact, I disabled that feature because taking the image at the end of every layer caused enough delay to cause print artifacts from oozing when printing TPU. I thought about getting a better camera but the Zero struggles to send a few low res images per second when Klipper is busy with trajectory planning when printing complex objects quickly. The video transmission is a low priority job. I’d be very happy to have one much better image every few seconds if anyone manages to do that with a better camera.
