Radio shack camera board for UART interface?

Question

The Pdf was unclear on how to configure the board for this mode. However, I am pretty sure this is the default setting. Just tell me if Im wrong. Also, I wont be needing a sketch to configure it if is default, right? Besides the commands that affect zooming and focusing, of course. Im not that much of a noob. Also, I would rather configure for Composite video. Its just that I plan on sending this ANALOG data over an Xbee module which will convert the signal into digital then into a pulse width modulated output. I certaintly could build a low pass filter to recover the analog signal but I read somewhere that most of the signal will have been lost and that the re-conversion and transmission of the data leads to significant signal loss. This is bad. I cannot have this, so I have decided it would be much easier to go with the UART interface. Correct me if Im wrong about anything, To be honest, I am not experienced.

Answer 1

Analog video requires a 4.5MHz analog bandwidth. If you had a hardware MPEG converter, you could get a reasonable digital video down to say 2Mbps with lots of compression, but PWM will not do it at a rational frequency. As one reviewer commented, connect the video directly to a monitor to focus the camera and capture stills over the serial interface.

This gadget will do some tricks but it is a 680x480 camera that costs $45 and needs a lot of work to make it useful. You can buy WLAN cameras for not much more and they usually have much better resolution.

http://store.linksys.com/products/linksys-ip-cameras_stcVVcatId554678VVviewcat.htm

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tenvis%20wireless%20ip%20camera&sprefix=tenvis%2Caps%2C229

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I am assuming you are talking about Canon point and shoot cameras and not digital SLR cameras. I use Nikon digital SLR cameras, and used to use Nikon Coolpix point and shoot cameras, but my last two point and shoot cameras have been chosen after a lot of research, and they have both been Canon cameras- first an SD300 and most recently an SD800 IX. I have used them for years of heavy international travel. I never go on a trip without one, and I have never had one problem with either one of these cameras. I had one of my much older first generation Coolpix cameras just crash on me- an error screen that would not go away. But so far the Cannons have been flawless after two years of heavy use for each. I could not even tell you how many times they have been through an x-ray machine. If these Canon point and shoot cameras were fragile, I would certainly have had a broken camera by now. It is always possible to get a lemon, but those are usually pretty obvious right from the beginning. Mine have been flawless right out of the box. I shop at Radio Shack for things they are knowledgeable about, but I agree with many of the posters here- they don't know cameras. Canon is one of the top brands of digital cameras, and I would not worry for one minute about their reliability.

Answer 4

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