Mountain WebCAM

[wifi]

A webcam has recently been installed up on top of the Ossipee Mountains, up on an unnamed peak. It faces WSW (towards Lebanon, NH); in the morning, when the sun is behind you, it looks spectacular. In the evenings, with the sun in your eyes, the close up trees are difficult to make out clearly, but you can see, for instance, the sun reflecting off Squam Lake. See attached morning/evening photos

Apologize for the focus, it’s not easy to tune, running up and down a ladder to check out the changes on a laptop, which really isn’t that clear. The mountain range in the foreground is Red Hill; it’s top is about 800 feet below this cam. There is a tree in the foreground ‘marking’ the saddle of the Red Hill range; the fire tower is to the right, on top of that knoll, and only visible at certain times. In the evening, with the sun in front, you can see light reflecting off Squam, right behind that tree in the saddle. Just to the left and top of this ‘saddle tree’, in the very distance is Mt Cardigan.

It will be interesting to see what winters are really like up there. I have only visited the site during service calls, and in reasonably good weather (for safety’s sake). There is what appears like a rectangle, just above and to the right of where the fire tower should be, I believe that is a reflection of the aperture. Now does anyone have any tricks (other than what the manual says) to focus it quickly, my legs are still tired

The cam downloads during daylight hours, and is available at:

http://www.lakesregionwireless.net/webcam

The drop down bar will return the last 10 pics (usually taken every 15 mins)


Morning:




Evening:

[paddler]

The link you provided just takes me to a page with html code. Until the page is corrected this link will get you to the image.

http://www.lakesregionwireless.net/netcam.jpg

[wifi]

Originally Posted by paddler

The link you provided just takes me to a page with html code. Until the page is corrected this link will get you to the image.

http://www.lakesregionwireless.net/netcam.jpg

Thanks paddler, try this link with the proper suffix:

http://www.lakesregionwireless.net/webcam.html

[Bear Islander]

Congratulations on a great location. That sounds like hard work.

I hate focusing webcams! I finally decided I must be looking at a live image while I focus. Or there must be two people, one focusing and one watching and yelling.

Have you considered pointing the camera down a little to sacrifice some sky for more ground detail.

[paddler]

Originally Posted by wifi

Now does anyone have any tricks (other than what the manual says) to focus it quickly, my legs are still tired

Both the Ossipee Lake Cam and OVSC trailcam are Stardot netcam and were focused prior to installation.

This is what my Stardot Dealer recommends for focusing the cams.

The "C" mount lens that the Stardot cams use just screws on, they are focused by how far in you screw it in. This should be done on a bench, not on the site. The lens should be placed at infinity, and the f/stop opened wide, and pointed at a distant wall or something in a dimly lit room. Then the lens is screwed in, back and forth, until the focus is sharp as possible.

[wifi]

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

Congratulations on a great location. That sounds like hard work.

I hate focusing webcams! I finally decided I must be looking at a live image while I focus. Or there must be two people, one focusing and one watching and yelling..

Thanks. Think next time I'll have someone manning the laptop and yelling, beats dropping that off the ladder too.

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

Have you considered pointing the camera down a little to sacrifice some sky for more ground detail.

I'll try that. There is some cleared land and guy anchors below the current view, I didn't think its very interesting. However, a snow stake with graduated colors might be informative. Over the last decade of winters the max snow levels have ranged from 1.5 feet to 5 feet. Hoping for some of those lightening shots hitting Red Hill... or any spot but this one

Originally Posted by paddler

Both the Ossipee Lake Cam and OVSC trailcam are Stardot netcam and were focused prior to installation.

This one was focused on the ground as well, looked good, until I dropped it on the way up .... arrrghhh

Originally Posted by paddler

This is what my Stardot Dealer recommends for focusing the cams.

I got the cam with a extra wide angle lens. It didn't give me the picture that I wanted to see, so I screwed on the standard lens. I believe one was a C and one a CS, and I didn't have that spacer ring. In any event, the time the cam takes to process the image before displaying it makes the whole process rather long. Maybe there is a way to look at a non processed image?

[paddler]

Originally Posted by wifi

In any event, the time the cam takes to process the image before displaying it makes the whole process rather long. Maybe there is a way to look at a non processed image?

You could temporarily change the camera settings to 320x240 black&white while focusing it. That way the camera updates the image much faster and will make it easier. Turn the lens one half turn at a time and judge if better or worse. Keep repeating until sharp. When done make sure it is set on f/16.

Is there any way to point the cam North? The image quality would be much better and it would better for the camera sensor.

[Long Pine]

I just went through many hours this weekend trying to get my Stardot cam focused after ordering a new lens (auto-iris varifocal 4.5-12 mm replacing the stock manual-iris 8mm lens). I had the laptop up on the ladder with me, but dropped it once (luckily no damage). I was having trouble getting the entire image in focus. If the center was in focus, the edges might not be. I had a Stardot technician on the phone with me looking at the image as I tried to focus it and giving me some tips. I ultimately got to a satisfactory image, but not the perfectly crisp one I was hoping for. They said I could send the camera and new lens back to them and they would re-focus it for me for free but I would need to tell them the focal length I wanted - I wasn't sure of a convenient way to describe that to them so I just did my best.

[wifi]

Paddler:

Thanks for the info on changing the resolution. I was turning the lens about 10 degrees at a time, 180 sounds good, I was afraid I would over shoot the right spot too much. Reguarding to repointing it, the best shot is where its looking, the building is to the west of the very top of the mountain for protection from the weather. I could put it on the tower with its spectacular views, but with the regular lightening hits and winter icing (falling chunks), it wouldn't last a year. Great idea tho.


Long Pine:

Thanks for sharing your experiences. My recording thermo showed -30F as a low, so I opted out of mechanically moving lenses or I would have ordered an auto lens, tho with the heat this cam puts out, it might not have been a problem. It will be interesting to see what the weather station reports for temperature. It certainly shows lower humidity than I expected... fire danger weather.

[mcdude]

Sunset tonight on the Ossipee Mt. Cam