# BeeCam suggestions for 2016?



## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

There hasn't been a bee camera discussion in awhile, and technology moves quickly!

I'm looking suggestions for a camera I can mount just outside the entrance.

Power-over-Ethernet is a requirement, as is good image quality. 

I will probably mount it on a wrought iron fence that's 6" from the hive entrance. 

Links to live cameras would be even better!


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## timgoodin (Mar 10, 2007)

Sounds like a neat idea, wonder if there is someway to build an enclosure for an old cellphone with wifi and put a solar panel on it in the beeyard. Sounds like a fun project to research and build.

Tim


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

Heh. I'm not into building anything right now. I just want to buy something good


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

When we had some emergency security needs a while back we used a bunch of Foscams. POE, which made for quick installations. VERY ready for outdoor and night use. Lots of features like motion detection, etc. we were very pleased and they are now part of our emergency response kits for when we have to make do in less than ideal circumstances. I think the prices were south of $100.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

How were the Foscam units for close-up focusing?


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

They could read the lettering on an ATM machine. Past that.....not sure.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

my brother in law got this IP camera for his parrot room. It takes some nice HD pictures that he watched on his smart phone. Can pan and zoom the camera from his phone. Pretty neat. Thinking about getting one for my bees, but I don't think it's waterproof.

http://www.amazon.com/Wansview-Wireless-Security-Surveillance-NCM625GA/dp/B012FFKDYA


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## Phesic (May 8, 2015)

I am also looking for this. I just emailed Microseven and asked for their suggestions. Also going to email Lorex and see what they have to say.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

Ravenseye said:


> They could read the lettering on an ATM machine. Past that.....not sure.


But image quality isn't the same thing as minimum focus distance.


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## PaulT (Sep 2, 2015)

Take a look at Arlo by Netgear. Wireless, battery powered.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I've got Flir POE 1080p cameras on the house. They don't focus close enough, but there may be a way around that. 

I'm working on a project for a friend involving a wireless security camera that we need to focus close. I routinely use "close up filters" on my DSLR and camcorder to allow the cameras to come in close on bees and flowers> Some time this week I expect to try the wireless camera out with these held in front. If it works I might end up getting a set for that camera and mounting them over the lens (I expect glue will be involved). 

I've seen some small cameras intended for use as "microscopes" that might do the job, but I have microscopes so I've never tried those.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

The problem with IP cameras is although they have great details they don't upload quick enough to keep up. In other words you'll see bees but probably not actually flying. IP is the cheapest as you can get a camera with internal recording if you like and the only thing to do is wire it to your network. Wireless ones imo are not great unless a room away from the signal. I have a hikavision and a dhaua and a bunch of others for home security but i'm not sure how great they would be close up. ten feet away and it will be great.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

I don't really care about frame rate or latency; I just want to see the bees in high quality. 1 FPS would be fine, as long as I can see them and tell whether they're carrying pollen or nectar. 

Yes, I am avoiding wireless. Since I need to run power anyway (not a fan of battery-powered cameras for this type of application), I may as well use power-over-Ethernet.


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## Phesic (May 8, 2015)

I actually got a response from Microseven. They suggested the M7B77 camera.


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## ljbee (Apr 27, 2015)

I have one of these pointed at the hive about one foot away...

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-channel-wireless-surveillance-system-with-2-cameras-62368.html

The resolution isn't great, but I can see pollen. I took the mic from a pair of ear buds, put it inside the hive and tapped into where the original mic was so I can hear whats going on in there.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

IAmTheWaterbug said:


> Heh. I'm not into building anything right now. I just want to buy something good


It looks like no one makes exactly what I want, for a price I'm willing to pay, so I'm going to retract my statement.

I happened to have a Raspberry Pi computer sitting around (Version 2, Model B), $36 from amazon, so I just ordered a little camera module with a CS lens mount for another $30.

It comes with a f/1.4, 4mm lens, but the CS mount means I can swap out the lens if I want more or less field of view.

I also bought a $5.69 power-over-Ethernet injector/splitter pair and a $4.00 2.1mm to micro-USB adapter cable, so I can power the RPi over Ethernet and run a single cable.

I have power supplies lying around, so I shouldn't have to spend any money on those. Now I just have to put it all together and enclose it. There are a few interesting ideas out there for that, including a halogen light fixture assembly and a fake security camera assembly.

That's a tiny little 5 MP sensor, so I will probably be limited more by the lens than by the sensor, but we'll see when it all arrives this weekend.


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## Chris Muncy (Apr 2, 2015)

Keep us posted. I'd love to see what the images of the bees look like.


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## ljbee (Apr 27, 2015)

IAmTheWaterbug said:


> It looks like no one makes exactly what I want, for a price I'm willing to pay, so I'm going to retract my statement.
> 
> I happened to have a Raspberry Pi computer sitting around (Version 2, Model B), $36 from amazon, so I just ordered a little camera module with a CS lens mount for another $30.
> 
> ...



I have a Raspberry Pi B+ with the camera too. I haven't got it all put together on the hive yet, but the picture is great 720 HD. Way better than security cams.

I have solar panels & battery out there already right now so I'm going to try and stream it to the house by wifi.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

I have been working on some wireless telemetry for my bees, with arduino uno and was thinking about the raspberry pi's, but I'll bet you could hack an old smart phone with 8mp camera and wifi it to a router with some expert hacking....Im not at that level yet but the posibilities are endless.....I've just overcome digital and analog functions for remote temp/humidity monitoring and will now work on the wireless part (esp8266) and hook it up to my router for access anywhere on the internet......small steps 

==McBee7==


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## ljbee (Apr 27, 2015)

I think an OSD (on screen display) showing the temp, humidity, time, date, weight and any other pertinent info would be nice.


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## cybrk (Oct 8, 2008)

Wow, very interesting progress in this forum. I just saw this. Please check out www.hivelogger.com and www.StephensApiary.com. You can see some historical setups and you can also watch as I setup my 2016 hives. I have been doing hive logging since 2006. I am recording and reporting 1) Regional, Local, and inner hive climate. 2) Continuous Weight Change 3) Video/motion at entrance, from bottom looking up at lower combs for forager density, and apiary access control 4) acoustics. I have used a variety of loggers and methods and most recently a Arduino Yun, but also Ras. PI, and I am now moving into the Feather. - Regarding cameras I use CCTV cameras and then I put those cameras into a video server that lets me stream video H264.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

ljbee said:


> I have a Raspberry Pi B+ with the camera too. I haven't got it all put together on the hive yet, but the picture is great 720 HD. Way better than security cams.
> 
> I have solar panels & battery out there already right now so I'm going to try and stream it to the house by wifi.


So the camera module came, and the physical setup was very easy, e.g. one ribbon cable:










It's a little hard to work with when it's just dangling by a cable, but it functions just fine. I downloaded MotionEyeOS as an image and wrote it to the micro SD card. I booted it up and got images at the admin page right away. The frame rate is terrible until you enable "fast network camera" (which allows the GPU processing, at the expense of some features), and then it started looking and behaving like a usable security camera. After increasing the image quality to 100 and fiddling with the focus, I got this at 1280 x 720:










My face is about 18" away. After focusing some more, I was able to get this thumb:










That's a working distance of about 2.5", so I'll definitely be able to see my bees with the lens.

The camera server will allow resolutions up to 1920 x 1080, but the frame rate drops off pretty badly, and I doubt I'd use that for watching bees. But the frame rate at 1280 x 720 is respectable. The MotionEyeOS interface allows me to overclock the Pi, but it rebooted and locked up a few times when I did that, so I backed it off to the default 700 MHz.

I'll have to see if the software will allow "windowing" to pull a region of interest from a full-frame image.

Overall I'm pretty darn impressed with this little setup. Now I just have to wait for my power adapter cable and figure out how to enclose it.


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## Hive Tool (Apr 16, 2015)

https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Security-Wireless-Detection-Android/dp/B018HC6PVA

Completely Wireless.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

Hive Tool said:


> https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Security-Wireless-Detection-Android/dp/B018HC6PVA
> 
> Completely Wireless.


eh it needs to hit your router. so unless you have a router in your yard might be an issue. also... not weatherproof......also motion sensing will kill those batteries in a month. might be fine for in house but not for beehive


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)




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## DrJeseuss (May 28, 2015)

http://hivetool.org/w/index.php?title=HiveTool.org

They have done a lot with the Pi. On your line, they have used the camera module for 'machine vision' to count bee traffic in and out through the day, track flight paths, etc. Might check them out.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

Phesic said:


> I actually got a response from Microseven. They suggested the M7B77 camera.


I just bought one of these for $150, but for home security instead of for becamming. It's a decent camera, for the price, but I wouldn't use it for my beecam because:
1) It's fixed focus, and I want to be sure I can focus on exactly where I want, because I want to be able to see the difference between a laden and unladen [strike]swallow[/strike] bee.
2) The camera itself is weatherproofed, but only up to the wall plate. It's designed to be mounted to a wall, and then the cables run through the mount and into the interior of the building. So to use this in a completely outdoor environment I still have to build a weatherproof box to handle the cable interface (see below).
3) It's not quite clear how this is "power-over-Ethernet ready." There are three cables coming through the wall mount fixture, for Ethernet, DC power, and for audio out. All the documentation suggests to "connect the included power supply and your Ethernet cable" and the sole reference to true POE says only "For POE installations, Microseven recommends using a POE+ switch providing up to 25.5 watts per port (IEEE 802.3)." So maybe the RJ45 input is 802.3af-compliant, but you sure wouldn't be able to tell by reading the manual. I'm going to do a DIY/passive POE approach anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me.
4) The bundled software is predictably average, given the price.

That said, image quality is acceptable, and the camera worked fine, right out of the box. But if I have to roll my own POE and make my own box anyway, I may as well save $100 and go with the Pi, where I also have control over the lens.

On that note, I'm just waiting for one more component (the voltage regulator module) to arrive, and then I can attempt to assembly my Pi-powered Beecam!


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I have several HD security cameras in service on the house and several others for a project. They are fixed lens wide angle, and on the few I've measured, will focus as close as about 14 inches. I've been meaning to kludge "close up filters" on one of them to see if it could focus closer.

The Lorex cameras on the house are power-over-Ethernet, powered by the central NVR (really a multi-channel DVR with Internet access). The project cameras use wifi or copper Ethernet and are powered via a separate wall wart.

Have you looked into PTZ cameras (security cameras that Pan, Tilt, and Zoom)? I have not tried one yet, but they're available for many security camera systems.

Cameras with C-mount lenses mean the lenses can be unscrewed and replaced with something more suitable.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

Phoebee said:


> I have several HD security cameras in service on the house and several others for a project. They are fixed lens wide angle, and on the few I've measured, will focus as close as about 14 inches. I've been meaning to kludge "close up filters" on one of them to see if it could focus closer.
> 
> Have you looked into PTZ cameras (security cameras that Pan, Tilt, and Zoom)? I have not tried one yet, but they're available for many security camera systems.
> 
> Cameras with C-mount lenses mean the lenses can be unscrewed and replaced with something more suitable.


PTZ might be for the next revision, but for this one I'll be happy with something that actually works.

I'm pretty happy with the CS-mount lens that I got with my Arducam module. I can adjust the focus, and if you look further up the page you can see my thumb nearly filling the FOV at 1280 x 720. I think I was 4-5 inches from the front of the lens. That's about as close as I'll need to get with this camera.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

IAmTheWaterbug said:


> PTZ might be for the next revision, but for this one I'll be happy with something that actually works.
> 
> I'm pretty happy with the CS-mount lens that I got with my Arducam module. I can adjust the focus, and if you look further up the page you can see my thumb nearly filling the FOV at 1280 x 720. I think I was 4-5 inches from the front of the lens. That's about as close as I'll need to get with this camera.


I see! Looks like plenty. Can that be buttoned up in a weatherproof case? I just see it disassembled.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

That's what this weekend is all about! I just got my voltage regulator modules in the mail…


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

So I finally got around to working on this. I bought that switching regulator from ezsbc, but probably due to my crappy soldering skills, I burned it up. So I went back to using an $0.18 LM7805, 5V/1A linear regulator for now.

I hooked everything up with the POE injector and extractor on either side of a 75' length of Cat5e, with my regulator board and a USB voltage monitor between the extractor and the Pi:










With the camera attached and the Pi running MotionEye, it draws about ~0.50 A, plus or minus a few mils. At the input terminal of the voltage regulator I'm measuring about 10 V, and at the output I'm getting just under 5 V, so the regulator is dumping 5 V/0.50 A, or about 2.5 W. The back side of the PCB is pretty hot right under the regulator, but the slug of the regulator is screwed onto a ground plane, so I'm hoping it can dump enough heat to prevent it from burning out.

It's been running for 10 minutes, and I'm still getting video, so I'm hoping this means I'm good to go. If I have the inclination I might buy another one of those ezsbc linear regulators and cut down on the power I'm dissipating.

Now I have to work on the enclosure . . .


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

I put it in a box. I used a simple gasketed food container, similar to these, but available singly from my local Japanese dollar store:










POE comes in through a waterproof RJ45 coupling. I put the both washers on one side of the coupler, around the mating with the enclosure, because I don't need to seal the inside jack:



















I used DAP silicone to seal the inside and outside of the lens against the hole I drilled into the top lid, and then afterwards realized that now I can't adjust the focus. :roll::










But this is just a proof of concept. I can try to scrape off the silicone and figure out another way to seal it.

I'll post some images tomorrow when it's light out.


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

So my BeeCam is running, but I have the focus point set incorrectly, and there's no way to adjust it on the camera any more. . The camera also has a surprisingly short depth of field:










I'll either have to reposition the camera or move the hive a bit, depending on which is more work.

But even with the bad focus and short DOF, I'm still enjoying watching the stream!

I can't publish the stream yet, because I need to figure out a way to have the little Raspberry Pi camera serve one stream to my computer, and then have the computer serve up many streams to the public.


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## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

Very Cool!!! I have found another project! Thank you!!


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

So that lens is most assuredly _not_ waterproof. Or even water resistant. Or hydrophobic:










It's sitting in a bag of rice right now, which is actually doing a pretty decent job. It'll have water spots, but it'll be dry.

I have another camera/lens assembly, so I put that in the box, behind a standard 35mm UV filter ($5) with silicone:










I also made a stand out of some 2 x 4s that I can move around, so I can put the camera where it will be focused on the hive entrance. Right now the sharpest focus is around 9" ±1". I still haven't figured out the streaming bit, but I used ffmpeg to save a 60 second video:



They're bringing in a fair amount of pollen. Then again, Sunday is SoCal Pollen Day .


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

Update on this:


After a lot of fiddling, I figured out how to get ffmpeg installed on the Raspberry Pi, so I could push the stream directly to my YouTube Streaming Channel, with music!
I got some nice footage.
The inability to pan and focus was really unsatisfying to me, especially the focus part, since every time I repositioned the camera I had to "focus" it by moving the entire camera around while watching a very-delayed feed on my phone over flakey WiFi.
The silicone seal around the lens failed.
The broken BeeCam sat in my "unfinished projects" pile for 6 months.
I got some Christmas money

So I bought myself a security camera with pan, tilt, zoom, and autofocus:






I still need to build/buy a small waterproof box to mount it against (where the cable connections will go), which I will then mount against the fence in front of the hives. 

The experiment with the Raspberry Pi was not a waste, though, because I'll use it to grab the video feed from the ReoLink camera and push it to my YouTube streaming channel (currently offline).

There doesn't appear to be any way to enable the PTZ functions through the YouTube interface, so I will be controlling which bee we watch. :lpf:

Yes, it's an expensive indulgence, but it's still way cheaper than a Flow Hive! :lookout:


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## IAmTheWaterbug (Jun 4, 2014)

We're live!


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