Creative NX Pro-query/poor picture?

Hello,i recently bought a creative webcam NX Pro and had hoped for
better but i find the image quality poor. Perhaps i should have done
more research but i find that it cannot deal with high light levels
very well and the picture is greatly overexposed. The software has an
auto exposure setting but even if i over-ride this and put it on
manual at the lowest setting,its still overexposed. This only happens
when pointing the cam outside eg looking through a window. Even on
relatively dull days,it cannot cope with high external light levels.

Is this a common thing with webcams or have i perhaps got a faulty
product?

reply via group please

joe

tarquinlinbin wrote:
Hello,i recently bought a creative webcam NX Pro and had hoped for
better but i find the image quality poor. Perhaps i should have done
more research but i find that it cannot deal with high light levels
very well and the picture is greatly overexposed. The software has an
auto exposure setting but even if i over-ride this and put it on
manual at the lowest setting,its still overexposed. This only happens
when pointing the cam outside eg looking through a window. Even on
relatively dull days,it cannot cope with high external light levels.

Is this a common thing with webcams or have i perhaps got a faulty
product?

reply via group please

joe

Many cameras do this. It's a problem in that you can't get relatively
inexpensive sensors that can cope with the wide range of conditions -
and as most people use webcams inside where they need good response in
lower light levels, many max out if pointed outside.

Try - reducing the amount of sky/reflective/pale surfaces in the frame,
shielding the lens from direct sun falling on it, and putting a pair of
sunglasses over it to reduce the light levels hitting the sensor.

A lot of the time careful positioning can reduce the amount of
white-out, or the time spent in whiteout.

Velvet

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:47:09 GMT, Velvet
wrote:


Many cameras do this. It's a problem in that you can't get relatively
inexpensive sensors that can cope with the wide range of conditions -
and as most people use webcams inside where they need good response in
lower light levels, many max out if pointed outside.

Try - reducing the amount of sky/reflective/pale surfaces in the frame,
shielding the lens from direct sun falling on it, and putting a pair of
sunglasses over it to reduce the light levels hitting the sensor.

A lot of the time careful positioning can reduce the amount of
white-out, or the time spent in whiteout.

Velvet
Yes this is what i had thought. I went over to the creative web site
though and in the support section, they have seen fit to produce a new
updated driver specifically aimed at addressing the problem of
overexposure when used to film outside. I duly downloaded the new
driver and now find that its even worse!!,,argghh.

I can only assume then that this problem has been flagged to creative
a number of times by their customers. I have emailed them for further
but am not expecting much!.

When i look at webcams around the world, many of them are filming
outside scenes , sunsets ,well known locations etc and yet the
pictures are very reasonable. I wonder what sort of webcams these
people use?.

If anyone out there has simiolar problems with the nx pro or has one
that works great outisde, i;d love to hear from them. Also if anyone
can recommend a cam they use which works very well in and out ,that
would be usefull also. I think this one will be getting returned!..

replies via group or email but dont forget to
change the 1999 to 2003 !.

tarquinlinbin wrote:

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:47:09 GMT, Velvet
wrote:



Many cameras do this. It's a problem in that you can't get relatively
inexpensive sensors that can cope with the wide range of conditions -
and as most people use webcams inside where they need good response in
lower light levels, many max out if pointed outside.

Try - reducing the amount of sky/reflective/pale surfaces in the frame,
shielding the lens from direct sun falling on it, and putting a pair of
sunglasses over it to reduce the light levels hitting the sensor.

A lot of the time careful positioning can reduce the amount of
white-out, or the time spent in whiteout.

Velvet

Yes this is what i had thought. I went over to the creative web site
though and in the support section, they have seen fit to produce a new
updated driver specifically aimed at addressing the problem of
overexposure when used to film outside. I duly downloaded the new
driver and now find that its even worse!!,,argghh.

I can only assume then that this problem has been flagged to creative
a number of times by their customers. I have emailed them for further
but am not expecting much!.

When i look at webcams around the world, many of them are filming
outside scenes , sunsets ,well known locations etc and yet the
pictures are very reasonable. I wonder what sort of webcams these
people use?.

If anyone out there has simiolar problems with the nx pro or has one
that works great outisde, i;d love to hear from them. Also if anyone
can recommend a cam they use which works very well in and out ,that
would be usefull also. I think this one will be getting returned!..

replies via group or email but dont forget to
change the 1999 to 2003 !.


I use creative webcams - the pc-cam300 iirc. You can see them (feeds 1
and 3) on my website at http://www.velvetpurrs.com/webcam.html if you
fancy. Feed 1 points ESEish, feed 3 points SW. Both are hit by direct
sunlight at some point in the day, feed 1 tends to be earlyish morning,
feed 3 is some time in the afternoon. Feed 4 is offline currently, and
was served by a very old webcam with a CMOS sensor. The creative cam
300 uses a CCD sensor, which I've found to be far better than CMOS.
(feed 2 is an IR CCTV, not a webcam).

I'm in the UK, but all the feeds have timestamps on if you want to work
out when to check back and compare. At the moment I'm not taking any
steps to shade the cams, just being careful where they are pointed.

Some white-out does occurr, but it's livable with for my purposes.

Velvet

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 16:06:38 GMT, Velvet
wrote:


I use creative webcams - the pc-cam300 iirc. You can see them (feeds 1
and 3) on my website at http://www.velvetpurrs.com/webcam.html if you
fancy. Feed 1 points ESEish, feed 3 points SW. Both are hit by direct
sunlight at some point in the day, feed 1 tends to be earlyish morning,
feed 3 is some time in the afternoon. Feed 4 is offline currently, and
was served by a very old webcam with a CMOS sensor. The creative cam
300 uses a CCD sensor, which I've found to be far better than CMOS.
(feed 2 is an IR CCTV, not a webcam).

I'm in the UK, but all the feeds have timestamps on if you want to work
out when to check back and compare. At the moment I'm not taking any
steps to shade the cams, just being careful where they are pointed.

Some white-out does occurr, but it's livable with for my purposes.

Velvet
Hi again velevet,thanks for the reply and i did check your cams,all
working well. I tried your trick using a sunglass lens and guess what?
it works very well!. If i can just fashion a piece of sunglass into
the right diamter to sit just in front of the lens, I'll have it
sorted. Which software do you use by the way?

ta

joe

but remember to change the 1999 to 2003!

tarquinlinbin wrote:

Hi again velevet,thanks for the reply and i did check your cams,all
working well. I tried your trick using a sunglass lens and guess what?
it works very well!. If i can just fashion a piece of sunglass into
the right diamter to sit just in front of the lens, I'll have it
sorted. Which software do you use by the way?

ta

joe

Glad it was of use! I use paid version of webcamXP pro
(www.webcamxp.com iirc) - it supports up to 5 sources, does streaming
video as well as timed ftp uploads, can either be embedded in an
existing website (as mine is) or has its own 'gallery' pages and html
server built in.

It's the most stable software I've found to date (webcam32 was the
previous contender for the award but would crash every few days/hours),
and I'm very pleased with it - though it is quite expensive, I believe
in funding an application which is useful and works well, especially if
I use it every day :-)

Velvet

use blue tack to stick that sunglass lens to yr webcam

i have various cameras set up here for my own use and sunglass lenses have
been the most usefull addition
they should come with one allready cut to shape !!

regards slayer





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SOME PEOPLE ENJOY SIPPING FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE...........

PERSONALLY ,,,, i like to take huge gulps..........

remove my shorts to email me direct....

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regards slayer

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:14:43 +0000 (UTC), "SlAyEr"
wrote:

use blue tack to stick that sunglass lens to yr webcam

i have various cameras set up here for my own use and sunglass lenses have
been the most usefull addition
they should come with one allready cut to shape !!

regards slayer
Yes,thats just what i was thinking,why cant the makers just include a
clip on lens or even a photochromic (?) lens to automatically
lighten/darken?. I;d have happily paid a couple of quid more..

tarquinlinbin wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:14:43 +0000 (UTC), "SlAyEr"
wrote:

use blue tack to stick that sunglass lens to yr webcam

i have various cameras set up here for my own use and sunglass lenses have
been the most usefull addition
they should come with one allready cut to shape !!

regards slayer
Yes,thats just what i was thinking,why cant the makers just include a
clip on lens or even a photochromic (?) lens to automatically
lighten/darken?. I;d have happily paid a couple of quid more..


There IS A DAYLIGHT COMPENSATOR built into this cam people!!!!!
Only thing is, you MUST get the updated driver to find it!
I recieved mine for my XP machine.
Get yours at the Creative Labs support page, select NX Pro from
Webcams, and OS.
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

You will find the control in the advanced section of the source
control. Where you currently see the 50Hz & 60Hz refresh rates, you
will now find an "Outdoor" radio button. Again, this is for the
updated XP driver. Other OS's may have same feature in updated
driver, but can't garunteee it.
Hope this helps!

Don Gumbert wrote:

tarquinlinbin wrote in message . ..

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:14:43 +0000 (UTC), "SlAyEr"
wrote:


use blue tack to stick that sunglass lens to yr webcam

i have various cameras set up here for my own use and sunglass lenses have
been the most usefull addition
they should come with one allready cut to shape !!

regards slayer

Yes,thats just what i was thinking,why cant the makers just include a
clip on lens or even a photochromic (?) lens to automatically
lighten/darken?. I;d have happily paid a couple of quid more..



There IS A DAYLIGHT COMPENSATOR built into this cam people!!!!!
Only thing is, you MUST get the updated driver to find it!
I recieved mine for my XP machine.
Get yours at the Creative Labs support page, select NX Pro from
Webcams, and OS.
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

You will find the control in the advanced section of the source
control. Where you currently see the 50Hz & 60Hz refresh rates, you
will now find an "Outdoor" radio button. Again, this is for the
updated XP driver. Other OS's may have same feature in updated
driver, but can't garunteee it.
Hope this helps!

Well I DON'T HAVE THAT CAM, mister!!!

Thus I was offering suggestions that'll work on any cam, and that have
been used on the ones I DO own. Sheesh.

If you think we're all such thickos you have to post like that, how
about answering the original post sooner, hmm?

Velvet