Cheaper document camera*

Step 4: Final thoughts

This was remarkably easy to set up... here are some of the goods and bads"

Good:
Cheap
easy to set up
Has a wide field of view for showing entire work area
Can be moved if need be
Uses things that you probably have around
Students love it. They are transfixed just because it's different and cool.

Bad:
Can still see all the camera settings through the projector (can't turn them off on this camera model. Other cameras you can)
eats batteries (some cameras have the option to plug them in... that would be good)
You bump the camera... all your kids get seasick!

Conclusion:
I am going to try this set-up with a higher resolution web cam... I have the cam ordered.
You could use a better resolution digital camera... mine is 2 mega pixel. (make sure the video output is really good, so the detail is better)
You could also use an old video camera or cam corder... that way you have a plug (no batteries) and higher video output resolution.
Old color security camera would work also... you don't need sound just the video.

Comments

[pepotte]

step 1 says camera goes into computer and from there to the projector, but you actually bypassed the computer and connected camera directly to projector.  That is good since it simplifies matters, but then, don't you lose the ability to zoom in on a document & make the type readable on the screen?

[riglertke]

As I was reading I was thinking that a video camera with a remote would be awesome. You could use it to zoom in on things and you could hook it directly into the LCD without having to run it through you computer.