Author Topic: Whats the difference between a weather cam and a Allsky cam  (Read 957 times)

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Offline skippyinspace

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Whats the difference between a weather cam and a Allsky cam
« on: March 05, 2019, 07:26:24 AM »
Was starting on the trip to workout the best way and what type of weather cam set up, Budget as close to free as possible
Location north of Scotland. While starting to do some research I started to come across all sky cameras in stargazing threads and some people saying they used them for weather as well?

Thoughts?

Also what are the issues in using the latest incarnation of the pi and its camera?

Thanks in advance

Offline galfert

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Re: Whats the difference between a weather cam and a Allsky cam
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2019, 09:44:37 AM »
Allsky is a camera that points straight up and has a very convex lens that allows for 180 degrees field of view left to right but since it does this north to south and east to west it is sort or like a 360 but from the horizon up only...like seeing half a sphere. Because of this the ground level and the trees are very distorted and limited in view often or if placed to high they completely cut off ground cover. I think their design was for star gazing and cloud cover and such. I can see its potential use as a weather cam. But I feel that an allsky is not a best use as a weather cam because of the distortion of ground cover and potential cut off. A weather cam should be a nice view of some sky in a particular direction and it should include trees and some ground or lake or other nature in the scenery. That way you can better see rainfall or snow fall and snow accumulation on the ground and trees and and if it is windy you can see trees blowing, if there is water like a lake or ocean then you can see waves and white caps and visually asses wind. Those are all things lost on an allsky that are good sources of weather information and tell a story about the environment.

Any camera has the potential to be a weather cam. Even none weather proof indoor only cameras can be placed indoor aimed out of a window. Start with what you got and then upgrade.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2019, 09:52:40 AM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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