Topic: Weather Cameras for clouds

[TimeAlongTheWay]

I currently own an Ambient Weather WS-2902 weather station that works well. As an addition I would like to find a weather camera to mainly capture sunrises and sunsets. I purchased a Ambient weather camera but though it was fairly clear and sharp the color rendition and cloud definition was very very poor. There is a myriad of cameras on Amazon but it is difficult to know what is going to capture the color and definition decently. I currently use a Nikon P1000 on superlapse mode to capture but want something of a fixed nature that does not break the bank. Thank you.

[Bashy]

Reolink cameras are pretty good and in low light too, i.e. they can see the larger stars (planets) and they can see night clouds.

[weatherdoc]

I wrote a post (https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=43546.msg443473#msg443473) on how I set up my webcam earlier this year to include hardware and software I purchased. I have a REOLINK RLC-510A PoE IP Camera and I use IPTimelapse software. Here's where my camera is displayed: https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcam.php. Hope this helps with your decision.

[BaseLine]

...want something of a fixed nature that does not break the bank. Thank you.

If you want a good camera that can do day and night (the most interesting time actually) you need to spend in thousands.
Good luck.

[Garth Bock]

...want something of a fixed nature that does not break the bank. Thank you.

If you want a good camera that can do day and night (the most interesting time actually) you need to spend in thousands.
Good luck.

Could you give some examples of camera models "in the thousands" ?  Just curious what expensive cameras you know of that are being used for all sky views. This might be helpful in deciding how much to spend. As has been mentioned the Reolinks are affordable and can be used.

[BaseLine]

Could you give some examples of camera models "in the thousands" ?  Just curious what expensive cameras you know of that are being used for all sky views. This might be helpful in deciding how much to spend. As has been mentioned the Reolinks are affordable and can be used.

Something like Alcor System. I know their cameras are also OK for the day time imaging.

[Mapantz]

If you want a good camera that can do day and night (the most interesting time actually) you need to spend in thousands.
Good luck.

Bizarre comment..

There are a lot of cheap cameras that can record quality night time images. My Reolink picks up stars extremely well, for example. Sunrises and sunsets are fine too.

[DaleReid]

Another consideration is if  you want color (to catch that great blue sky and white clouds, or the scary green of a super storm advancing with hail assured) or just accentuate the clouds

Many decades ago I discovered as a kid that one could develop one's own black and white film (and the local high school had a dedicated dark room) and the use of certain filters (red) would make the nice cumulous clouds stunning with their definition and texture.

I assume polarizing filters could be placed over the color cameras like Reolink (nice by the way) but no way to adjust the filter's plane as the sun moved across the sky.

Ansel Adams did nice work with black and white and filters to make clouds be so very dramatic.

[Aardvark]

I also took photos of clouds, back in the day when I was in graduate school, in the geology dept.  I was to take photos of clouds and have them displayed in the hallways.   I used a polarizing filter and got the same effect you get wearing sunglasses looking at clouds.    I also used a red and yellow filter, but these were on a 35mm SLR.   I think you could put a polarizing filter on whatever camera you end up using, then adjust the filter to show the clouds.

[scudwatcher]

I have several webcams for viewing day and night (COLOR) sky conditions:

Reolink RLC-511WA - https://csraweather.org/GNTS1ENECam2.jpg  (AMAZON 116 BUCKS)

Reolink Duo WiFi - https://csraweather.org/WebcamLIVE.php  (AMAZON 135 BUCKS)

Ambient Weather Network Outdoor Wifi Weather Camera TIMELAPSE (AMBIENTWEATHER.COM  110 BUCKS)

https://ambientweather.net/dashboard/d721a06c277464bbcd04c9e22aa2d892?show=webcam

I am more than happy to answer any questions.

[dupreezd]

I have several webcams for viewing day and night (COLOR) sky conditions:

Reolink RLC-511WA - https://csraweather.org/GNTS1ENECam2.jpg  (AMAZON 116 BUCKS)

scudwatcher, I just finished installing a security system using RLC-511's and have one spare that I can use for weather. What did you use to overlay the text?
Also any other helpful advise.

[scudwatcher]

In the past, I utilized Blue Iris and BLUE IRIS TOOLS for the weather conditions overlay.  I became frustrated with the constant BI updates!  I now utilize IPTIMELAPSE for all still and timelapse images.  https://iptimelapse.com/iptimelapse-in-the-world/ scroll down to see my website listed.  It is expensive at 129 bucks, though.  But well worth it!

[BaseLine]

If you want a good camera that can do day and night (the most interesting time actually) you need to spend in thousands.
Good luck.

Bizarre comment..

There are a lot of cheap cameras that can record quality night time images. My Reolink picks up stars extremely well, for example. Sunrises and sunsets are fine too.

Can you post an example of your "good quality"? What's Reolink model? 

[weatherdoc]

If you look at my post above, I provided details about how I set up my Reolink RLC-510A with IPTimelapse and here are links to a still image (https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcam.php), time lapse (https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcam-lapse.php), and live (https://novawx.dscloud.me/wxcamlive.php) via YouTube on my website. There's also an archive of each day's time lapse going back to Feb 2022 if you want to look at summer versus winter, rain, snow, sunny, cloudy, night, day......IPTimelapse has a lot of options for displaying weather overlays from different sources like Weather Display, CWOP, Weather Underground, nearby METAR, etc.

[scudwatcher]

Weatherdoc,
  I have a few issues I would like to address, if you have some free time to help (or anyone who is following this thread)?

1.  Although, not really an issue other than increased pricing, IPTimelapse is now at USD 129.

2.  IPTimelapse works exceptionally well (still image and timelapse video) with ONE camera.  When I add two or more cameras, the timelapse video captures images from all cameras.  I have tried to turn off timelapse feature on all cams except one, but still, timelapse video is a mess.  Any suggestions to what or where I may be doing wrong?

3.  I really like your saratoga base usa wide format.  I have tried to go wide on my base usa template, but encounter several issues:  my banner image needs to be wider and I can't seem to set two webcam images instead of the maps.  Would you consider helping me at your convenience, please?  Thank You in advance!

[weatherdoc]

1. Yeah, I think I got IPTimelapse just before the price increase. Going from $79 to $129 was a big increase.

2. I only have one camera so I can't address your issue with multiple cameras. I have thought about adding another camera but never thought about how that would work with IPTimelapse. You can email Mike McCormack at info@iptimelapse.com - he was quick to respond and very helpful when I asked him a couple of questions.

3. In settings.php the code that sets my website at widescreen, black, and disables the use of the Theme switcher is here:

Code: [Select]

# Mike Challis' Theme Switch configuration
$SITE['allowThemeSwitch']   = false;  // set to false to disable the use of Theme Switcher
$SITE['CSSscreenDefault'] = 'weather-screen-black.css'; // leave -narrow or -wide off this .. just change color here
$SITE['CSSwideOrNarrowDefault'] = 'wide'; // 'narrow' or 'wide'
I've attached my index.php file as a text file that has the code for the two webcam links (image and timelapse). I think code on line 111 is where the width is fixed at 1250 pixels. My banner image is 595 pixels wide and left-justified with the same background color as the black color in the webpage, so it appears that the image is the entire width of the webpage at 1250 pixels.

I see you're an FAA certified drone pilot - very cool. I retired from the FAA in September, as manager of the NextGen Aviation Weather Division. One of the projects we've been working on is weather for drones since "official" weather is from ASOS and AWOS at airports, but drones won't be operating from airports. Working with FAA Safety and NWS, we realize that personal weather stations will play an important role for drone operations, especially as we move towards BVLOS operations. And, weather cameras will be part of that capability.

Let me know if you have any other questions that I may be able to help with. I believe there are other forum members that are running multiple cameras with IPTimelapse, so maybe they can answer your multiple camera question.

Bill

[scudwatcher]

Well Bill, Thank you very much for your time and input.  Unfortunately, I have been called out to work.  I will tackle this later today or tonight and may ask you some additional questions, if you don't mind.  I have been a FAA Drone pilot since February 2022 and I fly mostly to perform insurance residence hail damage roof claims.  I wish I could fly more, but still working full time.  So, I understand how to change settings.php.  Do I change index.php per your text file, I believe?  I will play with this later tonight.  I was a FAA Certified METAR surface weather observer at KBTR, KMSY and recently at KCHS.  Long story for another topic, though.  Have a great rest of your day!

[weatherdoc]

For index.php, I suggest you backup your file and then you can incorporate the weather cam sections into your index.php and test it. I certainly don't mind answering questions. You can always send me a PM.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Might I suggest
https://www.netcamstudio.com/  ?
Though I rarely use the feature, each cam can be
individually configured for specific time lapse sequences, frame rates, etc.

You can install an SSL certificate for HTTPS stream.
as well as overlays of your choice, etc
My current cam pages begin here:
https://frankfortweather.us/camsUP/cam1.html
The streams have live audio available. (N/A for stills)
Stills update ± 010-15 sec

[scudwatcher]

Hello Cutty Sark Sailor!  Thank You for the suggestion.  I will definitely add Netcam Studio to my project list.

[ValentineWeather]

Might I suggest
https://www.netcamstudio.com/  ?
Though I rarely use the feature, each cam can be
individually configured for specific time lapse sequences, frame rates, etc.

You can install an SSL certificate for HTTPS stream.
as well as overlays of your choice, etc
My current cam pages begin here:
https://frankfortweather.us/camsUP/cam1.html
The streams have live audio available. (N/A for stills)
Stills update ± 010-15 sec

I like the streams, so the software will do that? If it does I'm going to add 1-stream for my website.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Randy,

Yep, it'll do that. Download that 'free' version, I don't know if it has ALL the features, but you could get an idea... I use the 4 cam platform.
The 'Banner' insert updates about every 2 minutes or so, depending on data... that's generated on the site with  Anole's wxgraphic.php script,
downloaded to the camera host PC using a wonderful old utility from Nir Sofer: SeqDownload and inserted into NCS.  (It does work on Win 10).
Incidentally, the 'experimental' radar (RadarScope) is also streamed using NCS and a virtual cam... (at least when RadarScope doesn't 'quit'... arrrgh.)
NCS uploads the still images, also.

[BaseLine]

If you want a good camera that can do day and night (the most interesting time actually) you need to spend in thousands.
Good luck.

Bizarre comment..

There are a lot of cheap cameras that can record quality night time images. My Reolink picks up stars extremely well, for example. Sunrises and sunsets are fine too.

Can you post an example of your "good quality" and what Reolink model did you use? 

[mkutche]

I have several webcams for viewing day and night (COLOR) sky conditions:

Reolink RLC-511WA - https://csraweather.org/GNTS1ENECam2.jpg  (AMAZON 116 BUCKS)

Reolink Duo WiFi - https://csraweather.org/WebcamLIVE.php  (AMAZON 135 BUCKS)

Ambient Weather Network Outdoor Wifi Weather Camera TIMELAPSE (AMBIENTWEATHER.COM  110 BUCKS)

https://ambientweather.net/dashboard/d721a06c277464bbcd04c9e22aa2d892?show=webcam

I am more than happy to answer any questions.

how do u have this mounted?

[scudwatcher]

Hey Mike,  Well, a lot has transpired since that post, lol!  here are some images of my webcam mounts.  Hope this helps.



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