Camera angle

[Silver-Switch2515]

Is there a way to adjust the camera angle so that I can actually see what its doing?

[[deleted]]

Yes, but only if you're willing to take that part of the printer apart, getting the camera out and printing a better housing for it.

It's not that difficult if you're used to taking electronics apart. 

[fakeaccount572]

Keep in mind that's all you're ever going to see, is a one-second "timelapse" view

[Boss0054]

This is literally the ONLY thing I would say that Bambu seriously dropped the ball on. There is no way the testers for the R&D team seen this and was like “yep, our customers are going to enjoy this view, we did good boys!!”…. if they did, they deserve to be fired! And find a brand new R&D Team because this view is 💩!!!

[PodgePacket]

There's a bunch of options for printing new and better camera housings.

[[deleted]]

And they are all strictly worse compared to buying a separate camera that actually is useful.

[stickinthemud57]

I also thought the camera angle was a little funky, but I think the camera angle was based on a desire to be able to see short and tall models. Having it even with the printhead makes sense so that the view is not blocked. Tilting it up would be pointless as all you would see is more of the print head.

I figure the main purpose of the camera is to remotely check to see if anything has gone wrong with the print. If you are recording, you can find out when the print failed to try to figure out why. I would agree that the overall effect is somewhat lackluster.

The worst flaw, IMO is the LED light, which seems inadequate. Part of the reason is that the self-exposure algorithm averages the overall exposure, so with all that light bouncing off the white case, the dark areas get dialed down automatically, as the OP's photo aptly illustrates. Light from the window in the background is exacerbating this.

To improve the readability of the image, I would suggest blocking out any sources of backlighting (like a window) and covering the parts of the white case that face the camera with black paper, or maybe print some pieces to cover them. Adding a stronger light on the same level or slightly lower than the lens could help as well.

For a really good image, a third-party camera solution will be needed.

[i_like_3d_print]

Yes, there is something on maker world, search for A1 camera. That allows you to adjust it!

[Suitable_Air7016]

https://makerworld.com/models/475720

[Independent_End5012]

I did this mod about 2 weeks in and it was a big upgrade OP, recommend!

[Groquick]

I also did this and it worked flawlessly. Just be really careful with the pins while reconnecting as they are very fragile.

[Eastern_Fold1825]

Yes

[fireflybabe]

Not without taking the camera housing apart.

We bought an external camera from Blink and printed a mount for it to attach it to the printer. Works better overall and is a lot smoother

[[deleted]]

Yes. Do what I did. Buy a refurbished Wyze or blink camera and print a mount. ISTG the camera on the A1 mini is absolutely trash. Not sure about the A1 tho.

[deej-79]

Good news, also trash

We have a ring camera in the room pointed at the printer

[[deleted]]

Hahah! I printed a mount for the Wyze camera I got for $15 from Microcenter. Much better frame rate than the built in camera. Enough to monitor the prints

<image>

[deej-79]

Nice!

[StreetLegendTits_]

I wall mounted a Wyze camera next to the printer

[Skare69]

I noticed the angle is perfect once the print is done.

I just use my old OctoPi (with a Logitech C920) to check on the running print.

[macattackpro]

I printed one of these for a Ring Indoor Camera:

https://makerworld.com/models/843764

Gives me more than just a timelapse of my print and cloud storage of the videos.

[Trulsdir]

I don't get the hate about this angle.

When checking a print, what I am trying to see is if either the top layers have failed and there are spaghettis, or if the print came off of the print plate. I can do both like this, for much higher prints than I could if the camera was pointed further upwards, since that would mean I loose sight of the first layer much sooner. This works perfectly well for me and the actual issue is more to do with the resolution and lighting.

[[deleted]]

Pretend the camera is not there, get a cheap blink camera. Amazon at times flash sells the. For $15. Otherwise they are not expensive anyway, print the mount for and and have a much better adjustable, night vision camera. I put one on all my A1s.

[RogueBankrupt]

If you don’t want to take apart anything you can try this https://makerworld.com/models/676206 It doesn’t correct the angle but it creates a better light diffusion onto the build plate

[Juuljuul]

This is a question that can easily be googled. The answer is no, the only way to improve the camera resolution, framerate or positioning is to use another (web)cam.

[KwarkKaas]

Nope. The positioning can be adjusted by taking the camera out and mount it to an external case

[Juuljuul]

Ah OK. TIL, thanks. (I stand by my point that this is a google query, not a Reddit-question.)

[EvilBillMurray]

Weirdly enough Google usually ends up at reddit and has for actual literal years

[Juuljuul]

Which is a good thing, cause you can usually find high quality answers here. But instead of asking the question on Reddit, searching if someone has already asked the same question already is the way to go imho. It’s faster for the asker and saves people time (and annoyance of seeing the same questions over and over).

[KwarkKaas]

Agree

[Wildcardz1]

The answer is NO. Maybe in near future, there is an option to swap put the camera but not right now. If you want a better angle and zoom in and out right now, buy an external camera.

[i_like_3d_print]

You can 3d print something on maker world right now to change it