Hi-Res Digital WeatherCam?

WeatherMatrix Member and Photo Gallery Contributor ExtraordinaireBill Westphal has put me to shame by finding what I think will be a relatively inexpensive webcam solution using an Olympus Digital Camera and some swift software by Erdman Video Systems (which does installation of panoramic weather/camera systems). He is currently testing the solution and you can see the images from the test camera online.

Historically, outdoor webcams (or weathercams as we enthusiasts like to call them) have been either expensive, or low-quality off-the-shelf solutions. You normally can't connect just any digital camera to a computer and have it act like a webcam. It's easy to get a nice webcam for $1500 plus from the experts at Axis or Stardot, the leaders in the arena (the AccuCam is a low-end Axis model). But what can you do on a limited budget?

Bill says on his "About The Cam" page:

The software is free, which is great, though some have said it isn't the most intuitive. The C-5050 Zoom camera is an older model which Bill wasn't actively using (looked like rare but about $250 on Ebay). The software will handle any kind of Olympus camera (and some Kodaks), so Ebay away. The outdoor housing generally will run you just short of $100, depending on where you get it. So you're talking $350 total cost for a 5MP weather cam, which beats any professional solution.

Any worries at all?

Operating Temperature: Bill lives in Southern California, which doesn't have sub-freezing temperatures, so there are really no worries with putting a digital camera out in the elements. The normals for Altadena range from 44 to 91, according to AccuWeather.com, and I'd be curious to see if he has any problems in the summer.

On the one hand, how hot could it get in the enclosure on the roof? On the other hand, I'm sure these enclosures are built to mitigate heat, and in fact you can even buy fans for them (or heaters). Olympus says the operating range of the camera is 32 to 104 F. Here in State College, PA, where the but we usually get below zero at least once, I'd wonder if the camera would have operating issues in the winter without a heater.

USB Length Limit: People say the limit of USB cables is 5 meters (15 feet or so) for "full-speed between two devices." This is obviously not the case for just transmitting a still camera image, as Bill says he has 34 feet of cable now, but there might be some practical upper-limit which you could cross trying to get the cable from the roof into your house.

Bill admits it is an experiment, and he promises to keep me updated as he goes forward. P.S.: His inspiration was the UCLA Astro Webcam on Mount Wilson, which looks down towards his house.