> Thanks for the build session on Sunday afternoon.  While I did not make as much progress as I would have liked, I did get the chassis built.

> Someone told me (Eric) that there was a likely move away from the HD-5000 webcam because among other things the autofocus would periodically refocus blurring the image every few seconds.  Very annoying.

> I did some research and here is how you disable auto focus on Ubuntu with the v4l2 command line tool uvcdyntrl:  
> uvcdynctrl -s "Focus, Auto" 0
> Then to set it manually enter the command:
>  uvcdynctrl -s "Focus (absolute)" $amt
> where $amt is between 0 and 40.  

> The smallest focal length is set with 40 which will focus on an object about Two inches away.  The value 0 is setting the distance at infinity.  20 seems to be a good midpoint and seeing as we will likely be in not so clear water, having a focal depth that is variable rather than set at infinity is a good idea that should bring clearer images in murky water.

> I tested this with ubuntu on my x86 based laptop and it works great.  I did not attempt on the beaglebone.

> Can someone try this on the beaglebone running ubuntu?

> It may be as simple as:  sudo apt-get install uvcdynctrl

> Not sure what other webcams were mentioned, but before we design this webcam out because of autofocus, know that it is software controllable.
> --
> Sincerely,

> Stephen Olsen
> Step...@EmbeddedArtisan.com
> (510)589-3245

> On 8/6/2012 11:07 AM, David Lang wrote:
>> Hi all,

>> First of all, thank you all for coming yesterday! It was great to have so many of you in one place.

>> To follow up on a few items:

>> 1) If you have a moment, please share anything you learned/photo'd/documented yesterday and edit the Assembly section of the Wiki: http://wiki.openrov.com/index.php/Assembly
>> The more of us that take the time to edit and refine the build instructions, the better for everyone.

>> 2) We've started a Google Group (invitation to follow) to serve as a mailing list for the developers of OpenROV. As we discussed yesterday, we need to have a better way to communicate internally amongst the developers. We can talk further about the best way to do that - a number of folks like Jira - but the google group is the first step.

>> 3) Also on that note, I've discussed with many of you the             idea of using the Wiki Forum as a developers forum. In the long run, having the critical development conversations outside of Ning is a good idea and this also allows it to be a more focused conversation. There's also a section there for Build Logs, which would be great to have links to all of your works in process. Here's the link: http://wiki.openrov.com/index.php/Special:WikiForum

>> As always, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

>> Thanks!
>> David

>> --
>> OpenROV.com

> - Bran Sorem

> On Aug 7, 2012, at 5:37 PM, Stephen Olsen <step...@embeddedartisan.com>
> wrote:

> OpenROVers,

> Thanks for the build session on Sunday afternoon.  While I did not make as
> much progress as I would have liked, I did get the chassis built.

> Someone told me (Eric) that there was a likely move away from the HD-5000
> webcam because among other things the autofocus would periodically refocus
> blurring the image every few seconds.  Very annoying.

> I did some research and here is how you disable auto focus on Ubuntu with
> the v4l2 command line tool uvcdyntrl:

>    - uvcdynctrl -s "Focus, Auto" 0

> Then to set it manually enter the command:

>    -  uvcdynctrl -s "Focus (absolute)" $amt

> where $amt is between 0 and 40.

> The smallest focal length is set with 40 which will focus on an object
> about Two inches away.  The value 0 is setting the distance at infinity.
> 20 seems to be a good midpoint and seeing as we will likely be in not so
> clear water, having a focal depth that is variable rather than set at
> infinity is a good idea that should bring clearer images in murky water.

> I tested this with ubuntu on my x86 based laptop and it works great.  I
> did not attempt on the beaglebone.

> Can someone try this on the beaglebone running ubuntu?

> It may be as simple as:  sudo apt-get install uvcdynctrl

> Not sure what other webcams were mentioned, but before we design this
> webcam out because of autofocus, know that it is software controllable.

> --
> Sincerely,

> Stephen OlsenStep...@EmbeddedArtisan.com(510)589-3245

> On 8/6/2012 11:07 AM, David Lang wrote:

> Hi all,

>  First of all, thank you all for coming yesterday! It was great to have
> so many of you in one place.

>  To follow up on a few items:

>  1) If you have a moment, please share anything you
> learned/photo'd/documented yesterday and *edit the Assembly section of
> the Wiki:* http://wiki.openrov.com/index.php/Assembly
> The more of us that take the time to edit and refine the build
> instructions, the better for everyone.

>   2) We've started a *Google Group* (invitation to follow) to serve as a
> mailing list for the developers of OpenROV. As we discussed yesterday, we
> need to have a better way to communicate internally amongst the developers.
> We can talk further about the best way to do that - a number of folks like
> Jira - but the google group is the first step.

>   3) Also on that note, I've discussed with many of you the idea of using
> the *Wiki Forum as a developers forum.* In the long run, having the
> critical development conversations outside of Ning is a good idea and this
> also allows it to be a more focused conversation. There's also a section
> there for Build Logs, which would be great to have links to all of your
> works in process. Here's the link: *
> http://wiki.openrov.com/index.php/Special:WikiForum *

>  As always, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

>  Thanks!
> David

>  --
> OpenROV.com

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