E2 Camera Fix

[Raise3D_User1]

So, the E2 has a pretty terrible camera. Out of the box it takes horrible video that is blown out like the gamma is way turned up. Mine was also blurry. After playing around, I still think it's a terrible camera, but now it actually looks okay. I sent this solution to support as well so their support staff can do more than recommend blocking leds to make it less light in the printing chamber (which doesn't really work).

The PROBLEM is the auto-iris of the camera is ON by default and it's adjusting to all the blacks in the box, blowing out the white LED light and oversaturating the picture.

1. The camera has auto-iris that is really poor quality. That’s why everything looks blown out. However, you can TRICK IT by placing a bright white piece of cardstock about 3-4” high and 6-8” wide on the thick behind the extruders. When you do this, the camera sees the bright white and irises down and everything on the bed suddenly looks GOOD – almost. Mine was still blurry. Which leads to...
2. The bezel on the lens is threaded for FOCUS! You can carefully LOOSEN the tiny lens to focus. Mine was on very tight, but that tightening put the lens ring past the point of ideal focus. By backing the lens ring off (loosening) about a 1 turn, I was able to get it fully focused and have a pretty sharp picture.

The camera is still poor quality, but these two workarounds put the output into at least acceptable range. If the auto-iris could be turned off in software, it would be the best solution and eliminate the need for the cardstock to trick the camera. However these two fixes still allow full LED lighting (I didn’t cover any of the LEDs that lit the chamber – that was an unacceptable solution) and end up giving good output. The only tricky part is mounting the cardstock piece that tricks the camera iris so it doesn’t interfere with the unit’s operation. I found a good way, but it may be a little different for everyone.

Here's a before and after comparison...

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Thanks for sharing this finding here!

[meelo88]

Hi all I tried these suggestions on my E2 and it has greatly made the camera better and clearer with less saturation.

If there was an upgrade to the resolution one day that would be great!

[Blue21]

Hi all I tried these suggestions on my E2 and it has greatly made the camera better and clearer with less saturation.

If there was an upgrade to the resolution one day that would be great!

Check also in the printer setup, mine was set by default to VGA 640x480 and there was a high resolution possible. Unfortunately I am fare from my printer and through the cloud I have not access to that setting. Without the change proposed in this post, it is hard to see a difference.

[Blue21]

...
1. The camera has auto-iris that is really poor quality. That’s why everything looks blown out. However, you can TRICK IT by placing a bright white piece of cardstock about 3-4” high and 6-8” wide on the thick behind the extruders. When you do this, the camera sees the bright white and irises down and everything on the bed suddenly looks GOOD – almost. Mine was still blurry. Which leads to...
2. The bezel on the lens is threaded for FOCUS! You can carefully LOOSEN the tiny lens to focus. Mine was on very tight, but that tightening put the lens ring past the point of ideal focus. By backing the lens ring off (loosening) about a 1 turn, I was able to get it fully focused and have a pretty sharp picture.
...

Hi, thanks for the advise, that helped.

1. Following your advise, I placed an almost 330x220mm white HIPS plastic sheet on the rear of the print and go it this way, yellow PLA is yellow and not white Probably later I will have to replace the basic tape by something more heat resistant.

2. On mine, the objective seems to be glued, this is usual on such low cost camera and some hot air will do the job but I have to see if I need to protect all the surrounding or dismount the camera to do it. Quality can only improve with better focus.

Did you see that the resolution can be set in the configuration? On mine it was not set at the highest.
Seems there is a way to attach other USB camera but I didn't found a list of compatible camera, as it has improved a lot thanks to your post, it doesn't matter that much.

[Raise3D_User1]

...
1. The camera has auto-iris that is really poor quality. That’s why everything looks blown out. However, you can TRICK IT by placing a bright white piece of cardstock about 3-4” high and 6-8” wide on the thick behind the extruders. When you do this, the camera sees the bright white and irises down and everything on the bed suddenly looks GOOD – almost. Mine was still blurry. Which leads to...
2. The bezel on the lens is threaded for FOCUS! You can carefully LOOSEN the tiny lens to focus. Mine was on very tight, but that tightening put the lens ring past the point of ideal focus. By backing the lens ring off (loosening) about a 1 turn, I was able to get it fully focused and have a pretty sharp picture.
...

Hi, thanks for the advise, that helped.

1. Following your advise, I placed an almost 330x220mm white HIPS plastic sheet on the rear of the print and go it this way, yellow PLA is yellow and not white Probably later I will have to replace the basic tape by something more heat resistant.

2020-06-17 23.41.46.jpg

2. On mine, the objective seems to be glued, this is usual on such low cost camera and some hot air will do the job but I have to see if I need to protect all the surrounding or dismount the camera to do it. Quality can only improve with better focus.

Did you see that the resolution can be set in the configuration? On mine it was not set at the highest.
Seems there is a way to attach other USB camera but I didn't found a list of compatible camera, as it has improved a lot thanks to your post, it doesn't matter that much.

Yes, I changed the resolution to 800x600 first before I kept investigating because the video was still so blown out from the auto-iris. This camera clearly has an iris control, but Raise 3D has to give us access to it in the software touchscreen. Until then, white paper in the back to force Iris-down is the only workaround. Pretty lame given how expensive the printer is.

[oldtimers]

hi
thanks a lot for this great idea from Raise3D_User1

we set up the camera like you told , added white foil to the back wall and it’s much better.
we added the LED strip on the cover
now it is seen beautifully through the online

for better grip on the table you can use baby paper glue, and it is nicely washed with warm water, a great solution


many pleasures Oldtimers.si TEAM, Mec

[oldtimers]

Glue Pritt is easily removed with hot water

[kse]

Does someone know how the camera is attached to the mainboard? maybe via usb or csi port?

[Raise3D_User1]

I've almost never had adhesion issues with the E2 using PLA or PETG. The consistent temperature of the chamber seems to help prints stick. I also wipe the bed down with IPA after every cycle, so maybe that helps, too. I will have problems with the Prusa i3MK3S printers sometimes, but I think that's because they're open and subject to the temperature whims of the room.

I don't think the camera is connected with USB, I think it's a molex-type connector on the mainboard, but I haven't checked it. I'm just biding my time until RAISE gives us camera exposure control in the next release.

[kse]

yes it is no usb socket, but its a 4 pin wiring, that smells like usb with an non usb socket.

[oldtimers]

the first layer of Platform Bed and Extruder you set a slightly higher temperature for better grip on the Bed, and then you reduce all the other layers so that they don't bend when cooled due to too high a temperature, this method works great for me

[Raise3D_User1]

Thanks for sharing this finding here!

It's been a while since the last software release. Is there any ETA on the next release that will give better control over the camera iris/gamma settings so we don't have to use the white card trick?

[Vicky@Raise3D]

We are planning to have it released in the next two versions.

[Raise3D_User1]

Is there an ETA for the next version? It's been 4 months. Will the next version also have realtime Z adjust while printing like PRUSAs have?

Now that I think about it, we really need a bug/request thread for the E2. There are so many convenience features it needs or are hard to access and/or bugs.

[Niklas_1994]

Is there a timeline of when there should be the next updates for the E2? And also some info what they contain? In what period were the last updates released?

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Is there an ETA for the next version? It's been 4 months. Will the next version also have realtime Z adjust while printing like PRUSAs have?

Now that I think about it, we really need a bug/request thread for the E2. There are so many convenience features it needs or are hard to access and/or bugs.

I have asked our developing team to confirm where this feature has been added into the developing list and they have confirmed it has been added onto the release plan around the 2nd Quarter this year.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Is there a timeline of when there should be the next updates for the E2? And also some info what they contain? In what period were the last updates released?

We are planning to release the next version around the end of June. But I don't have the full list of features to be added in this new version till close to the actual date.