Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney WebCam progress

Doug has been working on getting a webcam pointed at Mt. Whitney lately, but not without some issues. Here are some of the details:

Doug has a new Windows Vista computer he hopes to use to run the webcam. The problem is that the Webcam32 software that he has does not work on Vista -- it can't "see" the camera when he hooks it up to the computer. Or it may be that the camera is not compatible with Vista. Whatever the reason, the old camera and software does not work on the new computer.

So plan B was recommended by Old Alpiner from San Diego. He pointed us to the Cuyamaca Mountain WebCam in San Diego. It uses a Stardot webcam. It is a nice setup, since it contains its own computer software so it does not require a computer to upload its pictures to a web site. These cameras are in operation in Yosemite -- three of web cameras are Stardot systems. However, these cameras don't have the zoom focal lengths it would take to get a decent picture of Mt. Whitney from Lone Pine.

Plan C: I located a Grand Teton web cam, www.tetoncam.com and the site shows it is located over 13 miles from Grand Teton, yet the pictures are outstanding. ( Unfortunately, the power is out on that camera so the picture stuck at 1/3/09. When I first found the site, the picture was fantastic. ) I emailed Pat at the site, and he says his camera is an Olympus C-740 UZ (ultra zoom), which has a 10x (380mm) lens. That model has software that allows it to communicate with computer software, so it can be operated from a computer. Pat at TetonCam uses a combination of software from Cam2com, Imagemagick and Windows batch scripts to take pictures, format them to different sizes, and upload them on regular timed intervals. Pat is sending me his Windows scripts so I can maybe start with those.

Doug called Olympus and the sales rep convinced him to buy a new Ultra Zoom camera, the Olympus SP 565 UZ, with a 20x zoom. The sales rep thought it would be better (more compatible). Unfortunately, I searched for clues, and finally contacted Olympus tech support, and they responded that the 565 does NOT have the computer communications (SDK) software. So here we are back to...

Plan D: We can get a used Olympus C-740. But we have not proceeded on that.

In the mean time, Richard P has agreed to take some shots of Whitney from Lone Pine at different zoom settings so we can see how pictures might appear.

I'll try to post updates as we move ahead.

Steve, you might check out the San Francisco Peaks webcam site that shows Agassiz Peak and some of the rest of the ridgeline looking north from Flagstaff, AZ.

A while back, I set up a web cam at our church to watch construction of our new building and I got some good pointers from the guy who runs the SF Peaks site.

Thanks, Alan. I sent of an email asking some questions, especially how far their camera is from the peak.

Edit:  Dan from the SF Peaks wrote back:
His FortValley webcam is cool -- they have a bird feeder right in front of the camera, so many of their pictures have either a squirrel or bird in the picture.

Checking the Mobotix web site, their Allround M22M-IT $798 can be fitted with a 135mm zoom, giving us a 2.6 mile wide view of Mt. Whitney (seems a bit wider than I'd like), and the resolution is only 640x480.

Found a new-in-box C-740 for $230. Will it work on Doug's computer with the scripts you're getting from the Teton guy?

Would donating an old computer with XP on it help?

Hi Ok I should list the "Parts as of now" I think I have two old systems that use XP or 95, a sony es 60 webcam, and a D-400 Olympus and the new SP-565 at least 3 software systems that will work but not with Vista or one of the cameras, when we use the old system we had a webcam on full time and a software demo download from webcam32 ran the cam input thru a firewire into the video input and the software would capture a photo at a set time send it to a position on the webpage FTP address. So I will send the Sony cam in and have the battery/ charger checked. and Then try to link the D-400 camera serial output into Vista with a RS232/USB system and the software that was sending photos out of the windows photo folder.

Looks like the kinks are in the old/new not resolved software version updates and failure with a set of industry standards We will mix and match until we get a fix. Thanks Doug

Answering Richard's comments:
> Found a new-in-box C-740 for $230.

Amazon.com shows several used priced between $60 and $110.

Ebay reports an average price under $50 for the camera. Here's the Ebay C-740 link.

> Will it work on Doug's computer with the scripts you're getting from the Teton guy?

Theoretically, yes.  Olympus shows these cameras. Note the C-740 is listed under the "Rye" SDK software. Cam2Com lists the C-740 under the "Rye" SDK, which they say works on Vista. And from that Olympus list, I found the SP-500 Ultra Zoom -- it's got better resolution than the C-740. ...so I'm drooling over that one.

Hi Richard I would like the contact info for the 740 camera I will return the SP 565 Thanks Doug

Ok, we have a camera. I just bought this on Ebay for $61:

Just curious, how is this website funded? I would certainly be willing to donate a modest amount to fund cameras, software and other costs.

> Just curious, how is this website funded?

It works something like this: You go to Whitney Portal, walk into the store and buy a burger or one of those pancakes. Or you spend some cash and stay the night at the Whitney Portal Hostel. Then Doug takes the proceeds and pays the ISP provider once in a while.

And some of us work on it just for the fun.  

However, if there is enough support, we could maybe set up a way to donate to support things like buying camera equipment. I have even thought about joining forces with Friends of the Inyo, but haven't looked into that at all yet.

Stopped by the Hostel on the way home yesterday afternoon. The light wasn't very good, but you can see what the view is like at various focal lengths. Hopefully, the third floor is high enough to clear the wires.


Had to shoot from the second floor walkway.


24mm.


88mm.


120mm.


160mm.


224mm.


320mm.


400mm.


480mm.

Thanks so much Richard! So if we can get the 380mm 10x zoom working, it will be quite close to your 400mm picture.

I wonder if Wayne or someone else can figure out whether the setting sun would fall into that picture at any time of the year. I am worried what direct sun exposure would do to the camera.

i was wondering the same about the camera pointed at the light bulb on the main page.

Steve, if I figured right, the setting sun would hit the lens using the 380mm setting from about February 25 to March 6, and from October 5 to October 15. So, the setting sun is definitely something to consider.

Oh... that one! I wondered if anyone noticed. It is just a snapshot that somehow got uploaded while Doug was experimenting with his web cam software.

Sorry, but it isn't a live picture.

Wayne wrote:
> April 18 to April 25, and from August 24 to August 27.

Mercy, you're fast, Wayne! Thanks so much.

Hmmm... why 8 days in April, but only 4 in August?

Well, humble pie for me...

I went back to the drawing board and found my calcs were wrong.

Sunsets over Whitney as viewed from the Whitney Portal Hostel, using a 380MM 10x lens, would be from February 25 to March 6, and from October 5 to October 15--about 10 days for each period.

A wider lens view would take in even more direct-sun days.

Thanks Steve, it looks like there is some real progress being made towards making this webcam a reality.
BTW, speaking about how this business gets done, I think all of us who monitor this Board regularly owe Steve C a great big Thank You for all of the hard work that he puts into keeping things running, and for little rewards, except for the occasional word of encouragement that he may get from the likes of us users. Thanks again Steve, from all of us out here for helping to make this webcam happen.

Hey Steve, checked out your teton cam and the archived shot they have is great. I was a little disappointed that it's from the Idaho side. I found a site that has a bunch of Jackson Hole cams but none directly east of the Grand. If you haven't seen these yet check them out here: http://www.jacksonholenet.com/webcams/

Old Alpiner: I appreciate the compliment.

Whitrat:
Teton cam is still stuck on an old frame. Pat there told me he had power issues, so that may still be the problem. Once he gets it working, you will see how great the picture is from his side of the mountain.

Yes, I saw the Teton webcam list. Clicking on the JH Resort - Teton Village link, and then on the picture, brings up a window with the larger camera picture, with this at the bottom:


I hope our posting pictures doesn't increase our website band width to the point that the hosting service comes asking Doug for more $$. I'll be monitoring that.

i am happy that it wasn't. i'm not sure, but i think that's called 'burn in' or 'fry the lens' ??