Using the Raspberry Pi Camera to see through the mirror

[Synthic]

@johnnyboy The thing is that my design is a frameless mirror - hence why I wanted the camera to be able to see through the mirror. But a webcamera that incorporates the microphone was a really good idea as I also intend to some voice command recognition.

I only want the camera for doing facial recognition, so as long as the noir camera is able to get high enough quality for facial features to be distinguished - that will be good enough for me.

Thanks!

[Synthic]

@dpenney Whether the PiCamera is directly behind the mirror, or looking through the mirror through the drilled hole does not matter. The images taken are equally bad

[Synthic]

@johnnyboy Do you have any familiarity with webcams with built-in microphone that are small and compact? As to not make the mirror thicker than needs be.

[slametps]

I’m using the exact rpi camera, and it’s working flawlessly with facial-recognition module. also taking a picture or record video. Have you test the camera before attached to its place?

[johnnyboy]

@Synthic

There are quite a lot of webcams out there with built in microphones… So best Google or have a look at styles/shapes/sizes on Amazon or Fleabay to get an idea of what suits. Im sure they are all more-or-less same megapixels? apart for the higher end ones that also record in HD, and has twin microphones… also ones with Facial recognition like the M$ Hello Face recognition which I think is windows 10 only??? so all depends on your budget, and what you want from it, also the size and casing incase you can/want to strip it down for a better fit?

[lolobyte]

Hi @Synthic,

i use since 2 weeks the mirror glass ordered at @Goldjunge_Chriz ad the result is fantastic. With my mirror before the video was very darken. i send you asap a picture of my videoframe.

[Synthic]

@slametps Yeah, I know the camera works well normally. So your camera works by seeing through the mirror from the other side? Did you have to tweak any camera settings or did it just work?

[lolobyte]

@Synthic yes behind the mirror glass without any tweaks.

[broberg]

Do consider that there is difference in properties between the types of two way mirrors out there,
one type could work well with a camera lens while another type doesn’t work at all.

for an example many two way coatings are made to filter out IR light.

[Synthic]

@broberg That is a valid point. How would one know what kind of two-way mirror I posess? Haven’t been able to find any “comprehensive overview” of two-way mirrors

[dpenney]

@Synthic Infrared is blocked by cameras anyway so that wouldn’t make a difference. The only thing the camera cares about is visible light so if you are able to see through the mirror you are using then there is no reason that the camera shouldn’t be able to do the same thing regardless of what material the mirror is made from.

I too have the basic PiCam located behind the glass and it works perfectly. Does your cam work without the glass in place?

[Synthic]

@dpenney That’s what bugs me:

1. The PiCamera works great normally
2. I can see through the mirror
3. My Nexus 5 camera can see through the mirror
4. The PiCamera can not. (it CAN, but it is waaaay too dark)

[dpenney]

@Synthic That is frustrating…

I think the facial recognition module uses python-picamera to talk to the camera, are you able to tweak the configs somewhere in order to up the brightness?
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/camera/python/README.md

[dpenney]

This is where the camera is setup - try adding
camera.brightness = 90

https://github.com/paviro/MMM-Facial-Recognition/blob/master/facerecognition/picam.py

Worth a shot :)

[broberg]

@Synthic I can tell you that my nexus 5 camera does not like my glass at all, al tough, the light transmission on my mirror is really low.

[Synthic]

@dpenney This is my setup:

This photo is with normal camera:

This photo with PiCamera:

With brightness=90, I tried screwing around with most settings without result.

[dpenney]

Yeeesh that is dark - although even the pic with the normal camera is really dark. Much less contrast than I was getting, perhaps you do have a bad camera as the quality definitely shouldn’t be that poor.

[JonoGee]

@Synthic
Hi Synthic, Please may I ask what module you used to display the PiCam feed in MagicMirror?
Regards

[lolobyte]

@Synthic Hi, here my cam through my mirror on daytime and with lights and my setup. All pictures later…

This one cam through mirror with lights.