Manual Focus Hack for the Logitech C270 Webcam including demo

 

Impetuous guy that I am, I've done the hack.

This Logictech C270 in 720p is now a manual focus webcam.

Here's the how to:

I've figured some things out about this particular webcam.

It's angle of view is 60 degrees.

So that makes the focal length 30mm equivalent.

The lens is plastic and mounted in a small helicoid that screws in quite nice into a barrel mounted on the sensor.

 

 


 

I couldn't find any mention of the aperture but a quick search result suggested that most webcams have an f-stop of 2.0 - 2.8.



In my video, I guessed that the fixed focus point must be 3 feet.

But I'm not so sure.

I inputted the numbers into an online depth of field calculator and got these results:

Subject distance  - 3 ft

Near limit  - 2.85 ft

Far limit  - 3.17 ft

Total  - 0.32 ft

In front of subject  - 0.15 ft (47%)

Behind subject  - 0.17 ft (53%)

Hyperfocal distance - 55 ft

Circle of confusion  - 0.019 mm

 

The depth of field is only 4 inches! Which is not usable.

My guess is the ACTUAL aperture must be f11 and the ISO of the sensor is cranked up.

We could do a DOF test to deduce the actual aperture....hmmm.

I did consider drilling out the aperture to make it wider but the lense goes right up to the aperture. I would have to remove the lens from the helicoid sleeve and it's really glued in there!

Not the most exciting hack, but if you have a terrarium or some other set of macro needs and can't always spend $100 CA on webcams with focus, this fix is an option.

Have a great day.

Comments

Quileste said…
J'ai cette webcam depuis environ un an maintenant. Ce n'est pas mauvais. J'ai eu mieux mais j'ai aussi eu pire. Tout compte fait, je suis satisfait de mon achat car il a été fiable et peu coûteux.

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