Build Your Own Document Camera for Around $100

As a high school German teacher of ever-increasingly plugged in digital natives, I am

always looking for effective ways to integrate digital technologies into my daily teaching

practice. I was therefore very interested when part way through the 2008-2009 school year my

school media center received a document camera from the district technology department. I had

watched a university professor use a document camera in a distance education course I had

taken, so I already had some idea of how I might use a document camera in my class. Since my

classroom was already equipped with a digital projector, I felt ready to be the first teacher to

check out the document camera from the media center and try using it my class. I immediately

found it to be extremely useful, and I discovered that I could use a document camera to display

all kinds of things for my class: assignment handouts, authentic realia, hand written student

work, or even children’s books. My favorite use of the document camera was to use it to give

immediate feedback to students after a short writing assignment. I found that I could take any

piece of hand written student work and write immediate feedback on it while projecting it for the

class using the document camera. My students enjoyed getting this kind of feedback, and it

improved their attention to detail during our writing activities. After I had been using the

document camera in my room for two weeks, the school librarian sent me an email requesting

that I bring it back to the media center so that other teachers could use it. I was disappointed

because I had really started to recognize the utility of a document camera, and I had plans to use

it for many other activities.

After reluctantly bringing the document camera back to the media center, I realized that I

would have to get my own document camera, if I wanted to fully integrate it into my daily

teaching curriculum. I started looking on the internet at document camera prices, and I learned
that entry level document cameras start at over $350 and high end document cameras are several

thousand dollars. During my research on camera prices, I found several websites that suggested

that teachers could build an inexpensive document camera on their own for about $100. I even

found a published article with instructions on building a document camera using a copy stand

(Van Horn 487). Since the idea didn’t seem to be too farfetched, I decided to give it a try.

I began my project by googling “make your own document camera,” and I was surprised

that multiple websites with different designs came up. I read each one, and became convinced

that I could build my own document camera. Some of the designs were more complicated than

others, but all of them shared a least two features: a stand and a camera. Some used a webcam

and other used a still digital camera. Through my internet research I became aware of a

significant difference between a homemade document camera and a consumer document camera.

A consumer document camera connects directly to a digital projector through a VGA cable, an

S-Video cable, or a yellow RCA cable. A homemade document camera using a webcam would

connect via USB to a computer or laptop that is connected to a digital projector. Webcam

software in full-screen mode can then allow the webcam to be used as a document camera. After

looking at the various websites and thinking about the designs, I decided I would try to build a

document camera using a webcam.

One of the websites I visited claimed that the Hue HD webcam makes a great document

camera. The Hue HD webcam has a long flexible goose neck that would work well as document

camera, so I thought that I would give it a try. I looked for the best price for the webcam on the

internet, and I discovered that Kmart had it on sale for $14. The next day, I went to Kmart and

bought the camera. After playing with the camera for a few minutes, I decided that all I would

need to do to turn it into a document camera would be to glue a wooden base to the camera base
so that it would be more stable. I bought a square block of wood for $1 from a craft store,

painted it with some spare house paint, and glued it to the base of the camera.

The HUE HD webcam comes with the Microsoft AMCap video capturing software.

When the camera is connected to a computer, AMCap can be used to view or record video of

anything that the camera is pointed at. In full screen mode, it works pretty well as a document

camera. I used the Hue HD webcam as a digital camera in my class for a few days and was not

completely satisfied with the results. Although the AMCap software allowed me to adjust the

brightness, contrast, and sharpness of the video captured by the camera, I never got the quality I

was hoping for. My primary use for the camera was to view student handwritten work. I found

that as long as a student wrote darkly and large enough, everyone in the room could easily read

the text. If a student wrote too lightly or too small, it became a little difficult for the whole class

to read the text. Writing I pen was easier to read than writing in pencil. Based on these results, I

decided that I wanted to build another better document camera.

My first thought as I started to build a second document camera, was that I needed to buy

a higher quality webcam. I did some internet reading on the major webcam brands on the market

and found out that most entry level web cams have a 1.3 megapixel sensor. The higher end

webcams have a 2.0 megapixel sensor. The advertisements for the cameras claim that the
cameras can take 5, 8, or 12 megapixel still pictures, but this is based on software extrapolation.

The more important measure of the quality of the camera is the number of megapixels of the

sensor. I learned that it costs between $50 and $100 to buy a 2.0 megapixel sensor webcam. I

started by buying the Microsoft LifeCam Show webcam for $59.95. When I tested this webcam

at home, I found that it didn’t produce any better results than the Hue HD webcam. I returned it

to the store and purchased the HP Elite Autofocus webcam for $89.95 that boasted a 3.0

megapixel camera. It was the only camera in the store that had a 3.0 megapixel sensor. As soon

as I started using the HP webcam, it was clear that it produced better video quality than the

previous two cameras I had used. It also came with ArcSoft Webcam Companion software

which I found to be better than the AMCap software. The ArcSoft software allows the user more

control over the camera settings and has more special features for recording and editing video. I

decided to build a document camera using the HP Elite Autofocus.

I purchased an inexpensive travel camera tripod for $14.95 to use as a stand for the

document camera. The HP Elite Autofocus comes with a half-cylinder clip that can be used to

attach it to the top of a laptop screen. After thinking about how I could connect the tripod to the

camera, I decided to use an eight-inch, bendable hot water heater copper pipe as an arm. I

bought a nut that fit the tripod screw and a washer that fit inside the end of the copper pipe. I

used a strong epoxy to glue the nut to the washer and the washer inside the end of the pipe. I

then screwed the pipe to the tripod and bent the arm into the shape I wanted. I cut off the other

end of the pipe and glued the camera clip to that end with the same epoxy. To make the camera

look more professional, I put a black plastic cap on the end of the pipe and covered the pipe with

corrugated black electrical tubing. After spending $120, my final result was a functional
document camera that had most of the same functionality as an entry level consumer document

camera.

My wife is also a high school teacher, and she decided that she also wanted a document

camera, so I decided to build another one. Although the video quality produced by the HP

webcam was good, I thought that I might be able to find a camera with even better quality. I

tried the Logitech Pro 9000 with a Karl Zeiss glass lens which I found for $69.95. It only had a

2.0 megapixel sensor, but internet reviews called it the best webcam on the market. My

germanophile world view encouraged me to try the camera with a Karl Zeiss lens, and as it

turned out, my natural leanings were correct. The Logitech Pro 9000 produced the clearest

images of any of the webcams I purchased. I was able to read handwritten text with the camera

better than with any of the other three I tried. The downside to the camera was that the Logitech
webcam software had no full screen mode—and full screen mode is important in order to be able

to project an image for a whole class. The ArcSoft software works with any webcam, and since I

already had that software, I wasn’t too concerned about the lack of full-screen mode with the

Logitech software. I just used the Logitech Pro 900 with the ArcSoft software.

Because the Logitech Pro 9000 has a different style clasp, I decided to use a goose neck

lamp for my stand for this version of a homemade document camera. I purchased a black goose

neck lamp for $7.95 at Walmart. I removed the lamp and cut off the plug. I inserted a blue wall

anchor into the hole at the end of the goose neck and screwed a bracket into the anchor. I then

used quick drying epoxy to glue the bracket to the webcam’s clasp. When the epoxy dried, I

painted the bracket and the glue black to match the camera and the stand. This homemade

document camera cost only $75.

 After building three versions of a homemade document camera, I have some advice that I

would like to share with any other teachers interested in building a document camera. First, buy

the best webcam you can afford. The camera should have at least a 2.0 megapixel sensor and be

capable of producing high definition video. The best webcam that I found was the Logitech Pro

9000. Second, all three webcams I tried produced much sharper images of written text with the

ArcSoft Webcam Companion software. The Logitech cam was still the best, but the difference

between the different webcams was considerably less with the ArcSoft software than it was with

the AMCap software. AMCap can be downloaded for free from multiple internet sites. The

ArcSoft software came free with the HP Elite Autofocus webcam, or it can be purchased for

$39.99 from the ArcSoft website. I think the improvement in video quality is worth purchasing

the ArcSoft software if it doesn’t come with the webcam you buy. Third, I found that I could

drastically improve the quality of video by adjusting the software settings for zoom, focus,

brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. It also made a difference to adjust the same settings on my

digital projector. For displaying pictures or printed text, this is less important, but it is very

important to achieve good readable quality for text handwritten with a pencil. Finally, a goose

neck lamp makes the best and least expensive stand for a homemade document camera.

Since I started this project, I have tested several consumer document cameras and built

three handmade document cameras. I have found that the three handmade document cameras are

very functional and produce a picture quality that is very similar to entry level consumer

document cameras that are three to four times more expensive. It is not difficult to build a

document camera. I would encourage any teacher who is interested in regularly using a

document camera to consider building one.

 Helpful Websites

ArcSoft Webcam Companion software:

http://www.arcsoft.com/public/software_title.asp?ProductID=148

AMCap software:

http://amcap.en.softonic.com/

Hue HD webcam as a document camera:

http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/hue-hd-webcam-as-a-document

http://www.pluggd.tv/audio/channels/quick_technology_tips_for_schools/episodes/3ss4x

Various websites referencing building a homemade document camera:

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=119141

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-184644099.html

http://www.10minutemath.com/home-made-document-camera/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Document_camera_for_art_teachers/

http://urenglishteacher.blogspot.com/2009/05/100-document-camera.html

http://thejournal.com/articles/2006/01/01/camera-ready.aspx

http://www.distancedrawing.com/

http://learningcurves.blogspot.com/2006/10/afternoon-craft-project.html

http://eyecamd.blogspot.com/
 Work Cited

Van Horn, Royal. “ Technology: A Do-It-Yourself Document Camera, Spyware, and Firefox.”

Phi Delta Kappan, 86.7 (2005): 487-488.