Hi-res in Photo Booth?

Question

Level 2

318 points

Hi-res in Photo Booth?

I have read that full screen in Photo Booth give hi-resolution pictures, but it doesn't seem to work for me.

I get 426x640 photos whether using the built-in camera or an attached 5megapixel webcam. Is there some way to control pictures taken with Photo Booth, or some other way to get higher resolution pics from an attached camera?

_______________

here's too much more info. I have this really stupid Veho slide/negative scanner that comes with horrific software from ArcSoft. The slides scan blue or dark.

However, messing about with it on a linux system, I discovered that the hardware is perceived as a webcam, and sure enough the linux app Cheese! can get great scans from it (in full high resolution!)

So back in OS X 10.6.8 or 10.7.5, I see that indeed the scanner (which is not recognized as a USB scanner by any Mac apps) is seen as a webcam, and I can take scans of slides in Photo Booth. But they are always 640x420. I seem to have no control over this.

I can't seem to find any other software that will both recognize the device and take hi res scans...

Any ideas?

MacBook (13-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.7.5), 4GB Ram

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 8:44 AM

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Answer 1

mns579

Level 4

1,170 points

Jan 15, 2013 5:51 AM in response to jsegel

Without having your particular hardware in front of me to test, it's difficult to say exactly what might work best. There are, however, a few free non-Photo Booth apps you could try:

MacDaddy Mega Pixel Test Program, http://macdaddyworld.com/2007/06/28/the-megapixel-test-program-and-more-details/

ImageJ, http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/index.html

ImageSnap, http://iharder.sourceforge.net/current/macosx/imagesnap/

VLC (File > Open Capture Device), http://www.videolan.org/

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Answer 2

jsegel Author

Level 2

318 points

Jan 15, 2013 7:59 AM in response to mns579

Thanks, I've looked at a few of these, (mega pixel test, VLC) but I can't eaily figure out a way to capture single frames rather than video. It's a dumb piece of hardware, I think, it's a slide/negative scanner that shows up in System Information as USB Scanner, but not in any normal image program as a scanner. Hardware shows up as:

Product ID: 0x3150

Vendor ID: 0x115b (Salix Technology Co., Ltd.)

Version: 0.09

Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

Manufacturer: Salix Corp.

Location ID: 0xfa200000 / 2

Current Available (mA): 500

Current Required (mA): 500

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Answer 3

mns579

Level 4

1,170 points

Jan 15, 2013 9:57 AM in response to jsegel

Mega Pixel Test Program has a Take Snapshot button in the upper left of the window. VLC's default hotkey for a screenshot is Cmd-Opt-S. But does either method produce an image greater than 640x480 for you?

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