Updates for Buddy 3D  

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

I also think it's a shame that Prusa obviously only wants to sell the camera but doesn't offer any support. What annoys me even more is that this camera is not integrated into Home Assistant, even though Prusa has provided “PrusaLink” integrity for Home Assistant.Prusa, please listen to us.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

To be honest I think this camera is going to be a white elephant,   seeing that the core one is getting it's own camera and all efforts is going into the core one ..... It is now almost 4 months after the release and no news on extended functionality ..... I would like to see this camera working without sending images to the cloud, set my own interval of taking images time laps would me nice and to power off the camera when prints are done etc .... 

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

My Buddy camera is showing images mostly in black and white. I agree it seems to be a bit of a white elephant and very disappointed that Prusa haven't updated it since it was purchased.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

Is it a good idea to buy one now a days for my mk4s or should I just get a regular security camera from amazon at around the same price and set it up like usual? is there any brand recomended?

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

Don’t waste your money. I don’t know what is available for the MK4S but I would go down the IP camera route.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

Are other IP cameras able to also conect to the prusa APP or its only limited to their app?

Posted by: @macmagoo

Don’t waste your money. I don’t know what is available for the MK4S but I would go down the IP camera route.

(Buddy Cameras) What am I missing?

Hello all,

I have no connections with any camera company. As I am not sure about covering nationally known name brand cameras on this public channel, but I it is ok, I am happy to share the details of my choice cameras of multi-role cameras.

I purchased two Buddy cameras and have struggled with them from the start. Unless I am missing something, I feel the Buddy cameras are overpriced with limited support and features.

I feel one can purchase much better Wifi cameras for 1/2 the price with GREAT features and very easy to setup and use. I have been using a pair of these (non=Buddy) cameras for a few months and for my use-case they have been reliable and offer flexibility to be used in other roles.

I live in a rural area and when not printing, I can use these other cameras for other other tasks. They make great security cameras, are easy to set up (support solar charging a battery) and/or use AC power. The cameras can auto-pan to track something in motion even in the dark, and they are water proof.  One often can buy two cameras of these name brand cameras for the cost of a single Buddy camera....

I hope this helps....

kevin s

RE: Updates für Buddy 3D

It's nice to hear that someone has found a workable solution, how does it work? Can you explain it to us please, which camera is needed. how is it configured? What is the secret? 😀 Prusa will also be happy to receive tips 😀

thanks of lot

this camera story is getting on my nerves

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

They are likely HomeKit or Google Home versions and not part of the Prusa ecosystem (just guessing). I use one for my MK3S+ (HomeKit) Works with my home app in iPhone/iPad/Mac.. I can always check on my camera.. site is 100%. And can be repurposed as interior security cam if I need to watch my pet. 

Posted by: @schubert-cars

It's nice to hear that someone has found a workable solution, how does it work? Can you explain it to us please, which camera is needed. how is it configured? What is the secret? 😀 Prusa will also be happy to receive tips 😀

thanks of lot

this camera story is getting on my nerves

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

It's really frustrating at this point. They were going on for lengths about how they have full control over the firmware, and can implement whatever they want.
And then..nothing happens. I got it for christmas and so far absolutely nothing changed. Total radio silence. Which will lead to less people buying it and even less effort expended towards making it better. Is there even a git to track dev progress? Can we at least get access to things like white balance, night mode / day mode levels and the motors? What about a local stream, or a simple local web site giving access to basic camera settings? Even the cheapest surveillance cameras have this (not to mention that the Buddy cam is completely useless without Prusa connect and cannot be repurposed). I'm not even going into the tight integration with the printer most buyers probably assumed it would have (such as time lapses or syncing the snapshots to printer motion so the print is not hidden behind the print head 95% of the time). I'm still using a secondary crappy 15$ stream camera on my printer, which is ways more useful despite its horrible image quality.
Seriously, wtf? This is a relatively expensive camera for its specs, and most people probably bought it believing it will be packed with features. Probably almost nobody would buy it if you could import a stream from another camera in Prusa connect. They roll out half-baked firmwares for the printers all the time, but they can't risk it with a camera?

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

The camera has no enabled features. Prusa has let everyone down with this camera. They talked a good game about the features it would have, but so far, there have been no updates. It's an unnecessarily large camera with rotating motors that serve no purpose. Why would anyone buy this?

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

What makes it even worse for me is that my trusted solution for my other printers (a Wyze cam) doesn't seem to work as I can't find a way to mount the camera inside the enclosure, and I haven't come up with good ideas for mounting it outside to "peek in". So I have Buddy cams on order, with the silly hope that one day before I die they can actually deliver a live stream.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

I have a low res camera facing straight down on the enclosure, and have set up the lights so I don't get reflections from the acrylic (& all inside lights off). It's quite ok, you can see all the tool heads and the spool holders (and the front panel, not really readable but I can see if someone stands there or if there's a red screen). If Prusa don't step up their game I'll probably just replace it with a better camera so I can actually zoom in and see some details of the print.
They had the Core One camera in development, totally beats me why they didn't just roll that out for the other printers. It's more compact and probably will get a lot more support.

RE:

Well, for me Prusa cameras are real dud - knowing what other companies offers I was surprised they left the product in the current state for so long,..

I believe Core One camera is a stripped down buddy3d camera in different enclosure and without servos, so expect the same features from it as of now - that is no moving servos and no streaming 😉

Esp32 cams are small enough an can fit in any enclosure, the ony issue is that for some you may need to adjust the lens focus, and because lense is usually glued to so it does not move it needs a bit of force to release and not to break it - there are 3d printed special tools to handle it.

Honestly I really recommend getting esp32 cam if you compare the price and the features it delivers, but the major drawback is that it requires a bit of hardware/software skills as any do-it-yourself project, similar to basic arduino projects.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

In my opinion it makes more sense to get something like a Tapo C200 or Xiaomi C300 (probably they fit on the Buddy mount, and have the features the Buddy cam should have for around 20 bucks). I have a Tapo for surveillance, it's very nice, exposes the stream and has excellent night vision. No Prusa connect, but you could take the rtsp stream from the camera and simulate an esp32 cam to fake it. But anyway as long as there is zero printer feedback, why would it even matter. I'd rather have a second browser tab open and get full camera control.
The whole point of custom firmware is talking back to the printer. E.g. they could do is use the motors to stitch images together (showing more area, point down when the print is high, edit out the print head or only take a snapshot when it's out of the way etc.). Currently we can't even scroll back in time.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

I got too annoyed with mine, it keeps making these loud dinging noises randomly (I believe everytime it reconnects to the Wifi network, it's relatively far away from the router). Replaced it with a Tapo C211 for now, until we get some control over the configuration of Buddy camera (if ever). I paid only 20 bucks for it, and it will be easy to repurpose if I don't need it in the printer anymore.
The camera is great both in day and night mode & their app does the job. You can define presets for the motor positions, which is convenient and allows viewing the whole print plate. It also exposes a low quality and high quality stream. It's a bit bigger than the Buddy, but fits in the same corner with no issues. I only had to cut some rubber off the plug to fit it through the cable hole in the back of the enclosure (would have liked USB-C but you can't argue at that price point). There's already a Prusa XL mount on printables for it.
Now I'll wait for the Prusa update of greatness.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

Also interested in any updates on this, having waited patiently for several months.

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

asked support and they said there are updates around the corner soon: https://blog.prusa3d.com/prusa-xl-summer-deal-is-here-with-free-shipping-and-filaments_116204 -> at the very bottom:

RE: Updates for Buddy 3D

huh nice find, I think it should be as a separate news on the website and not glued at the bottom of the other news...