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I need a camera which monitors grayscale the environment because of strict battery life requirement (one week) and because computers can only understand grayscale. I am thinking GoPro Hero 3 because of Pebble support, bluetooth connection and low resolution (5 Mpix). I want to monitor just mice on roofs with the camera and need to know if the situation has changed in the trap regularly. There is no light in the environment so I am not sure if infrared or extra light should be used there.

How can you monitor grayscale changes for e-ink displays? Is there any camera having grayscale detecting capability with e-ink displays?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I don't understand where e-ink comes into this. Are the mice using Kindles? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Jan 7, 2016 at 13:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ Pictures of very little size which target display is i-ink display. Battery life is critical so minimizing the energy use by using minimal pictures. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 7, 2016 at 14:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Do you mean that you want to use an e-ink display to review the pictures in the field? Why not just take the photos to somewhere you have power for review? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Jan 7, 2016 at 15:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ Or are you asking whether you can save power by taking grayscale (or low-color?) photographs? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Jan 7, 2016 at 15:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ Just fyi: your user image on this website is not greyscale and my computer understood it very well (and yours probably too) it makes sense to use a monochromatic camera in your situation because it is low light and colors will not be very visible unless you add artificial light. The argument that computers only unterstand greyscale pictures is wrong, because interpreting some number in memory to be 3 luminosity values of 3 different hues is as understandable by the computer as interpreting it as one luminosity value of a single hue. \$\endgroup\$
    – null
    Jan 10, 2016 at 13:06

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Not sure how this fits in with e-ink, but there is a product category called "trail camera" that might do what you need.

These are cameras designed to take pictures in the dark or light in response to motion and most should easily meet your one week power requirement. Although most of these cameras store the images on a local card, there are models that support WiFi (or the WiFi SD cards), Bluetooth or cellular.

Because they are designed to be used in the outdoors to monitor wildlife, they are also normally weatherproof, inconspicuous, and have a variety of mounting options.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What do you think about Primos? Here one example: Primos 63051 Easy Cam IR LED 5MP Game or Trail Camera Black but no bluetooth in it. They seem to be designed for pictures of large horizon and in color. I am wondering how they may work with short distances and dark environments. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 7, 2016 at 15:00
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    \$\begingroup\$ I don't think stackexchange wants to be a product recommendation site, but most of these cameras are designed for 30 feet and closer. I've taken clear pictures of animals just a few feet away. There is a "The Great Outdoors" stackexchange, there you could perhaps get recommendations on what to look for and what brands are well regarded. \$\endgroup\$
    – David Rouse
    Jan 7, 2016 at 15:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think any camera can do well. It is probably mostly related to the selection of the lense. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 7, 2016 at 15:22
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As I understand it, your thinking is: e-ink displays save power by being monochrome. Therefore, it seems logical that one could also save power with a monochrome sensor.

But, this is based on a false assumption. E-ink is low power because it is an entirely different technology, one which requires power only to change a pixel from light to dark (or back again). The fact that this is grayscale is a limitation and drawback, not a power-saving choice.

There is no equivalent technology for a camera sensor. Grayscale-only cameras use the same fundamental sensing technology (CCD or CMOS) as color ones. In fact (with the exception of Foveon) color sensors are simply grayscale sensors with a pattern of red, green, and blue filters, which allows color to be distinguished. The amount of power required to process the extra information is negligible. (And I mean "negligible" in the strong sense. Too little to measure, and certainly nothing which will give your camera longer runtime.)

So, you can't save power this way. I'd focus on battery options — or on getting power in another way, which it sounds like you'll need anyway because you can't photograph darkness.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Excellent answer! I would like to get more pieces of information about the details. Assume you select an output which shows just lines in dark and white. Which scenario would be better in this case? No complete grayscale. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 10, 2016 at 17:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ You mean you're running it through an edge detect filter? I'm not sure how to answer your question because I don't know which scenarios you mean. \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Jan 10, 2016 at 17:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Black and white are distributed evently on the picture by distributions, not filters. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 10, 2016 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Masi, are you talking about the display being comprised of BnW dithering? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael Nielsen
    Jan 10, 2016 at 22:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you please provide an overview of the topic, any link? I do not know what you mean by BnW dithering. \$\endgroup\$
    – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
    Jan 11, 2016 at 2:03
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Could I save power by using a camera with only grayscale detectors?

No. You couldn't.

Sensors are greyscale right up into the IR range and only become 'colour' with the application of a coloured filter array. The number of pixels in a sensor does not have an appreciable difference on power requirements and so switching to a monochrome camera is unlikely to help from that standpoint. You might get better low-light results but that is quite a different goal.

As mentioned in another answer it looks like your requirements would be better served by a Trail camera, or a CCTV camera which both would give you some options like IR illumination, notifications and motion detection out of the box. Both of these often have no display at all on board, giving you power savings since you'll be viewing the images from another device.

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