I bought the cheapest camera I could find locally….

 

 

And I tried all the adapters, but none fit the camera, so I made one myself. The camera has a long lens, so I had to set it deeper to avoid the printhead hitting it.

Print without supports and use auto-alignment to orient the model.
I used two M2x8 screws and two M2x4 screws for the camera, along with two M3x6 self-tapping screws for the adapter.

The mount has three different positions to set the camera at different heights, but you can actually use only the two upper positions. The main problem is to avoid hitting the camera while printing. 
Additionally, if you use LED lights, you probably don't want camera lenses to get direct light from your LEDs. So, you can choose from three different types of mounts (see example pictures).
 

WARNING: Ensure the printhead doesn’t hit the camera before starting the print!

 

Notes on the Camera
 

The camera is implemented in an unusual way and always outputs in 1080p, even when set to a lower resolution. As a result, memory consumption is increased.

You can use it with Forge-X mod: https://github.com/DrA1ex/ff5m which has preconfigured streamer with reduced memory usage.

 

If you use the Klipper mod, you will need to modify the camera running script to use YUYV mode instead of MJPG. This change will cause the streaming to consume less memory but more CPU, which is acceptable in most cases.

Replace all instances of MJPG with YUYV, and adjust CAMERA_MIN_X_RES as desired by modifying:  /usr/libexec/camera-autostart.sh

If you are on the stock firmware, there is no easy solution.

This issue can be resolved by installing a custom video streamer using a patch I created, which limits the memory allocated for each frame.

The compiled binaries for Entware can be found here: GitHub Repository.

However, this is not an easy solution, so I don't recommend buying this camera unless it's your only option

You will need root access, have Entware installed, and then run a custom mjpg_streamer. Make sure to disable the camera in the printer's settings first.

There are solutions to make the stock timelapses work, but I have not experimented with them, so you should find a solution on your own. However, with the patch, you get a working stream, which is sufficient to monitor prints or record timelapses manually. 

Just open: http://PRINTER_IP:8080/?action=stream
 

How to install custom mjpg_streamer:

PRINTER_IP=<your printer IP>
Transfer streamer files
scp -O ./mjpg-streamer-* root@$PRINTER_IP:/opt/packages/
Login via ssh
ssh root@$PRINTER_IP
Install packages
cd /opt/packages/
opkg install mjpg-streamer_1.0.1-1_armv7-3.2.ipk mjpg-streamer-input-uvc_1.0.1-1_armv7-3.2.ipk mjpg-streamer-output-http_1.0.1-1_armv7-3.2.ipk
Run streamer
FPS=15
WIDTH=640
HEIGHT=480
LIMIT=$(( WIDTH * HEIGHT * 2 ))
/opt/bin/mjpg_streamer -o "/opt/lib/mjpg-streamer/output_http.so 
-w /opt/mjpg-streamer/www -p 8080" 
-i "/opt/lib/mjpg-streamer/input_uvc.so 
-d /dev/video0 -r ${WIDTH}x${HEIGHT} -f $FPS -b 1 -fs $LIMIT"