GarageSale and iSight Protip

If you use iwascoding's GarageSale and have tried to use your Macbook's built in webcam for UPC recognition and automatic Ebay template creation, well, it ain't gonna work so well. It doesn't focus well and the resolution is too low.

You need something like the pic above, a DV cam or the original external iSight with an LED white light for good lighting.

The UPC scanner works pretty darn well with this setup. The LED light tilts towards where the UPC is going to be, and you just hold it up to the camera. The camera should be on manual focus.

You can get one of those handy lights at Harbor Freight for about $7. 5 white LEDs, 3 AAA batteries, two brightness settings and the lens tilts for pointing. Wall mount if you want it.

I have 200 or so DVDs to list, so this is a real time saver.