>> The prior project, the one I'm still working on, uses webcams for 
>> image gathering. The main problem I'm having is related to dynamic 
>> range and low fps. Because of vibration caused by navigation over 
>> rough terrains, several frames from the webcam are blurred. While I 
>> could certainly create an active gimbal ala Red Team, we don't have 
>> the resources to do that. Instead, a higher fps should be enough to 
>> freeze movement under certain vibration scenarios.

A higher FPS won't necessarily get you less blurred pictures.  You
need $pecial gear to go above 30fps (or maybe 60fps), and 1/60 of
a second is still a long time when it comes to blurring.  What you
NEED is a faster 'shutter speed.'  I don't know exactly what goes
into 'shutter speed' for a webcam (or a non-digital video camera,
for that matter), but you MIGHT be able to get by with nothing
more than a faster lens on the cameras you already have (I THINK
most webcams automatically adjust "shutter speed" to do auto
exposure.)  You might even be able to get away with expanding
or removing an existing "iris" from the lens you have.  Cheap
cameras seem to use an smallish iris with a biggish lens to
improve distortion things that might not be an issue for you.

BillW
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