Firefly DE605 General Examination Camera

General Device

The DE605 General Examination Camera is a 5MP (4K) quality general exam camera. It features universal webcam drivers that allow for it to be used as a webcam in video conferencing software. Its wide focal length allows for a range of viewing from up to 15 feet distance, down to highly detailed dermatology imaging. While it doesn’t support other multi-exam lenses (for example an otoscope lens), the price point and feature set of this camera make it a good general imaging device for those looking to enhance their telemedicine services.

Use Case

The DE605 has a variable viewing distance supported by a manual focus lens. This makes the exam camera very versatile and able to conduct exams ranging from torso, portrait, and even oral/skin. On contact with the skin, the viewing area is 38mm x 27mm. It also features a built-in polarizing filter that allows for better imaging of skin. The device is detected as a UVC camera and is therefore able to be used in video conference software. While the device supports a shutter function button, this function is only supported in the Firefly app. This means that the DE-605 can only use the shutter function in live video settings if the user screen shares the Firefly app instead of using the camera directly as a webcam source in the video conference software.

Functionality

The DE605 features a max resolution of 2592 x 1944, Ultra HD quality. The focus slider is mounted above the shutter and brightness control buttons. These buttons also serve to indicate the up orientation for the image. The brightness itself is powered by 16 LEDS with 4 brightness settings: high, med, low, and off. The LEDs are arranged in a circle around the camera sensor. The focus slider and the polarization filter are easy to operate and can be adjusted with a second hand to keep the image steady.

Integration and Image Quality

The Firefly app allows for multiple uses of the camera including both a video and photo mode. In Photo Mode users can capture still images from the device using the capture button, they can also pause the video feed using the spacebar, without capturing or storing an image. Pausing an image allows the local and distant users to see more detail, without needing to capture, store, and send a still image. Pressing the shutter button while in video mode captures a still image while maintaining the live video recording. We found that the image captured could be blurry due to the movement caused by pressing the button. One way around this might be to use the software controls on the computer instead of the physical button to avoid image blur.

The quality of the UHD resolution is often canceled out by the low frames per second(FPS) of the device. This results in a blurry image when trying to do anything that requires movement from either the camera or the patient, requiring that both must be still to get a non-blurry image. Some of the motion blur can be negated by using two hands to keep the device steady, but then a 2nd person may be required to run the software on the computer to stream or capture images. As long as the subject and camera are relatively still you can capture high fidelity images.

Video Demo

Product Specs

Summary

The Firefly DE605 provides significant value due to its broad set of uses at a relatively lower price point. The use cases that the device will need to support should be carefully considered before purchase, but for general exams and especially dermatology the device works quite well.

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