Fuzzy Wuzzy

Do you sometimes think your document camera displays a fuzzy image, not at all the high-definition quality you thought you were paid for?  I touched lightly on this problem in two previous posts: first in Lights-Camera-Action and then more recently in Call Me Crisp. But since then, I have discovered some more reasons why your classroom document camera may not offer the image quality you had hoped for. Almost all the issues are under your control, fortunately. Below find my troubleshooting list (helping you resolve this problem), with the newest findings added in color:

• The display surface can cause lack of focus. Test and compare different display surfaces to ensure the best and sharpest display possible. (Some wood-grained display tables, and even gray-topped tables, can cause document cameras to have problems. Images can be slightly out of focus or not as bright and sharp as desired.)
• Surface matting matters. Better display results are always achieved when I layer the teaching display surface with a mat, construction paper, or other contrasting flat background.  Experiment to find the best solution.
• Your document camera settings matter. You might already own a high-definition visualizer, but have the settings pushed to a lower resolution. For example, once I was demonstrating a new HD Recordex document camera in a teacher workshop, and I thought something was wrong with the image quality. Actually, I had mistakenly set this HD visualizer to a lower resolution level. I called the company and they immediately helped me catch my mistake. I had actually set it to one of the lower of six available resolution settings. 
• Legacy equipment matters. Your problem may be that your document camera is an older high-resolution device (720p), and not a high-definition visualizer at all. It’s only been the last couple of years that manufacturers have been producing high-def visualizers (defined as 1080p or greater). Perhaps it’s time to give your current document camera to someone who uses it less and invest in a new high-definition visualizer.
• Your classroom projector matters. I was presenting at the University recently, and found myself disgusted and embarrassed by the quality of the images my state-of-the-art high-def visualizer was offering.  After some troubleshooting, I realized that the problem was the classroom projector.  The projector in this university facility was so old that it degraded the quality of the images I was showing. Keep your eye out for this problem as well.