I read through the posts about cameras for lasers and I found the chart with different focal lengths and mounting distances very helpful.
My question about cameras for laser use is: is there anything special about a laser camera or would any small USB camera do the job?
In particular, the extreme contrast of having the laser light in the image, is there something special about a laser camera to deal with that?
Most inexpensive wide angle cameras have a lot of distortion where straight lines are bent. Is there anything in the software to compensate for this?
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No special camera… Just ensure it has the coverage you need for the heights.
Lightburn has a camera calibration procedure in the application.
Jack is right. There is nothing special about ‘laser cameras’. In fact, Lightburn makes it pretty clear. When you add a camera to Lightburn you have to tell the software if the camera is a fisheye. Then calibrate it.
The camera will never see the laser beam as the camera should be mounted directly above the center of the work area looking straight down.
The purpose of the camera is that when you have your material down on the work area of the laser, Lightburn will (when instructed to) display what the camera sees as a background to the design area. Since you can then zoom in, you can easily place your design in exactly the spot you want it to. No measuring. I waited too long to get one because I didn’t understand that.
My work area is 400 x 850. My camera is 545mm above the table.
All the best 
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