DIY Laser levelling using webcam and laser level

[Desertboy]

I have realised something about these sensors. They are colour sensors, and the colour detection is done by layering a grid of colour alternating RGB filters over the individual pixels which are all identical photodiodes (i.e. the pixel is monochrome) in what is called a Bayer pattern. These are laid out to match the human eye's response to colour, with 50% of the pixels green and 25% red and 25% blue. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_filter



This isn't ideal as I'm using a red laser. This means only 25% of the pixels are useful and the sensor will be interpolating the values between 'red' pixels.

Anyway someone pointed me towards some super crazy people in astrophotography who 'de-bayer' their very expensive DSLR sensors with a toothpick so the sensor becomes monochrome at its native resolution, effectively scratching off this colour filer layer to expose the raw sensor.
https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/1...-bayer-matrix/

I have just tried this procedure and ruined a webcam sensor (ripped it off the pcb) so I don't recommend it.

EDIT
The first casualty of this miss-adventure, don't think it is still worth £7 !

I managed to buy a monochrome webcam years ago, it was expensive over £200 and I had to buy it from China has highly specialised.

It only saw Far Red (Near Infrared) specifically to see phytochrome reactions in plants.