Let's now consider illumination:

When the camera is close to the frame being photographed, and the distance between the lens centre and the flash strobe is more than an inch or two, flash illumination will result in shadows.  

Where the distance is long, say 12 feet, or very close, like a foot or two, the flash will be too dim or too bright.

We considered the case previously where we were happy seeing all except the inner 2 mm of the 5 mm bottom diameter of the very outer cells on the frame and using a camera distance of 6 feet.  Flash works well at 6 feet and the shadow would be minimal with most compact cameras, since the lens to flash distance is around an inch or two. 

How often is there much of interest in the outer cells?  Sometimes, but often these cells are full of honey, and the brood oval is considerably smaller.  The centre oval, 6 by 8 inches attracts about 90% of our interest, so maybe we can be happy with a 6 foot camera distance, or maybe even 3 or 4.  These distances are practical for a jig and that brings up the next issue: lenses and focus.

Mini cameras usually are auto-focus and use an infra-red bounce.  How accurate is this on a target like comb?  How accurate is an individual camera at that range?  How deep is the depth of field?  After all, at these close ranges, there will be some differences in distance, comparing the comb centre to the comb edges, and we must consider the cell depth, too. 

I suspect that most mini cameras are up to the job and that a jig could be made to utilize one very easily.  As for the camera distance, that would depend on how fussy the observer wants to be.  

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