OT: camera for small work

["Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>]

Hi all,

I'm one of the few people on the planet without a digital camera.

I have a tiny job to do on my wife's horn glasses if I can't get the
shop to do it.  The hinges need changing and I'm told that its
impossible for the manufacturer to halt the production line for a month
to do it and nobody else is set up for what ammounts to microsurgery.

I've done small work before but this is so tiny that actually seeing
what I'm doing will be one of the big challenges.  The existing hinges
are 3mm x 3mm x 15mm or so and are resessed into the temple about 1.5
mm.  The old ones have to be mechanically removed, the divit filled with
a replacement piece of horn, then new hinges fitted.

I'm wondering if normal consumer-grade digital cameras that have a macro
function (such as some of the Panasonic ones) can hook up to my linux
box to allow continuous viewing (like a close-up video camera).  I would
mount it on a tripod.

What software would be recommended?  Would VLC do that?

I'm a cardiac nurse and I'm not so worried about the hand-eye nature of
the job, I just don't know if standard consumer hardware will do it.

Ideas?

Thanks,

Doug.