I have use a similar but opposite system myself. I have been playing with under water ROVs for some time now and part of that requires video cameras for which I typically use the 12V, composite video, board camera modules. For mine I mounted the camera horizontally, mounted a mirror at a 45 degree angle in front of it then clamped it below the table of a HF bench top drill press. Took a few tries to get the camera centered under the center hole and I put some tape to mark the center point on the old TV I used for the display.
With a clamp-on work light on top shinning down on the board it was almost like a live X-ray, I could clearly see the traces on both sides and it seemed like I could even see some light through the traces themselves. It quickly showed how bad the two sided etching had gone but also allowed you to shoot for the overlap region. It also should that the drill press quill was not well aligned and that there was probably some runout due to the chuck being slightly angled from the shaft, but then again it was a bottom priced HF so these things are pretty much a given anyhow.
Mounting the camera off to the side with only the angled mirror under the holes eliminated the need for a vacuum and also meant that I could easily mount/unmount boards or position them by hand for each hole so that I had more control. Also the top side was open and clearly visible so I could switch back and forth between TV screen and looking straight at the board and drill bit.
The CMOS camera modules are about a inch cubed and are typically $40. There are similar USB cameras but they tie up a whole computer, not just a throw away old tv set.
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