A recirculation spin coater system includes a spin coating bowl with a having a recirculation drain and a wetting fluid chamber associated with the upper end of the inner side walls wherein the wetting fluid chamber is configured to dispense a side wall wetting fluid to inner side walls of the spin coating bowl. A vision system configured to capture images of the work piece within the spin coating bowl for quality control and work piece positioning. An annular array of light sources are surrounding sides of the spin coating bowl and are configured to illuminate the interior of the spin coating bowl for optical controls. The vision system may be utilized for both quality control and work piece positioning. The coating nozzle is configured to move between a first coating position vertically aligned with the work piece, and a second purge position vertically aligned with the recirculation drain.