Very small wireless video cameras - demo movie

[netsmithUK]

Just got one, you see them all the time on ebay, a tiny video camera that connects to a 9v battery and transmits video images to a reciever somewhere which you hook up to a video recorder.

Thought it was worth a try.

Early test show its quite an amazing device, smaller than your adverage dice in size and the picture quality is very good. It seems to handle being moved around ok, if done smoothley but it has a real big problem with rapid changes in contrast - the picture breaks up big time.

Not attached it to a car yet - will do this when I get home, but, based on the early test I'm not expecting any thing too spectacular in terms of results.

Still should be fun. Will keep you posted.

[BalmyBaldwin]

It would be great to see what you think of these, I have wanted one ever since I was a kid (before they were really available), but I wasn't sure what the quality would be like on them.

[netsmithUK]

I'll post some mpgs later on

stationary and the picture is great, as soon as you start moving through light and dark areas the picture breaks down - a lot[V]

I would image for rc planes they would be quite good though...

[BiggusDitchus]

We had a go with one yesterday at the Wombwell RC Circuit in Sheffield UK, fitted to a rc plane(an electric model) the results werent bad at all, we were able to fly above the circuit and pan about (the camera was fitted to a servo horn [])1/5th cars were clearly visible racing around the circuit. Next attempt will be on a rc bike behind the fairing, hopefully next weekend at Mendip.

[mr_lister999.]

quote:stationary and the picture is great, as soon as you start moving through light and dark areas the picture breaks down - a lot

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a simple fix... only drive in the dark []

[netsmithUK]

I've changed my mind- I think i just had a faulty batter connection before. Did a quick test on my Top Force and it was great. Got the camera mounted on the top chassis plate towards the back so you could see the wheels spinning and flicking side to side.

Will post movies tomorrow.

cool

[WhiteVanMan]

Yep, just got one myself. I am now nearly sure that i'll be able to go to snetterton, if I do, i'm going to run one there with live pictures to a trackside TV, then we will all be able to see for ourselves........ Lets hope it will be alright on the night (day)

[netsmithUK]

heres a pic of the camera mounted with velco in my (dusty) Top force.

You can just see the 9v battery under the top plate and acoms receiver for comparison of size.

[BeetleMeister]

That looks just like something my buddy has in the corner of his bathroom....[xx(]

[SteveH(2)]

LOL @ BM. But i think if it was my mate, i'd ask him why he doesn't put his Top Force in a glass cabinet like everyone else! [][)]

[Extreme RC]

Who did you buy it from; was it from Hong Kong? Can you post the link?

I've been looking into these too; the nice thing about them is the size and there isn't as much intereference as 2.4 (Assuming you bought the 1.2) like cordless phones and NIC's.

I had one on an old Kyosho; problem was that it was a seperate system; camera and transmitter each needed a 4 'AA' battery pack, and the transmitter was 3 * 4 * 1 thick. Entire system was prolly a 1/2 a pound, but it lasted for 6 - 8 hours of run time.

[simensays]

I fitted my FujiFilm FinePix 50i to my Wild Willy 2 the other day. Although it's bigger than your little spycam Chris, it fitted nicely under the rollbar (wich by the way worked out very fine - the Willy has a tendency to tip over). Like most newer digital cams it can also take short sequense film (80sec).

I made a few test runs, and it worked great! You can see over Willy's shoulder thru the windshield and over the hood and you get a true Willy View of the famous wheelies! It would be better if it had a wide angle lens - the view is kinda limited and I will make more clips with a modified cam position to get a more realistic and interesting view, but the wheelies is present now though.

check out one clip on http://www.simensays.com/tamiya

clik the green link that says Willy Cam Movies!

[JesterRace]

Simen man, that movie is actually quite good. About a year ago one of my friends bought one of those X10 cameras or whatever (the ones that popup on your computer all the time in those ads) and it was good untill you started hitting some rough areas then the picture would break up. Question for simen is what is a round price for the camera you used?

Question to Netsmith, can we get an eBay link and an approx. price on the camera you bought?

~Andrew

[netsmithUK]

This is where I got mine (£57), don't know if he has more but it was NIB when i got it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...3124746142&rd=1

I did have a deal lined up from the states for $99.00 before this uk one came along - if you search for "RC Camera" think you should find him, he had loads for sale.

I've got a bunch of movies I took last year by mounting my Sony Cybershot digital camera on top of various cars. They all produced good images. The only problem was the weight and size meant mounting postions we limited. (and the fact I had to drive like a girl through fear of rolling it with £700 worth of camera on board!)

This one is so tiny it can go almost any where even on platforms mounted on the car from the side ot front for some great shots. Its also smaller enough to mount on the head of a server, which is my plan for a willy movie, as you steer the camera will move left to right, which should be cool.

So many ideas - shame i have to work during the day...

[DJTheo]

Simen, another great fearure on your site, excellent!!! [8D][^]

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by netsmithUK

This is where I got mine (£57), don't know if he has more but it was NIB when i got it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...3124746142&rd=1

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Why "Not a Registered User" ?? [8)]

[SJoerD]

I have experimented with a Sony Handycam taperd to a Midnight Pumpkin chassis... The results were quite funny! The movie is a bit too long though, quite boring at times and it's tilted 90 degrees as the cam was mounted on it's side! []

I made a movie of my King Blackfoot in the snow as well , it should be properly on my site soon. (I hope) [] Not onboard-cam though, will do that as well but without the snow as that's long gone here... [|)]

[terry.sc]

About 10 years ago my model car club was involved in filming for the BBC childrens programme "Why Dont You" at our local BBC studios. Considering it is a very professional operation, the on car footage was filmed using a film camera, which held 45 seconds of film in its cartridge. Camera was as big as the buggy it was mounted on, and with the strongest springs and shock collars moved down as far as they could be it just about kept from bottoming.

It's a good job technology has moved on since then, but there is no way I would strap my camera to my car though.

[simensays]

quote:Originally posted by JesterRace

Simen man, that movie is actually quite good...Question for simen is what is a round price for the camera you used?

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Andrew, I bought my camera before going to Hawaii last year for a surf trip, and I wanted a small, but high guailty digital cam, it has 4,3 MegaPixel - I paid about $1000, but mind you that was in Norway a year ago! Thay has probably gotten a whole lot cheaper by now...

The size and weight of it is super, it fits perfectly under the rollcage on the WW2 with protective styrofoam padding - I'll post some pics of it along some more movies soon. I'm gonna make some better clips soon, with a better view. Although it's quite a bumpy ride, I fastened the cam in such a manner that there isn't any shaking, the oildampers takes it all - I do have some clip of the car rolling over that I might post if any one wants to see though...

[simensays]

BTW, 'name that tune' that's playing in the background of the Willy Cam movie! Anyone?

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by terry.sc

It's a good job technology has moved on since then

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Sure thing, electronics have improved heaps since - think i386-33!

This classic is from 1991... (do I hear "aaarrgh" from Theo??[:0])

quote:but there is no way I would strap my camera to my car though.

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Yes, it sure helps if:

Sony Hi8... not mine

car... not mine

gaffa tape, hmm... nah, not mine

legs... definitely NOT mine

[][][][][][]

[DJTheo]

quote:do I hear "aaarrgh" from Theo??

id="quote">id="quote">

Yes, as we wanted to see YOUR legs, not others!!! [][]

Will, you have a really bad idea of me [V][], you know I enjoy your flashbacks in time, I even listen to 80s [][8D][]

Cheers! []

[netsmithUK]

OK Finally posted up the first movie. its nearly 8mb though...

You can see from it that it doesn't react to brightness changes very well but it gets there in the end - notice the bits where i stop in the shade and it recalibrates itself. Based on this I think you would probably get the best out of it on, fairly overcast days, with little contrast in light and shade. Its probably best not to drive the car like a madman to and stick to more straight runs and smoother curves.

Think i need to work on an antishake mount - any ideas?

I'm quite impressed the image size was actually much bigger than in this movie, I think it can be improved again with fresh batteries.

take a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.netsmith.co.uk/tf1.mov (its a quicktime file)

Following Simens theme - whats the tune?

[CarterTG]

Neat clip, Chris.

On the issue of an antishake-mount, I don't think it would be practical given limited resources and time to create a system that would effectively dampen the camera independent of the chassis. In mostly likely cases, the "jiggle harmonics" of the two may work against each other giving you a WORSE shake.

If anything, I would suggest using the chassis' weight and inertia to work FOR you. Professional videographers prefer using shoulder mounted cameras because their larger mass (compared to prosumer palmcorders) gives them a smoother picture due to inertia. Since the RC camera head is featherweight and thus prone to jiggling on the velcro surface, clamp it down essentially making it PART of the chassis and use a softer suspension setting.

As for clip size, 8megs for a ~1 minute video clip sized at 160x120pixels is pretty outrageous even for Quicktime. Not sure what your original clip format was (AVI, QT, MPEG1) -- but just for reference, I recently digitized a TV commercial into a DV camcorder (112meg AVI), edited/trimmed it in this low-compression format, then converted the finished clip into a distribution-friendly format; in this case Microsoft's ActiveStreamingFormat (ASF)... aiming for a 320x240pixel clip with a framerate of 15fps. This gave me a 744kb file that sounded/looked as smooth/detailed as the TV broadcast.

Windows Media Encoder should be freely available on MS's site and if using WinXP, they now have version 2 of their free editing program, MovieMaker. Useful for overlaying "TamiyaClub.com" watermarks on your clips.

[]

[netsmithUK]

All good points - I didn't really thing about the filesize issue much before uploading it, but you are right - I definately chose the wrong setting somewhere down the line...