92 replies to this topic

[ickus305]

One of the best ways to find out how smooth your track work is done, is to have a Point of View from the the train to see if any straight spots or sharp angles exists. From working with slotcars, I came across a $10 item that you can easily find on ebay to make POV camera work a breeze.

A small keychain video camera.
As stated above you can easily find one on E-bay. They take decent video when enough lighting is provided and can provide quick and easy feedback to you about how your track work is completed as well as help add interesting shots when doing a final video of your coaster.

here is what it looks like


Here is the super simple mounting


and then turn it on and create great POV's like this.

Here is a custom SS POV


a trip around the slot car racetrack


and a trip around the HO layout


Hope this helps you in your video endeavors of your Coaster layouts!

[Knexrule11]

Wow, thats really amazing! And for cheap too! I might get one of these.

[the_burrito_master]

I assume it takes videos? cause your post has videos in it, but i cant see them. wow, I've gotta get me one o' them. oh yeah it does says right on the box what do ya know.

[Jumpge]

Wow! This is really cool that you stumbled upon this and I think I am going to get one! Well, this is actually a really great idea and a lot of people could utilize this for final videos like rollercoasterfanaric919's POV in Ion, and other various videos. What kind of camera is rollercoasterfanatic919's?

Otherwise, I wonder what the actual usage of this is. Spy's?! :confused:
I don't think so...

[~stεεlspectrum~]

The video quality is very high considering the size and price of the camera. I have a few questions though:
1. How do you get the video onto your computer?
2. How long can you record video for (before it runs out of memory)?
3. I had another one but I forgot...

[ickus305]

It saves onto a micro SD card (like what you would have in a cell phone). I use a card adaptor to USB and plug it in and remove the files.

I think the battery on this one is like 2 hours, but it will run until its full, dies, or you stop it.

[Maxlaam]

This is better alternative than my Mini Wireless Security cam. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on one of those.

Seems the output format is .AVI which is rather uncompressed. Does it come with an Micro SD card or do you need to buy one yourself?

Also 480p is a decent quality, it most ikely is the same resolution as your regular digital photocamera.

There is a clear difference between SD and SDHC, does it also record on SDHC? I know some devices don't work with that.

[TheSUCKCrew]

Wow, that SS had such an amazing trackwork:)

I really like the idea, I have one of those micro-cams for my HO trains. It works with a wireless receiver, so you see whats happening on a TV-screen:)
I bought it a few years back, it was around 100 USD back then...
Funny how electronic stuff is getting so much cheaper.

One thing I'm wondering, how many frames per second does it have?

[ickus305]

Mine is 30FPS and is standard SD. I bought mine almost 12 months ago. I am sure if you look around, you can find some that have SDHC and that are 640 or 720p. So most of the tech specs have probably improved since I bought mine, and As you seeI use for several applications of the things I have built, and Actually I am working on seeing if I can mount it to my helicopter (it's a mini indoor chopper) and get some interesting shots.

[MichaelG]

This is great! What are HO trains?

[~stεεlspectrum~]

Oh, that's great because I already have a 4GB card I use in my phone. I really want one of those.

EDIT: Another question: Does it always give the videos a yellow timestamp, or can you turn that off?

[Maxlaam]

I went to buy some more electronics for XenoX (Yes lights indeed) and I saw this MicroSD to SD adapter with a 2 GB Micro SD storage included for 7,50 euros. I decided to take it with me right away. I'm already ordering one of those cameras now. They are much lighter than the camera I used to use, which was heavy and a little more bulky. It caused the dynamics from the train to change resulting in roll backs. I will probably post a small review here when I have recieved mine and when I have tested it.

[ickus305]

Usually it does have the time stamp. I looked it up at some time. There is code available to remove it, but I was not concerned enough to take the time to remove it.

HO is a scale size (1:87). It stands for Half of O gauge. Which is actually zero gauge because gauges first become standardize starting with 5 gauge then 4-3-2-1 (gauge referrers to the width between the rails of the track, so scale size usually has a range according to the type and style you are using to go with the gauge). 1 gauge has a range from 1:24-1:32) HO is approx 1:87- 1:75 (depending on American or Euro lines) and O is approx 1:48-1:43 scale. I know that I probably just muddied the water for you but hope it helps.

[MichaelG]

Ah so model railways my dad has OO gauge in the loft

[TheSUCKCrew]

I thought the only tracktypes were LGB, HO, N, T, etc.
Ickus, I might post some pictures from model railroad soon, I think you might like it:)

I am thinking about buying one of those:
Spy Cam Lighter Hidden Cam Video Recorder 30fps DV HD - eBay (item 200558388942 end time Jan-24-11 13:19:09 PST)

[Knexrule11]

^ Don't get it from that ad, it's in hong-kong. Those are usually crap. I might get one of these camera's when I'm done with a coaster.

[MichaelG]

[quote name='TheSUCKCrew']I thought the only tracktypes were LGB, HO, N, T, etc.
Ickus, I might post some pictures from model railroad soon, I think you might like it:)

I live in the UK, we have different types I think

[ickus305]

LGB is a company. Most of their trains run on 1 gauge (also called G gauge for garden gauge). OO is the Euro version of HO.

Europe is where the gauges were standardize. Marklin created the system in the 1800's. Gauge and scale is not a straight forward method. I work with 4 scales on a regular basis and there are a bunch of intermediate scales and gauges to go with those.

Now back to the Camera. More than likely is will come from someplace in Asia. Why, because it can be produced and sold much cheaper from there. The reality of it is, it is approx. $10US. It is small compact cheap and gets the job done.

[TheSUCKCrew]

^ Don't get it from that ad, it's in hong-kong. Those are usually crap. I might get one of these camera's when I'm done with a coaster.

As a mather if fact, 90 procent of the things you buy come from there...
The one Ickus used are also from a factory somewhere near there.

[Maxlaam]

The Train scales do not belong in this topic. Please stick to the subject.

Usually it does have the time stamp. I looked it up at some time. There is code available to remove it, but I was not concerned enough to take the time to remove it.

The time stamp can be removed by hard core hacking the video camera software. However the internals of the video camera are SMD (Surface Mount Devices) I really doubt anyone on this site has the guts and skill to risk to hardcore hack his camera. It also requires some special micro controller that you have to order.

However I've been looking for a solution to that.
Some fan made a Vdub plugin that filters out the time-stamp.
It can be downloaded here, there is also a link to download Vdub (free-ware video compression software) Air Command Water Rockets MD-80 camera clone

(Here is a video of him showing a pre-plugin video and a after plugin video YouTube - Time Stamp Removal - Filter Test)

I have high expectations from this but I can not try it out myself just yet. I will let you know as soon as I get my camera in the mail. Ickus, I would really want to thank you for posting this and I'm going to make this into a staff announcement because everybody should have one!