Onboard Camera's
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video conferencing resolution to that question...
hmm well I guess for now, after seeing the video from a pocket DV and finding that to be pretty good, I think I will be happy with the 4100 (atleast for my first camera)...
hmm well I guess for now, after seeing the video from a pocket DV and finding that to be pretty good, I think I will be happy with the 4100 (atleast for my first camera)...
CQBArms
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The video conferencing is a streaming video v. a store and replay. That gets into that CIF and QVGA thing with regards to some sort of "standard".
I think that is why some are 3 -1, 4 -1, 5-1.
Record video, stream video, still picture, voice record, MP3 player...
I think that is why some are 3 -1, 4 -1, 5-1.
Record video, stream video, still picture, voice record, MP3 player...
CQBArms
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Think of a web cam, that streams live video. The resolution is less when streaming live video than when recording video for playback later.
So the devices you are looking at are multi use, take still pictures, record video, stream (play live video) and maybe some other feature like voice record and mp3 player.
You are paying extra for the extra things it can do and for the extra resolution on other features.
In a perfect world you would buy the best and cheapest "single" feature digital video cam since it seems you want to record pure video for playback later.
I bought a couple four of those different ones today to test. I'll let you know how they go. But my mainstay I think will be the ATC2k as it has great video..and that's all it does.
It's a jack of all trades, master of none type of thing with some of these things although the video is still great.
In a year it will be 1024x768 video at 30fps or as soon as I get mine.
So the devices you are looking at are multi use, take still pictures, record video, stream (play live video) and maybe some other feature like voice record and mp3 player.
You are paying extra for the extra things it can do and for the extra resolution on other features.
In a perfect world you would buy the best and cheapest "single" feature digital video cam since it seems you want to record pure video for playback later.
I bought a couple four of those different ones today to test. I'll let you know how they go. But my mainstay I think will be the ATC2k as it has great video..and that's all it does.
It's a jack of all trades, master of none type of thing with some of these things although the video is still great.
In a year it will be 1024x768 video at 30fps or as soon as I get mine.
CQBArms
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Yeah...just buy the one you chose, in a year it will be half the price and obsolete so we will have this conversation again
.
Due to the way things are constructed, the system might have a higher total resolution than the sensor will actually due to some sort of hardware/software/firmware interpolation.
Short version the higher the number the better when speaking about the effective resolution. If the camera is a lot higher in quoted megapixel, than effective sensor resolution that's just software internal to the system "fixing" it up.
You want at least 3 mega pixel effective for photos. As for the video, it's going to run the same sensor but be under the maximum effective resolution as the video recording uses a lower resolution compression format.
Short version: the higher the effective resolution the better but a lot of it will be "lost" if playing at a lower resolution.
Your choice is fine.
.
Due to the way things are constructed, the system might have a higher total resolution than the sensor will actually due to some sort of hardware/software/firmware interpolation.
Short version the higher the number the better when speaking about the effective resolution. If the camera is a lot higher in quoted megapixel, than effective sensor resolution that's just software internal to the system "fixing" it up.
You want at least 3 mega pixel effective for photos. As for the video, it's going to run the same sensor but be under the maximum effective resolution as the video recording uses a lower resolution compression format.
Short version: the higher the effective resolution the better but a lot of it will be "lost" if playing at a lower resolution.
Your choice is fine.
CQBArms
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Something else to consider, SD cards.
When buying the SD cards there seems to be two schools of thought, get the biggest one out there with the fastest transfer rate
OR
Get some cheap ones that are small and don't list transfer rates.
If I thought I was going to maybe lose the rocket, I would stick in the smallest and cheapest card that had enough memory to get me the video I wanted.
Aiptek has some good prices on SD cards, I bought some cheap at staples 1 GB for $15 and 2GB secure for $29....but that was a sale.
So consider some smaller cards if there is a chance of losing the rocket.
When buying the SD cards there seems to be two schools of thought, get the biggest one out there with the fastest transfer rate
OR
Get some cheap ones that are small and don't list transfer rates.
If I thought I was going to maybe lose the rocket, I would stick in the smallest and cheapest card that had enough memory to get me the video I wanted.
Aiptek has some good prices on SD cards, I bought some cheap at staples 1 GB for $15 and 2GB secure for $29....but that was a sale.
So consider some smaller cards if there is a chance of losing the rocket.
Sailorbill
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The mirror on my camera pod is a high tech 2.25" X 1.5" unit available from Hobby Lobby. Cost 3 for $1.99!
Components:
3.9" Giant Leap Flexible Phenolic 10" long
3.9" Giant Leap Phenolic Coupler 7" long
3.9" Giant Leap Phenolic Coupler 1" long
2 coupler Bulkplates 1 for the camera mount 1 for the recovery bulkplate
1 airframe bulkplate for the top of the camera mount
4 pieces of 8-32 threaded rod 5" long for camera mount
16 8-32 flange nuts to secure the camera mount rods
1 stainless steel u bolt for recovery attachment
4 1/4-20 flange nuts 2 for the u bolt and 1 each for the camera retainer bolt and the mount removal bolt
3 1/4-20 nylon locking nuts 2 for the u bolt one for the camera mount removal bolt
2 1/4-20 X 1" bolts
4 PML plastic rivets 2 to secure the hatch 2 to hold the camera mount in place.
2 pieces of 1/6th inch plywood two triangles 3.25" X 2.5" X 2.5" for the sides of the mirror shroud. This gives a 45 deg. angle to the mirror.
1 rectangular piece of 1/6th inch plywood 2.25" X 2.5" for the mirror mount.
Several scrap pieces of CF cloth for reinforcement.
2.25" X 1.5" unit available from Hobby Lobby. Cost 3 for $1.99! Components:
3.9" Giant Leap Flexible Phenolic 10" long
3.9" Giant Leap Phenolic Coupler 7" long
3.9" Giant Leap Phenolic Coupler 1" long
2 coupler Bulkplates 1 for the camera mount 1 for the recovery bulkplate
1 airframe bulkplate for the top of the camera mount
4 pieces of 8-32 threaded rod 5" long for camera mount
16 8-32 flange nuts to secure the camera mount rods
1 stainless steel u bolt for recovery attachment
4 1/4-20 flange nuts 2 for the u bolt and 1 each for the camera retainer bolt and the mount removal bolt
3 1/4-20 nylon locking nuts 2 for the u bolt one for the camera mount removal bolt
2 1/4-20 X 1" bolts
4 PML plastic rivets 2 to secure the hatch 2 to hold the camera mount in place.
2 pieces of 1/6th inch plywood two triangles 3.25" X 2.5" X 2.5" for the sides of the mirror shroud. This gives a 45 deg. angle to the mirror.
1 rectangular piece of 1/6th inch plywood 2.25" X 2.5" for the mirror mount.
Several scrap pieces of CF cloth for reinforcement.
wow, thats a first, a rocksim file for a component... AWESOME!
Sounds like its easy enough, any tips on cutting the airframe for the hatch? I will be making pure fiberglass tubing for this rocket, so I will have to use some sort of power tool to do the hatch... so a 45 degrees angle works out nicely... sounds like the hobby lobby mirror is the way to go!
Thanks
Oh and I have NO intentions of loosing this bird. The bird itself will be pretty expensive, but what it has onboard.... I would probably cry if lost
Gwiz MC2, beeline GPS tracker (well that sorta makes it hard to loose...) eventually it will have a $350 motor casing, but for now it will have some less expensive 54mm motors... Lets not even talk about loosing it that would not be a fun day!
Sounds like its easy enough, any tips on cutting the airframe for the hatch? I will be making pure fiberglass tubing for this rocket, so I will have to use some sort of power tool to do the hatch... so a 45 degrees angle works out nicely... sounds like the hobby lobby mirror is the way to go!
Thanks
Oh and I have NO intentions of loosing this bird. The bird itself will be pretty expensive, but what it has onboard.... I would probably cry if lost
Gwiz MC2, beeline GPS tracker (well that sorta makes it hard to loose...) eventually it will have a $350 motor casing, but for now it will have some less expensive 54mm motors... Lets not even talk about loosing it
that would not be a fun day!seems like a LOT of people put there camera's on top of the seperation point, I guess with motor ejection thats the way to go but with a HPR rocket, you already have a bay so why not throw a cheap timer or even an altimeter in there and put the camera/deployment electronics bay right over where the motor will be. This is how I plan on doing it... You wont catch the deployment but atleast the camera will be pointing down during descent, which is something a lot of people really like to see.
falconpilot
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Not to hijack this thread, but our club just posted a set of video's from the first P launch in Alabama.. He used a sony minicam..
www.pmwonline.org under the multimedia section. video's..
He used a sony minicam with a mirror.. The neat part is it was built as a whole unit, shroud and all. He just used 4 screws to insert it into a hatch cut out.. Real neat idea. Totally removable and very secure..
Dennis
www.pmwonline.org under the multimedia section. video's..
He used a sony minicam with a mirror.. The neat part is it was built as a whole unit, shroud and all. He just used 4 screws to insert it into a hatch cut out.. Real neat idea. Totally removable and very secure..
Dennis
roadkill
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Jraice,
I've been using Aiptek DV3100's for the past
year and a half or ye, all the onboard videos on
my site are shot with them.
They are somewhat jerky, but halfway decent. Since it looks to me that DV5100 is built on the same platform / casing
as 3100's I'm thinking of upgrading in the near future.
Should make it an easy swap since the casings are what looks like
identical.
Why not get one of the really cheap 3100's first to get the kinks
out of the system, and once the design is proven, upgrade for
a 5100 model...
Use the big cards, like 512 or more, that way it can sit on the pad for over half an hour without running out of memory.
All the Aipteks I've played with so far are absolute pigs what it
comes to hogging up the batteries, I can usually get 2-3 flights
on the same day with a pair of fresh Duracells, so every launch I install a pair of fresh ones to be on the safe side...
They also work better in look out and down thru the mirror configuration, the orientation of battery compartment in direct look down installation makes the G-forces at launch compress the battery springs and lose power, unless you really wedge the batteries in place with shims or something...
Have fun !
I've been using Aiptek DV3100's for the past
year and a half or ye, all the onboard videos on
my site are shot with them.
They are somewhat jerky, but halfway decent. Since it looks to me that DV5100 is built on the same platform / casing
as 3100's I'm thinking of upgrading in the near future.
Should make it an easy swap since the casings are what looks like
identical.
Why not get one of the really cheap 3100's first to get the kinks
out of the system, and once the design is proven, upgrade for
a 5100 model...
Use the big cards, like 512 or more, that way it can sit on the pad for over half an hour without running out of memory.
All the Aipteks I've played with so far are absolute pigs what it
comes to hogging up the batteries, I can usually get 2-3 flights
on the same day with a pair of fresh Duracells, so every launch I install a pair of fresh ones to be on the safe side...
They also work better in look out and down thru the mirror configuration, the orientation of battery compartment in direct look down installation makes the G-forces at launch compress the battery springs and lose power, unless you really wedge the batteries in place with shims or something...
Have fun !
That's the way I set mine up. The camera bay sits above the motor and fin section, with the altimeter bay above that. The good thing about that type of arrangement is that the camera shrouds are VERY close to the CG of the rocket, so you don't get a lot of aerodynamic forces pushing your rocket off-trajectory.
The bad thing about it - it doesn't work well with drogueless apogee deployment. If you break between the motor section and the camera bay, the section that's forward of the break is going to be VERY heavy relative to the aft section... so it'll tend to drag the motor section behind it. When the main is deployed, there's a GOOD chance that the rocket will fall right through it on the way down - possibly tangling the parachute.
To avoid this, my camera rockets are a drogue-to-main setup, with both deploying out of the forward section. The only failure I've had thus far was when the soft-deployment Slider I was using got caught halfway down the shroud lines, preventing the parachute from opening fully.
Sailorbill
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LFLekx
Mine currently breaks between the motor section and the ebay for the small 12" drogue. The camera is above the ebay in front of the main chute. Doesn't slow it much but does prevent it from going balistic as I have seen a drogueless set up do before. I have not yet had a chute tangle, just the last flight I must have undershot my ejection charge size and the main never left the tube.
I would like to set up the rocket with either the camera above or below the ebay and put all the laundry out the top. Do you have any pictures etc. of your design? I have the Teather but the only time I tried it, it did not release the main. Next time I intend to pop the NC, drogue and the forward tube at the same time. Then I will use the Teather to release the main.
ill have to talk to my dad, he's really good at designing electronics bays and that sorta thing, but I am thinking about making a removable section as described with the mirror shroud and everything on it, do you have any info on the design for this on the P motor project?
I am thinking that there will basically be a square hole through the airframe, like a hatch. It will have coupler running around about an 1" wide on the ID of the hatch, and then at the ID of the coupler tubing it will have plywood walls on the top, bottom and the sides. Hard to explain, but when you look into the hatch you will see the airframe on the other side, but on the inside on the left and right there will be "walls".
The camera will be attached in a box that fits tightly between these walls, inside the camera box there will be lots of padding to secure the camera, and the camera box will be attached to a piece of the airframe tubing, which has a hole for the lens and has a mirror and shroud.
The camera will be turned on and armed, then the camera box assembly slid into the "box" in the rocket, then screws or rivets will be used to secure the camera assembly in, by attaching the airframe (the airframe on the box) to the coupler inside the hatch door.
After re-reading this i see that it is VERY hard to understand, but I cant think of a way to make it any clearer.
So how would I make a clean hatch door using a fiberglass tube? Dremel tool?
I am thinking that there will basically be a square hole through the airframe, like a hatch. It will have coupler running around about an 1" wide on the ID of the hatch, and then at the ID of the coupler tubing it will have plywood walls on the top, bottom and the sides. Hard to explain, but when you look into the hatch you will see the airframe on the other side, but on the inside on the left and right there will be "walls".
The camera will be attached in a box that fits tightly between these walls, inside the camera box there will be lots of padding to secure the camera, and the camera box will be attached to a piece of the airframe tubing, which has a hole for the lens and has a mirror and shroud.
The camera will be turned on and armed, then the camera box assembly slid into the "box" in the rocket, then screws or rivets will be used to secure the camera assembly in, by attaching the airframe (the airframe on the box) to the coupler inside the hatch door.
After re-reading this i see that it is VERY hard to understand, but I cant think of a way to make it any clearer.
So how would I make a clean hatch door using a fiberglass tube? Dremel tool?
Are you talking fiberglass-reinforced, or 100% fiberglass?
My fiberglass-reinforced tubes cut well with a razor-saw and a sharp X-Acto knife. There's another thread about cutting hatches (Can't off-hand recall which thread it is...
) that you ought to look at.I am talking pure fiberglass tubing, I recently got the materials to make some pure carbon fiber 54mm tubing. It wasnt cheap (curing oven... etc...) and I would like to use the setup again, on a larger tube (this rocket will be 4" diameter). For this rocket I dont need the expensive CF's strength, but I thought, not a lot of people make their own pure glass tubes so I thought, maybe I should try that.
My tubes will not be your simpler wrap and let cure, my oven allows me to use a mylar/heat shrink tape outer layer to give the tubing a glass smooth finish. With the carbon it looks spectacular, but with the glass the smooth finish will just make the finished (painted) tube look nicer. I can also apply peel ply to the fin area so that I dont have to sand, it will already have a nice rough surface for the epoxy to bite.
I am thinking a dremel tool with a diamond cut of and slow patient cutting may be the way to go, sound reasonable? I dont have one but a lot of people use them to cut the ends of carbon tubing, and with a tape guide they turn out pretty nice and straight, so maybe ill borrow one or just go for it and buy a dremel.. there are SOOO many rocketry uses that it may be worth it.
My tubes will not be your simpler wrap and let cure, my oven allows me to use a mylar/heat shrink tape outer layer to give the tubing a glass smooth finish. With the carbon it looks spectacular, but with the glass the smooth finish will just make the finished (painted) tube look nicer. I can also apply peel ply to the fin area so that I dont have to sand, it will already have a nice rough surface for the epoxy to bite.
I am thinking a dremel tool with a diamond cut of and slow patient cutting may be the way to go, sound reasonable? I dont have one but a lot of people use them to cut the ends of carbon tubing, and with a tape guide they turn out pretty nice and straight, so maybe ill borrow one or just go for it and buy a dremel.. there are SOOO many rocketry uses that it may be worth it.
I've attached a picture of my 5.5-inch camera rocket... named "Zoinks!" If you look closely at the middle of the chrome section, you can see the bolts that hold the coupler tube in place. That's where I break the tube for deployment... the drogue is in the upper half, and gets pulled out when the apogee charge goes off. The main is contained in the lower half by a Tether device that prevents the D-bag from being pulled out.
I would still lean towards using a razor-saw and knife. It *will* take longer to work, but you won't lose as much material in the cutting. (I used a razor-saw to cut through kevlar-reinforced couplers for my camera and electronics bays with no trouble.)
You may even find that you get straighter cuts...
can you be a little more specific when you say razor saw...?
And do you really mean use an X-acto knife as well? That would take an insane amount of time...
I see your point though, if the blade is thin enough you could use the part that falls out as the hatch...
And do you really mean use an X-acto knife as well? That would take an insane amount of time...
I see your point though, if the blade is thin enough you could use the part that falls out as the hatch...
A 'razor saw' is one of those little saws that you see in hobby stores. The blade is thinner than a hacksaw.
The way I do my hatches is...
First, I mark the lines I want to follow. The lines that follow the curve of the tube get cut with the razor-saw - starting is easier when it's on a tangent.
If you're careful, and stop before you get to the corners, you can push the tip of the saw through the cut, and get closer to the corner.The lines that run parallel to the tube get cut with the SHARP X-acto knife. Using a piece of angle-steel as a guide, run the knife along the line - using just enough pressure to score the material. You'll have to make a LOT of passes to finish the cuts (takes me about eight to go through three layers of fiberglass...) and you have to be careful to not cut past the corners. But you wind up with a nice, clean cut... and you can use the piece you cut out for the cover, because you haven't lost much material to cutting.
Why is the razor saw used and then the exacto? Why not use one or the other for the entire process? So you think it would be within reason to cut threw a 5-7 layer tube with an X-acto ... thats a LOT of layers...
But Ill give it a try, maybe Ill start out with a short test sample of the material (I always make a 12" sample tube to see if I like the tube thickness and strenth before making a full length tube)... and practice cutting a hatch into it.
... thats a LOT of layers...But Ill give it a try, maybe Ill start out with a short test sample of the material (I always make a 12" sample tube to see if I like the tube thickness and strenth before making a full length tube)... and practice cutting a hatch into it.
Originally posted by jraice
Why is the razor saw used and then the exacto? Why not use one or the other for the entire process? So you think it would be within reason to cut threw a 5-7 layer tube with an X-acto
I find that I can make straighter cuts when I use the razor saw for the curved portions, and the knife for the straight ones.
My rockets are reinforced with 3-4 layers of fiberglass, varying from 6oz to 2oz weights. Cutting the straight lines takes me ten to twelve passes with the knife (assuming a brand-new blade here...
) and about ten minutes of time to go through all the layers plus the cardboard underneath. Your Mileage May Vary.Jraice did you ever get this camera? if so can you download sound too? I just love the sounds of launch I am thinking about making a removable mirror and a hatch. I plan on putting it below the E-bay so I can use DD and see the ground the whole time.
thanx, Ben
I am thinking about making a removable mirror and a hatch. I plan on putting it below the E-bay so I can use DD and see the ground the whole time.thanx, Ben
