On board video cameras

Advertise with us
Onebadhawk
the model rocket show
madcow rocketry
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
K

kpklein

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
264
Reaction score
2
Has anyone tried the new itty bitty video cameras on thier rockets?
Some of them sell for less than 20$ depending on where you get them and other for a lot more.

As far as stability, is there much effect of asemetric instability because of the angled mirror sticking out the one side?
 
Yep... these have been around awhile now... TONS of videos from them on the site here, at youtube, etc.

Bayourat here on the site sells them on his rocketry site. Boostervision also sells various types of camera setups as well.

Most folks have typically been mounting these keyfob cameras to the outside of their rockets with tape, foregoing the whole "mirror hood" thing altogether. There's even a post around here with someone selling pre-made fiberglass 'shrouds' for externally mounting these cams on the side of a rocket.

The whole "camera hood" mirror arrangement has a long history dating back at least to the Estes Cineroc if not before (and Cineroc has been out of production for about 30 years at least.) It works and works well and there's no "untoward" aerodynamic effects (other than additional aerodynamic drag) caused by them so long as the rocket is stable with a proper CG/CP relationship.

Good luck! OL JR :)
 
Love those little camperas, particularly on BT-55 and up rockets.

I just invested in a Type 16 (High Def) one... cost me around $40. I'll be comparing the video with the standard definition cameras I've got at the next launch. More pixels is good, but I'm not sure if the practical video quality will be much better.

I posted a testimonial about Bayourat over in the Vendors forum... I had a freak problem with one and he made sure I was satisfied, so I recommend him heartily.

I just take off most of the metal keychain part and use a wire tie covered in tape to hold it on the rocket. On youtube look for my channel... Frankenvideo1 or something like that. That's where I put my video uploads.

MArc
 
kpklein said:
Has anyone tried the new itty bitty video cameras on thier rockets?
Some of them sell for less than 20$ depending on where you get them and other for a lot more.

As far as stability, is there much effect of asemetric instability because of the angled mirror sticking out the one side?
Click to expand...
No angled mirror needed. My BayouRat cam is just taped to the side of the rocket?

Have you never heard duct tape called "200mph tape"? Well, blue painters tape is 300 mph tape.

BTW, the BayouRat cams are excellent.
 
I started flying the keychain camera first on my small Estes birds. As others have done, I just taped it to the side of the rocket with some masking tape. I don't think I'd go smaller than a BT50 based rocket. Also you want to be sure to tape it higher than lower on the rocket to keep the CG forward enough.

Amazingly I've flown the same keychain camera just taped to the side of some of my high power flights and it stayed put and captured even more stunning video thanks to the greater altitude.

Jim Z.
 
We've gone through a number of the little cameras. The most durable ones we've had are the plastic bodied MD-50 cameras that are - more or less - 720 x 480. The only downside is they slow down the video frame rate in low light and shooting one frame every second or so doesn't look too good in a rocket flight.

We fit them inside the clear payload of a Sky Trax RTF and a Magician. We made a custom "Rocket Cam" so it fit inside the payload area with just the lens pointed out flush from the side. Got a good ascending video without any distortion and no view of the fins looking down. I used a free stitching program to take stills as the rocket rotated and generated big composite pictures from several hundred feet up that looked like something out of NASA. Very cool.

Oh, and found out the MD-50 doesn't like water too much after one crashed in a gully this week. Food for thought.
 
RadioFlyer said:
We've gone through a number of the little cameras. The most durable ones we've had are the plastic bodied MD-50 cameras that are - more or less - 720 x 480. The only downside is they slow down the video frame rate in low light and shooting one frame every second or so doesn't look too good in a rocket flight.

We fit them inside the clear payload of a Sky Trax RTF and a Magician. We made a custom "Rocket Cam" so it fit inside the payload area with just the lens pointed out flush from the side. Got a good ascending video without any distortion and no view of the fins looking down. I used a free stitching program to take stills as the rocket rotated and generated big composite pictures from several hundred feet up that looked like something out of NASA. Very cool.

Oh, and found out the MD-50 doesn't like water too much after one crashed in a gully this week. Food for thought.
Click to expand...

Do you know where I could download that program? It sounds great!
 
I've got the same one as most people do and I have a program called VLC that lets you take snapshots of frames in the video..pretty cool.Forget the site but it was free

vlcsnap-5678545.jpg

vlcsnap-5678219.jpg

vlcsnap-5677588.jpg
 
I have a couple of the keychain cams and have launched them a few times. I built a special rocket to carry one and I built a larger D boost glider to carry one. They are alot of fun and add a new dimension to model rocketry. I bought one from a guy in New York for about $17 and the other came via slow boat from china for about $6. I already had a couple of micro SD cards from old phones.
 
Barracuda said:
I've got the same one as most people do and I have a program called VLC that lets you take snapshots of frames in the video..pretty cool.Forget the site but it was free
Click to expand...

I know of VLC. What I was referring to was the software that would let you stitch the frames together.
 
This thread has a nice discussion of the making of a dedicated camera rocket using a keychain camera.
 
Marc_G said:
Love those little camperas, particularly on BT-55 and up rockets.

I just invested in a Type 16 (High Def) one... cost me around $40. I'll be comparing the video with the standard definition cameras I've got at the next launch. More pixels is good, but I'm not sure if the practical video quality will be much better.
Click to expand...

I have a #11 HD keychain (ebay Hong Kong $40) that does HD in 720p. I think it does make nicer video than the standard def ones... Here is a sample video from Midwest Power 9. You can watch full screen at 1080p if your computer and bandwidth are up to it...

[YOUTUBE]fm2GEofo8tk[/YOUTUBE]
 
I use the keychain camera as well:

[YOUTUBE]avNi1f4AceQ[/YOUTUBE]

My next project is to hack one, removing the CCD, and mounting the recorder internally, with only the tiny camera bits external. Anyone try this yet? I figure at a whopping $7.00 apiece from hobbyking, I can afford to butcher a few for science :)

As far as performance, using a Class 10 memory card will result in better video. (The above video was shot on a Class 4 card)
 
I use the type 3 keychain cameras and on mu Deuce, a Kodak Zi6 720p camera. Last keychain cam flight:
[YOUTUBE]2XUCjb3byac[/YOUTUBE]
Last Deuce flight:
[YOUTUBE]q2Hr4gJ2SvI[/YOUTUBE]

On my channel, all the Deuce videos are titled 'Deuce onboard yymmdd' and the keychain cam flights are 'Keycam <rocket name> <motor>.
 
I am trying to find information on how to get altitude and speed on the video. I have seen some included as an altitude counter. Do you know where information can be sourced? Thank you,

bkcoph1




luke strawwalker said:
Yep... these have been around awhile now... TONS of videos from them on the site here, at youtube, etc.

Bayourat here on the site sells them on his rocketry site. Boostervision also sells various types of camera setups as well.

Most folks have typically been mounting these keyfob cameras to the outside of their rockets with tape, foregoing the whole "mirror hood" thing altogether. There's even a post around here with someone selling pre-made fiberglass 'shrouds' for externally mounting these cams on the side of a rocket.

The whole "camera hood" mirror arrangement has a long history dating back at least to the Estes Cineroc if not before (and Cineroc has been out of production for about 30 years at least.) It works and works well and there's no "untoward" aerodynamic effects (other than additional aerodynamic drag) caused by them so long as the rocket is stable with a proper CG/CP relationship.

Good luck! OL JR :)
Click to expand...
 
o1d_dude said:
No angled mirror needed. My BayouRat cam is just taped to the side of the rocket?

Have you never heard duct tape called "200mph tape"? Well, blue painters tape is 300 mph tape.

BTW, the BayouRat cams are excellent.
Click to expand...

I can attest to duct tape being 500 MPH tape. :)
 
bkcoph1 said:
I am trying to find information on how to get altitude and speed on the video. I have seen some included as an altitude counter. Do you know where information can be sourced? Thank you,

bkcoph1
Click to expand...

This is what you need for the Video Overlay >>> Link
 

Similar threads

SolarYellow
3 vs 4 fins in OpenRocket sim
2
Replies
30
Views
3K
jqavins
jqavins
StreuB1
Experience with Tapentadol (Nucynta) for pain management?
Replies
1
Views
730
Joshua Smith
Joshua Smith
Scott_650
Godzilla Minus One
2 3
Replies
60
Views
2K
Fattbank64
Fattbank64
86mustang408w
Foam Board Fin Template.
Replies
20
Views
908
neil_w
neil_w
Rktman
Traffic Cone Caper
Replies
27
Views
2K
lakeroadster
lakeroadster

Latest posts

Back
Top