Keychain Cam Question

[Peartree]

I know that there are a ton of different kinds of cameras for rocketry, spy cams that hide in your pocket and look like a pen, a clock on a shelf in your living room, and whatnot, but I haven't been able to find the form factor that I really want (not exactly for rocketry, but would likely be used for that as well). What I'd like to find is something that is small like a USB or a pen, but that has the camera lens facing out of the end of the 'barrel' of the pen rather that out the side so that, if taped to the side of a rocket, would look up/down and not outward. As I recall, the camera once sold by Boostervision used to be like that.

My primary desire for this camera is to mount on model railroad flatcars and record FPV layout tours, so weight isn't a huge issue, but if I want to use it for rocketry, and I do, then weight is also somewhat important. I am known to be a cheapskate so cost is always an issue but I'll consider anything that will work for this application and is of decent quality.

Do any of you know of, or have experience with, a product that will match these requirements?

 

[Scott_650]

Hey John, Scott Bryan here - I feel your (potential) frustration with “keychain” or 808 mini digital cameras! It used to be simple, go to Chuck Lohr’s website (https://www.chucklohr.com/), look up the cheap cam you’re thinking about buying, check it against his list of part/model numbers, then spend the less than $20 - sometimes less than $10! - and have fun playing with your new mini camera. Now it’s not near so easy - evidently the combination of supply chain issues and chip shortages have pushed prices high and availability low, there’s still some cams out there in the sub $20 range but how do you know if it’s worth even that much? The vendor I bought my cam from can no longer be found on Amazon and the prices for cams similar to mine are over $40 - I paid less than $10 including shipping 5 years ago and mine works well.

You could get a stand alone Estes #2208 Astrocam from AC Supply for less than $30 - they’re supposed to have them sometime in December - that way you’ll have the universal rocket mount and a warranty if the cam dies on you. The reports on the new Astrocam have been generally positive but I have zero first hand experience with the picture quality - not sure how it’s going to work on your train layout with the lighting typical in a train room, you may need some brighter temporary lights to get good FPV footage.

Unless somebody has solid info on a particular cam I guess your best bet is to search for “808 digital camera” on Amazon or Google and pick one you can live with being dissatisfied with then repeat until you get something that works. I know that’s not much help…good luck!

 

[neil_w]

I was going to suggest the Astrocam as well, as I think it matches your requirements.

I remember seeing an article about an FPV camera in Model Railroader about a zillion years, it seemed cool but so unreachable then. Now, easy-peasy.

Of course, it puts a lot of pressure on the quality of your landscaping.

 

[user 35280]

https://estesrockets.com/product/002208-universal-astrocam-hd-rocket-camera-and-holder/
Or wait until AC Supply gets them in stock as I believe the price would be around $29.99

 

[user 35280]

Maybe this one or something similar,
https://www.amazon.com/1200TVL-Came...qid=1637018143&sprefix=1200TVL,aps,456&sr=8-5

 

[Peartree]

Maybe this one or something similar,
https://www.amazon.com/1200TVL-Came...qid=1637018143&sprefix=1200TVL,aps,456&sr=8-5

That's nice and small for a drone, but too big for what I need. But thanks.

 

[Ronz Rocketz]

So far, the AC cam is the best you’re gonna find. Anything more than 1080p/30fps is gonna be heavy (50g+). Someday someone’s gonna find out where in China they make these and buy em out.

 

[Rocketjunkie]

The cheap key fob cameras were so cheap they didn't have any protection gor the battery. Leaving it in the USB port for more that about 2 hours would permanently kill the battery and the camera would be useless.

 

[jqavins]

Recommendations I do not have. I read the thread out of curiosity and now, naturally, I have a question.

If the camera is facing forward, would it not see only the ass end of the car in front of it, except on pretty sharp curves. Will you have the camera angled out? If so, might you want two, angled one left and one right?

Use a video editor to place the two views side by side with a time offset of D÷V and the viewer will be right there, turning his/her head from side to side.

 

[Rex R]

One camera at the head of train on a flat car, being pushed

 

[jqavins]

Well, yeah, if you want to keep it simple.

 

[Scott_650]

One camera at the head of train on a flat car, being pushed

Depending on the era being modeled (or the modeler‘s interest level in staying true to the prototype) lots of fun options for something to carry a mini cam - self-powered inspection car based on old passenger cars, rail speeders, adapted cars/trucks, newer high rail trucks, handcars, obsolete locomotive converted for MOW duty…doing a quick interwebs search turned up what could only be described as a powered barstool single seat inspection thingie - if you can imagine it some railroad somewhere some when came up with a picturesque solution

 

[jqavins]

That's what's called a rail runner, a class of vehicles that come in many shapes, sizes, and construction methods, built and used by armatures to run on tracks that (they hope) are inactive.

 

[Peartree]

One camera at the head of train on a flat car, being pushed

Yup. That's the plan. The alternative, and slightly more complicated, plan, if the camera is small enough and the scale model large enough, is to mount the camera on a flatcar, inside of a locomotive shell, in order to generate a "locomotive cab view" video. These things can be done easily in O-scale, with some difficulty in HO-scale, but get really difficult in N-scale, and virtually impossible in Z-scale.