calstatechico
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I would like to build a rocket with cam in it. Or is there a manufacture out there that makes a nosecone cam?
Rocket Cam
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McKailas Dad
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Hello, calstatechico, welcome to the Forum!
As far as a camera, check out the "Keychain Cam" thread. I have a couple of them, and it is a very fun little gadget. It is simply taped on to the rocket of your choice, and up it goes! Very good video (and audio) quality for such an inexpensive camera.
The videos of these cameras you may see on YouTube, are much better quality before they are uploaded. YouTube seems to 'pixilate' them.
HTH,
As far as a camera, check out the "Keychain Cam" thread. I have a couple of them, and it is a very fun little gadget. It is simply taped on to the rocket of your choice, and up it goes! Very good video (and audio) quality for such an inexpensive camera.
The videos of these cameras you may see on YouTube, are much better quality before they are uploaded. YouTube seems to 'pixilate' them.
HTH,
Rocketeer Gator
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This is what I found online at:
https://www.boostervision.com/cart/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=124
you can build a T rail like in the pic or just use tape.Seen a lot of vidz on youtube using this cam.I haven't flown mine yet but it'll be on my LVL 1 cert coming up soon.
https://www.boostervision.com/cart/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=124
you can build a T rail like in the pic or just use tape.Seen a lot of vidz on youtube using this cam.I haven't flown mine yet but it'll be on my LVL 1 cert coming up soon.
Rocketeer Gator
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Hey Jeff where can the cam you speak of be purchased an how much $$??
Rocketeer Gator
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Also you can find an Estes Oracle rocket on e-bay that has a cam in the nose...drawbacks no sound and Estes won't warranty it if it quits working on 2nd launch like mine did.So now I have a $70 rocket with heavy useless nosecone. LOL :y:
luke strawwalker
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Estes has made a couple digital cams. Problem is, they're not worth wasting your money on. Both record very poor video at low frame rates, without sound, and both have volatile memory, meaning if the battery goes dead or it gets switched off accidentally in flight or when you pick it up, you lose the video or pictures. They both record only for a VERY short time and both require special proprietary programs running on your computer to get the video off the camera and onto your computer, and played back for you. Worse yet, both cameras are pretty darn expensive for what little they do. In addition, unless I'm much mistaken, you'll have bigtime compatibility issues, as the programs that pull the vid off the camera and display it are not compatible with newer versions of Windows like Vista.
SO, with that said, what CAN you use?? Well, as previously mentioned, Boostervision.com sells some terrific video systems. I have one of their transmitting cameras and the patch antenna setup. The camera is powered by a nine volt battery, and is about 3/4 inch square, so it's pretty small, making it easy to mount on a decent size model rocket (say BT-60,70, or 80 or bigger). They transmit standard video to the ground where you catch the signal via a receiver box plugged into a VCR or camcorder to record and monitor the video sent down by the camera. So basically you can see what's going on in realtime, which is cool, and record it for playback on standard TV/video equipment, bypassing the computer altogether (unless recording to digital video on a camcorder or something like that). The only problem with this is, the transmission distance can be somewhat limited. Boostervision sells a patch antenna, which looks like a roughly 4 inch square plastic drink coaster, that can be placed close to the pad pointing up, or better yet pointed directly at the rocket in flight to receive the video signal being transmitted from the camera at much greater ranges than the standard 'rubber duck' antenna on the receiver box itself. The small receiver box is only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes and easy to hook up. This system works well, but it's about $100 with the patch antenna... at least that's what I paid...
Now, the second option is, going with one of the gumpack or keyfob cameras sold on Ebay, by about a million different sellers. These are the current rage of the rocket videographers, and the RC airplane/aerial photography set over on RC Groups forums... (check out the thread over there for some WAY COOL vids from planes! https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1115052 ) These small cams are available EXTREMELY cheaply on Ebay, most are now less than $10, and they produce REALLY good video quality considering... Folks have said on the RC Groups thread that they FAR surpass the capabilities and video quality of RC airplane cameras like the "Fly Cam One" and others, for a SMALL fraction of the price! They use 'on board' recording to mini memory cards (like those in cell phones) plugged into the cameras themselves, or onto memory chips or cards built into the cameras themselves. The video is easily downloaded onto the computer via USB, and is in the .avi format, which is pretty easily supported by most computer video programs like Windows Movie Maker with the requisite codecs, and so does not require any special program to download or show the video, and allows it to be easily manipulated and edited on the computer, and uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo or whatever source you want to use for hosting if you want to share your vids... This alone makes them FAR, FAR superior to the Estes products which rely on glitchy and outdated programs to download and display the video, programs which aren't supported on modern computer platforms. Bout the only thing the Estes Oracle or Astrovision is good for anymore, IMHO, is a nice plastic nosecone/mirror housing for your keychain cam or gum cam after you rip the antiquated electronic guts out of the Estes cams...
There is TONS of good information on these cams at the RC Groups forum previously mentioned, and at the chuck lohr website, where you can literally find out virtually EVERYTHING that is known about these cams (just google "chuck lohr 808 key cams" should get you there).
The "onboard recording" method used by these keychain/gumpack cameras has several advantages. First, they all record sound (the Boostervision downlink transmitting cam does as well, but the Estes cams DO NOT record sound). Second, recording "on the go" means that you don't have to worry about signal reception, interference, fuzz, and other stuff that can afflict cameras transmitting the video to the ground. You also don't have to have as much GSE (ground support equipment) such as the receiver box, patch antenna, and VCR/camcorder or whatever set up properly and running to record the video. The main thing with these keychain cams is getting them turned on properly and actually shooting video (using only small LED's in the case blinking to tell you what the camera's doing) and making sure they get launched in a reasonable amount of time before the battery dies or the card fills up sitting on the pad. These cams use non-volatile memory, so if the thing goes dead before you turn it off, say, from hanging in a tree awhile before you get it back, usually you can retrieve the video, though of course it's best to shut them down properly so the file can be properly formatted and saved to the memory card. There are vids of these things going for a swim on seaplanes that flipped and still having the video recovered over on the RC Groups forum. About the only downside to these cams are, you gotta get the rocket back to see the vids. If the rocket is lost, so is your camera and your video, where the transmitting systems send the pics back to your recorder on the ground and so at least you get the video if the worst happens to your camera rocket. Sometimes if it's transmitting video, it can help you find the rocket, so long as you don't lose the signal! The nice thing is, at these cheap prices on EBAY for these cams, even if you lose a few or crash a few, they're cheap and easy to replace.
Boostervision, as has been previously mentioned, also makes a nice pivoting-lens head DVR that performs a similar function to the keychain/keyfob cams, though probably does it measurably better. Only thing is, it's somewhat bigger and heavier (about like strapping a "C" size motor to the side of your rocket) and therefore a little harder to incorporate into smaller rockets. Additionally, the DVR costs in the neighborhood of $100, so it's not exactly cheap, at least not compared to the key cams. I'm sure the quality is IMMEASURABLY better, though, as far as the hardware itself is concerned. The biggest drawback of the keychain/gumpack cams is their rather cheap and shoddy construction-- they usually only last half a year or so at most before the battery completely croaks, or the camera itself malfunctions or quits altogether. More than a few are dead on arrival, or have various problems caused by shoddy components and construction. BUT, at less than $10 bucks a pop, you can afford to have a few die on you...
Hope this helps! OL JR
SO, with that said, what CAN you use?? Well, as previously mentioned, Boostervision.com sells some terrific video systems. I have one of their transmitting cameras and the patch antenna setup. The camera is powered by a nine volt battery, and is about 3/4 inch square, so it's pretty small, making it easy to mount on a decent size model rocket (say BT-60,70, or 80 or bigger). They transmit standard video to the ground where you catch the signal via a receiver box plugged into a VCR or camcorder to record and monitor the video sent down by the camera. So basically you can see what's going on in realtime, which is cool, and record it for playback on standard TV/video equipment, bypassing the computer altogether (unless recording to digital video on a camcorder or something like that). The only problem with this is, the transmission distance can be somewhat limited. Boostervision sells a patch antenna, which looks like a roughly 4 inch square plastic drink coaster, that can be placed close to the pad pointing up, or better yet pointed directly at the rocket in flight to receive the video signal being transmitted from the camera at much greater ranges than the standard 'rubber duck' antenna on the receiver box itself. The small receiver box is only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes and easy to hook up. This system works well, but it's about $100 with the patch antenna... at least that's what I paid...
Now, the second option is, going with one of the gumpack or keyfob cameras sold on Ebay, by about a million different sellers. These are the current rage of the rocket videographers, and the RC airplane/aerial photography set over on RC Groups forums... (check out the thread over there for some WAY COOL vids from planes! https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1115052 ) These small cams are available EXTREMELY cheaply on Ebay, most are now less than $10, and they produce REALLY good video quality considering... Folks have said on the RC Groups thread that they FAR surpass the capabilities and video quality of RC airplane cameras like the "Fly Cam One" and others, for a SMALL fraction of the price! They use 'on board' recording to mini memory cards (like those in cell phones) plugged into the cameras themselves, or onto memory chips or cards built into the cameras themselves. The video is easily downloaded onto the computer via USB, and is in the .avi format, which is pretty easily supported by most computer video programs like Windows Movie Maker with the requisite codecs, and so does not require any special program to download or show the video, and allows it to be easily manipulated and edited on the computer, and uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo or whatever source you want to use for hosting if you want to share your vids... This alone makes them FAR, FAR superior to the Estes products which rely on glitchy and outdated programs to download and display the video, programs which aren't supported on modern computer platforms. Bout the only thing the Estes Oracle or Astrovision is good for anymore, IMHO, is a nice plastic nosecone/mirror housing for your keychain cam or gum cam after you rip the antiquated electronic guts out of the Estes cams...
There is TONS of good information on these cams at the RC Groups forum previously mentioned, and at the chuck lohr website, where you can literally find out virtually EVERYTHING that is known about these cams (just google "chuck lohr 808 key cams" should get you there).
The "onboard recording" method used by these keychain/gumpack cameras has several advantages. First, they all record sound (the Boostervision downlink transmitting cam does as well, but the Estes cams DO NOT record sound). Second, recording "on the go" means that you don't have to worry about signal reception, interference, fuzz, and other stuff that can afflict cameras transmitting the video to the ground. You also don't have to have as much GSE (ground support equipment) such as the receiver box, patch antenna, and VCR/camcorder or whatever set up properly and running to record the video. The main thing with these keychain cams is getting them turned on properly and actually shooting video (using only small LED's in the case blinking to tell you what the camera's doing) and making sure they get launched in a reasonable amount of time before the battery dies or the card fills up sitting on the pad. These cams use non-volatile memory, so if the thing goes dead before you turn it off, say, from hanging in a tree awhile before you get it back, usually you can retrieve the video, though of course it's best to shut them down properly so the file can be properly formatted and saved to the memory card. There are vids of these things going for a swim on seaplanes that flipped and still having the video recovered over on the RC Groups forum. About the only downside to these cams are, you gotta get the rocket back to see the vids. If the rocket is lost, so is your camera and your video, where the transmitting systems send the pics back to your recorder on the ground and so at least you get the video if the worst happens to your camera rocket. Sometimes if it's transmitting video, it can help you find the rocket, so long as you don't lose the signal! The nice thing is, at these cheap prices on EBAY for these cams, even if you lose a few or crash a few, they're cheap and easy to replace.
Boostervision, as has been previously mentioned, also makes a nice pivoting-lens head DVR that performs a similar function to the keychain/keyfob cams, though probably does it measurably better. Only thing is, it's somewhat bigger and heavier (about like strapping a "C" size motor to the side of your rocket) and therefore a little harder to incorporate into smaller rockets. Additionally, the DVR costs in the neighborhood of $100, so it's not exactly cheap, at least not compared to the key cams. I'm sure the quality is IMMEASURABLY better, though, as far as the hardware itself is concerned. The biggest drawback of the keychain/gumpack cams is their rather cheap and shoddy construction-- they usually only last half a year or so at most before the battery completely croaks, or the camera itself malfunctions or quits altogether. More than a few are dead on arrival, or have various problems caused by shoddy components and construction. BUT, at less than $10 bucks a pop, you can afford to have a few die on you...
Hope this helps! OL JR
Last edited:
McKailas Dad
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I will make this very easy for you.
I did all of my research here and here.
Then, I bought two cameras from this place
Here is a video,
[YOUTUBE]4Of8DL4gu3Y[/YOUTUBE]
The video is dark, because YouTube degrades video quality alot, and it was an evening flight, the original version is much brighter.
Oh, and this is how you set the clock. Of course I figured that out after taking this video.
Thats about as easy as I could make it, except for this.......
This camera weighs 15 grams, a Gearcam is 28 grams.
This cam is up to 8 gig (2,4,6, or 8gig micro SDHC)external, Gearcam is 2 gig, internal.
You are really going to hate me for this part....
I paid under $20.....for both of them, including shipping. Recieved in less than 2 weeks. I could buy at least 10 of these for what you paid for one Gearcam. :y:
I did all of my research here and here.
Then, I bought two cameras from this place
Here is a video,
[YOUTUBE]4Of8DL4gu3Y[/YOUTUBE]
The video is dark, because YouTube degrades video quality alot, and it was an evening flight, the original version is much brighter.
Oh, and this is how you set the clock. Of course I figured that out after taking this video.
Thats about as easy as I could make it, except for this.......
This camera weighs 15 grams, a Gearcam is 28 grams.
This cam is up to 8 gig (2,4,6, or 8gig micro SDHC)external, Gearcam is 2 gig, internal.
You are really going to hate me for this part....
I paid under $20.....for both of them, including shipping. Recieved in less than 2 weeks. I could buy at least 10 of these for what you paid for one Gearcam. :y:
sam_midkiff
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I'm assuming shipping is $4.99 each, even when ordering multiple cameras?
Thanks,
Sam
atlcdp
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I have bought several of the KeyChain cmaeras off of eBay. They very good video for their size and weight. As I am just getting back into rocketry, and am new to high powered rocketry, I wanted something that was cheap so I wouldn't mind it if they got lost.
Rocketeer Gator
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Hate is such a mean word..how about strongly dislike LOL..guess I'll be ordering a few of these also....Jeff:gavel:
nerys
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a great site to get "cheap cams" is dealextreme.com
though even DX can't touch the $9.99 keychain cams (thats shipped BTW)
just make sure you get the 720x480 30fps model!
if you want better quality and got the cash goto ebay and type in 720p and spy and look for the little 2gb white and black camera for $59.99 shipped.
genuine 720p 1280x720 video in something smaller even than the keychain cam
if you have seen Naramlive this year all my "look down" videos were shot with this camera.
The nice thing about the keychain camera is you can literally TAPE IT to your rocket and GO.
Tons of fun for sure!
though even DX can't touch the $9.99 keychain cams (thats shipped BTW)
just make sure you get the 720x480 30fps model!
if you want better quality and got the cash goto ebay and type in 720p and spy and look for the little 2gb white and black camera for $59.99 shipped.
genuine 720p 1280x720 video in something smaller even than the keychain cam
if you have seen Naramlive this year all my "look down" videos were shot with this camera.
The nice thing about the keychain camera is you can literally TAPE IT to your rocket and GO.
Tons of fun for sure!
Rocketeer Gator
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otoh tonight I saw a video barbie (has the camera imbedded in her chest) for $50 at wal-mart
rex
Now there's a comment I could make here BUT being new to TRF I don't want a warning or ban just yet!!:y: LOL
Rocketeer Gator
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Heck with it I can't resist....
Maybe handcuff the video Barbie to the rocket and ohhhhh NVM
