Cheap digital video cameras

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Janos

Have you tried Otter? I have a small box of theirs with a clear front.

Good call.

I looked on a web dealer and they had one small enough to be considered for 19 quid inc VAT and carriage so I dood it. It promises 30m. If it isn't flat enough it's not so expensive that I'll feel bad about machining a hole in it and bolting a panel in.

Now I need a cheap caving helmet - probably ebay or something....

[Okeanos]

We look forward to seeing your results, if they're any good you may start a trend.

[nigelH]

Right. I've got all the basic bits now.

The camera is a cheap piece of plastic but it shot nearly 12 minutes of me making and eating breakfast this morning (something moving) in 52Mbytes of SD card so the full 1Gbyte would run over three and a half hours. It has a fixed focus lens so no messing about with auto focus and it seems to accommodate light levels from my sunny back room to being carried down into the cellar. I must do a burn test on my 3.2Ahr batteries as the next test.

The supplied software is a bit of a joke but the camera can appear as a disk on it's USB lead and the SD card fits my card reader slots so I never need go near it (iVideo has had a problem and needs to close...).

The Otter box had a reasonably flat bit in the transparent cap in about the right place so I'll try to make something to hold the camera to line it up on that. I think I'll take it deeper than it's 30m quoted limit empty before playing head-cam live.

I have an old caving helmet that I will drill some big holes in so it doesn't trap air and then bungy loops for camera and torches.

I have a project....

(edit)Walking it in to work so far more active and, I guess, less compressed I got 158Mb for exactly 30 mins.
It's less but it's still 3 hours on a card. The resolution is better than I expected for a fixed focus lens and 320x240.
Now to flatten the batteries....(/edit)

[Okeanos]

We are watching, any chance of a picture of the camera and a sample of its recording, (out of the water will do) so we can get an idea what it's like.

Ta

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Okeanos

We are watching, any chance of a picture of the camera and a sample of its recording, (out of the water will do) so we can get an idea what it's like.

This could all go wrong as I can't FTP into Combro from here because I forgot the password...

It's very light so it feels like a toy.... well it is isn't it?

And a short snippet out the window...
It's a WMV not AVI as I don't have an obvious video edit tool that outputs anything else.
It's bright sunshine so you don't see the blurring that you get in darker places when you move it fast.
I'll do a proper record of what I'm doing this evening so I can refer back and say 'Don't do it that way' later.
I've spent about a hundred and ten quid so far and I think all I need is some bungee and something to hold the camera aligned in the box so compared to conventional video this is silly. It could probably be done even cheaper and I doubt the prices on the cameras has bottomed out yet.

(edit)Files now sourced from Combro(/edit)

[futureechos]

I have this vision of you walking into walk or sitting on the tube in full dive gear with the camera mounted on the caving helmet.

You know the general public just wont get it.

[Colin Marriott]

Originally Posted by nigelH

... and I think all I need is some bungee and something to hold the camera aligned in the box ...

Try some sponge down either side ....


ColinM

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by futureechos

I have this vision of you walking into walk or sitting on the tube in full dive gear with the camera mounted on the caving helmet.

Look. I'm going to look idiot enough in the water or on a dive boat with this lot on my head but it should get the desired pictures.

Actually the camera should fit into a used torch body quite nicely. That might be the way to get a deeper 'housing' later on. I have a torch that's done it's time and is going all green about the copper inside.

I have now done 3 hours plus on the same set of batteries and the same SD card so the burn tests are all passed. The next trick is to assemble it and dive the case without the camera. I'm delating how to weight it as, at the moment, it will be pretty bouyant. If I make it neutral it will get lost if I drop it and too positive will probably get uncomfortable. I'm guessing just a bit positive.

[Okeanos]

I'm quite impressed with the video quality, not too bad for a cheapy camera. I look forward to seeing the underwater results. Lighting will be a key thing though.