6$ SPY CAM very hackable, helmet/ride cam? ideas?

[thedarlington]

wtf? just erased everything, used up all space as fat32 and it worked, ok sure haha, got it going again

[biohazardman]

Spy cams were not my problem the New SanDisk MicroSD fried. Camera survived with no noticeable problems. Vids to come as soon as I figure it all out.

[AussieJester]

As some of you will be aware as of yesterday i am back on the road after a couple of months being sidelined
With a ride day coming up i thought i best figure out a more substantial/permanent fixing arrangement for the
spy camera, i pondered a couple of options but settled on using the base and mounting from a 3 dollar
bike light i bought from Deal Extreme, i use one for seeing around inside the pc when fixing them and the
other for the very occasional night ride to the local piss shop half a kilometer away, this is how the mounting went down-->

IMG_5902.jpg (109.14 KiB) Viewed 736 times

Base taken from one of the lights

IMG_5903.jpg (115 KiB) Viewed 736 times

couple of holes drilled in the rear 'panel' of the spy camera's housing

IMG_5904.jpg (110.15 KiB) Viewed 736 times

Clips in as the lights do

IMG_5905.jpg (111.71 KiB) Viewed 736 times

Think it works a treat, takes a second to un-clip and pop the torch back in if needed is nice and stable
so it won't fall off...shall up a ride video in a day or so, thus far though i am very happy with the performance
of this $1.46 camera in the daylight performance in low light conditions and the stills aren't to flash, but
i wanted it solely for video so all good.

KiM

[icecube57]

Good job AJ . FYI on theses camera. Putting tape over the mic does nothing spectacular. It reduces wind from annoying to tolerable but it still pics up the audio.

[AussieJester]

Good job AJ . FYI on theses camera. Putting tape over the mic does nothing spectacular. It reduces wind from annoying to tolerable but it still pics up the audio.

Was actually thinking about this after i put the camera back together, i run sellotape across the mic on my Canon A630 when i take onboard video, works to stop the noise wonderfully, having not tried this spy camera on the bike yet i was curious if the mic was affected by wind, i thought i would actually pop the case open again and slip a strip of tape across the mic opening (hole) on the inside so it stays put rather than a strip across the hole outside the case...actually, think i will go do that now before i forget. brb shall take a pic of the outcome...back in 5.

KiM

[AussieJester]

OK...heres what i am trying, lil bit of electrical tape on the inside of the housing that covers the mic hole.

IMG_5908.jpg (69.12 KiB) Viewed 716 times

Shall have to wait till tomorrow afternoon-ish to see if we get any annoying wind noise, i will de-solder the micquick smart if it is bad i can't stand that irritating squeal the wind causes...

KiM

EDIT: just looking at the pic and thinking a lil more, i wonder if i was to de-solder the mic from the pcb board attach a couple of lengths of wire and relocate the mic under and in front of the pcb board facing downwards away from the hole, hrmz...shall perhaps try this if there is a prob.

[ambroseliao]

A little late to the game, but here's a very thorough review of this camera. This is where I found out about it a while back.

http://www.techmoan.com/imported-201009 ... eview.html

Also, here's the resource page for a ton of information on this and many variants of this camera.

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/

Lastly, here's a driver that allows you to use the keychain cam as a webcam on a Windows PC. It's not specifically for the 808 camera, but works with it well.

http://www.techmoan.com/files-drivers/M ... 20D005.zip

Hope this helps.
Ambrose

[AussieJester]

Finally got me a video shot with my s808 spy camera

http://vimeo.com/15698064

Looks alot better quality straight off the camera before encoding, for their price they do a good job, need to find a hack to enable the LED when in video mode so we know when they are on and off i think...

I think i will try butchering 2 of my 3 cameras to make one with two batteries and use a 16gb micro sd card...

KiM

[thedarlington]

wow aussie u really took this thing and ran with it, i like what uve done, what type of base are u using to hold the cam on? how is vibration since its more rigid than those wird plastiquy velcro things mentioned earlier, have you tried simply attaching a piece of sponge to the mic to reduce noise? or maybe some hairy furry thing? thats what they use for those real expensive boom mics especially the furry stuff when filming something outdoors, also, instead of butchering 2 cams, theres a hack on chuck lohrs site about how to attach a i think nokia battery to the thing and give it alot more juice, im not sure u can do 16gb cuz its fat32 ill have to see about that, im interested in hacking one the same way as well atleast for double the time

[AussieJester]

theres a hack on chuck lohrs site about how to attach a i think nokia battery to the thing and give it alot more juice, im not sure u can do 16gb cuz its fat32 ill have to see about that, im interested in hacking one the same way as well atleast for double the time

That would involve spending more money, i already have 3 spy cameras
that cost me a buck 46 might as well use the battery from it rather than spend more money on a Nokia battery i though. The number 3 808s spy cameras will keep recording, they creat a new file ever 4gb as long as there is power so your 16gb card should work fine i think? Only one way to find out i guess, try it lol.. I want to find a way to have the LED on when in video mode.

I bought another 'spy camera' like the ones Hobby City sell,



Slightly Higher rez than the 808s cameras too...

got majorly ripped off didn't I cost $US2.78 for the camera an 10 bucks delivery LoL Hasn't turned up yet shall report back when it does, if it works better i will get a couple more of them.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... OU:AU:1123

KiM

[biohazardman]

Well a few short ones with the spycam as promised.

Ride downhill crown Point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew9I2e7rjss

Ride uphill Crown point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMw19VqT8kA

End of trail ride 1000 acres Troutdale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4R5eMck0Xk

Crown point HWY headed for 1000 acres
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mElZL9vW--g

1000 acres middle of ride (long)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykMs7GHOoPg

Lakes near Reynolds middle school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bILQyK5CD_U

Just South of Blue lake park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Yi7gdFyaQ

[thedarlington]

definitely check out the videos from the page ambroseliao posted, there the guy compares those cameras, plus one which is exactly the same as the one hk sells, im also thinking it b cool to try to power this with rechargeable AAs since i got a few lying around

[AussieJester]

I picked up another camera off EBay week and a half ago for a mate of mine who wants
it for his Harley 'GayVidson' ...

This is the unit as pictured

Spy_Camera.JPG (78.56 KiB) Viewed 1821 times

Purchased from here


For ~13 bucks U.S its not bad deal however! Hyena has said to me its very similar to his camera purchased from Hobby City, he also
said it might work for a month or 5 minutes LoL... The instructions are laughable, make zero sense, the conversion from
Chinese to English is a ripper hehe I downloaded a set of destruction's from the Spy cam hacks
website that was listed on page one of this thread...Very simple to use, one button turns it on, one button starts video, it also,
apparently haha has sound activated recording haven't played with this feature as yet and don't intend to...
oh wait... might make a good bedroom cam also you think?

I shot a short ride video for anyone wishing to see the quality-->



As the microphone is not pointed directly into the wind, i didn't tape it (actually i forgot LoL0
If a lil piece of tape was placed over the mic hole i think it would totally eliminate
any wind noise...the sound quality is exceptional and would likely pick up the sound of a
flea farting on the other side of the room!!

Video is also clearer straight off the camera and it DOES have a date and time stamp on lower right corner however
i cropped the bottom of the video to remove it, has been encoded to 720p mpeg format...

It is alot easier to mount than the key chain spy cameras as it comes with a neat mount that two Zip ties can pass through
making attaching it to the handle bars a snap! As i was out of zip ties, I used ~4in length of electrical tape
wrapped around the mount and bars along with a small strip of double sided tape, thinking was it would
help with vibration...

IMG_6152.JPG (88.91 KiB) Viewed 1992 times

As its coming off either way as its not my camera If it were mine, i would likely mount it on a mount as per i have done with my own spy camera....
Tiz an old bicycle light mount from Deal Extreme (check previous
page for 'how-to'...on mounting this way for those unsure )

IMG_6152.JPG (88.91 KiB) Viewed 1992 times

There are also 2 additional mounts plus a silicone protective cover same as you can get for your mobile phones!

Will likely grab one of these myself, hopefully it will stay ON all the time, it has a nice bright LED
that shows its on and recording unlike the 808s Key Chain spy cameras, the build quality on the outside anyway, looks good.
Definitely looks like it cost a shit load more than a ~$3 bucks put it that way

Hope this has been informative for some looking at purchasing a cheap camera

KiM

[Ypedal]

Daamn that's cheap !

The audio on it is better than your other cam, you can really hear the racket your bike makes !!.. very nice !

I think i'm gonna have to oder up a few of those.... convenient for lipo destruction videos, if you fry it.. oh well.. lol..

[amberwolf]

I think I've found another source for this camera:
http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4061.htm
$9.99 (current sale price) including "free shipping". Doesn't include a memory card.
Not sure if it's exactly the same one, and I don't know if it's as good a deal as other places.

They also have two others:
http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4059.htm
http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4054.htm
Dunno if they're worthy anything for our purposes.

THey also do wholesale orders and discounts for large purchases
http://www.ledshoppe.com/wholesale.htm

Currently running a discount for their 6th anniversary:
Any order gets 10% off, use code 6THALL at checkout
Orders over $100 get 15% off, use code 6TH100 at checkout
Orders over $200 get 20% off, use code 6TH200 at checkout

So if anyone wanted to set up a group buy, it'd probably make them enough cheaper to be worth it, depending on cost of small padded envelopes and postage to wherever.

[biohazardman]

Well this thread needs an update as the 808 Keychain cam #11 was updated with a new version #16, some months back. The video is HD, like most things in the world today, much better quality and still very inexpensive. Be careful who you buy from as there are fakes, I know it's hard to believe, out and about. Bought one for a bit over $32 and was impressed by the improvement over the #11 unit. Here is a link to a comparison which also includes where to purchase, how to use, mod ect. To cheap to pass it up if you want some decent video, in a small package, and don't want to pay five to ten times as much for the GoPro which does have an edge in quality.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556994

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/C16/#111126
scroll to top

[icecube57]

I also wanted to post my find. Its the JVC GC-FM2. It's an hd camera that can take 720 at 30 fps and 60 fps and 1080 at 30 fps. Water resistant. Has time lapse has rear screen. The can take about a 2 hrs of video per charge. Longer with time lapse Can take up to 32gb micro sd card. The can record and charge at same time. So you can run it with dc to dc through usb. It can take stills. Has a standard screw mount so it will work with most mounts. About the size if a deck of cards. Can be found on ebay from 30-50 bucks.

[ambroseliao]

I also wanted to post my find. Its the JVC GC-FM2. It's an hd camera that can take 720 at 30 fps and 60 fps and 1080 at 30 fps...

Do you have samples? I find that these types of cameras don't have that wide-field view that the GoPro type cameras have. They're meant more for people/personal videos versus outdoor adventure type videos.

[geeeyejo1]

Glad I stumbled upon this thread - always see the expensive "Helmet Cams" at Bestbuy but always pass as I can't really justify the expense. Although perhaps not as high quality or functional - for under $20 with a memory card would be a great way to capture some ride footage!

[docnjoj]

I also wanted to post my find. Its the JVC GC-FM2. It's an hd camera that can take 720 at 30 fps and 60 fps and 1080 at 30 fps...

Do you have samples? I find that these types of cameras don't have that wide-field view that the GoPro type cameras have. They're meant more for people/personal videos versus outdoor adventure type videos.

I have the older one and played around with "fish eye" gel lenses. They work but I lost interest inf filming our rides as they are very similar routes. perhaps to film potential accidents although we stay off of heavily traveled streets these days. Check the links to the earlier #11 model and they have one for the newest #16 model.
otherDoc

[icecube57]

I also wanted to post my find. Its the JVC GC-FM2. It's an hd camera that can take 720 at 30 fps and 60 fps and 1080 at 30 fps...

Do you have samples? I find that these types of cameras don't have that wide-field view that the GoPro type cameras have. They're meant more for people/personal videos versus outdoor adventure type videos.

This isnt raw video. Its been process by me and youtube. I will try to get some raw video and upload to youtube very soon.