Turnigy mini cam from Hobby King.

[dogman dan]

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10093

This one. Wellll, whaddaya expect for 25 bucks? But actually, it takes a suprisingly good video!

Shoots 2 megapixel images, which beats the pants off the video on both my expensive digital cameras, which are by now obsolete. So to me it's pretty good video, plenty good enough to put on you tube.

No suprise when it came with no instructions, paper in the box or on the website. But guys did figure out the buttons and put it on the discussions on the HK page. Basicly, you turn it on, push the M button and then push the other button. A blue blinking led means you are recording.

Comes with a cool little ball jointed mount, that is total crap. I ended up screwing a scrap of coroplast to my helmet, and a couple rubber bands tie the cam to that. I look like a big goofy quail, but it works.

It does record sound, though it doesn't mention that on the sale page that I saw.

Its really small and light. and comes with a battery that recharges though the usb.

It automatically cuts up the video into 2 min segments. Again good for you tube, but annoying for longer vids. I suppose you could edit them together with one program or other. :|

It has an annoying time stamp, that's two years off the right date, that apparently can't be changed.

But all in all, for 25 bucks not a bad buy if it works for awhile. The last cam I bought worked like four times, and then broke from the shock of a handlebar mount on dirt. And cost about 4 times more.

Sample video. Pretty jumpy from too loose a helmet. Taken on some of the twisty trails I built near my house last winter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwwBjLg0S0

 

[AussieJester]

As you say what can you expect for 25 bucks, i want one myself, i believe this is the same model HiGHSiDE Hyena uses, there is another model available for a couple of bucks more slightly higher rez or fps i forget now...

Nice video there anywayz DogMaN a glimpse of what its like in your parts...

KiM

p.s any decent editing software will crop the image and get rid of the date stamp too buddy....not that its a huge problem IMO.

 

[dogman dan]

The date stamp doesn't bother me too much, just funky that it's two years off.

Another potential problem with it will be trying to clean the lens. It's really small and down a tiny hole. And it's a matter of time before I go over the handlebars riding in the deep sand, and stuff my head in the dirt. Prolly happen very soon. Blowing it clean may be the only option then.

But then, just buying another is pretty cheap, and would give me another battery and memory card. These things are just about disposable cheap. Now if only anything I rode was really that interesting... Video is much more entertaining with two riders.

 

[adrian_sm]

Looks pretty similar to the one I bought, I found a manual on the net which tells you how to change the date. Might work for you.
Scroll down the bottom of this page for the link http://www.china-mobile-phone.com/2009-09/md80.htm

I also bought a couple of other things for mine which have been really useful.

First to mount it to the handle bars I used one of these, for US$2.46 delivered:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.31871

I found the field of view a bit narrow, so I tried one of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39814

Works a treat. I had to tape it to the camera to make it secure, but hey.

Here is the before and after shots. Probably about a 90-deg FOV now left to right.



- Adrian

 

[knoxie]

Hi Dog

Yes I got one of these also, they are great little cameras, get at least an 8GB card for it and go for one with a decent speed rating else the video will be choppy, I got a sandisk one for mine and it works a treat.

There are different modes for recording, make sure that you are selecting the recording mode not the voice activated mode as it is this mode that records in segments, also every now and then format the card in your PC as this will help, the camera doesnt process the data its pretty much recording it uncompressed so it relies on having fast and stable media on the card, formatting the card will help with this.

I filmed my BMX video shown here and the radio control car video with it, to give you an idea on how tough they are I had it strapped to the car, it flipped got flung off so many times and still works perfectly.

You can change the time date stamp with a formatted text file you drop it on to the camera each time you use it, it will keep the time as long as you dont turn the camera off, put it in to standby rather than switching it off, it cant keep the time as its too small for a memory capacitor I guess.

The quality is pretty good for the money I have no complaints, you can make the ball joint better by unscrewing it and wrapping a piece of rubber amalgamating tape around the ball, this makes the ball more grippy and stops it moving.

They used to ship them with a spare battery which was an amazing deal, they are so light you can even fit them to a kite and get some nice aerial shots on the cheap. They dont have any optics in them so they are vulnerable to vibration, you can remove small amounts of shake using the free video editor virtualdub using the deshake plugin search for it on youtube, virtualdub will also let you crop out the time as well.

Both shot with the turnigy camera

[youtube]P9i7hT6VwZM[/youtube]

You can see the camera mounted on the car, lots of sheep shit go flying on this video!! you can even watch in HD 8) well youtube HD

[youtube]xRpJwYlwwy0[/youtube]

 

[vanilla ice]

I got one of the HK keychain cameras and the sound was horrible when it worked, now it won't even turn on.

I had one of the regular ones but (my fault) it dropped off my bike and now it wont work. This one had excellent sound quality but the width was stretched out from 640 to 720, which sucked. And the date stamp is un-removable.. Not that I'm complaining too hard for the price. I just look at it like I bought a couple of $20 micro SD cards.... I did get over 30 minutes on out of the battery one time. If they came out with one that uses a larger battery I'd order all over again.

 

[AussieJester]

Another potential problem with it will be trying to clean the lens. It's really small and down a tiny hole. And it's a matter of time before I go over the handlebars riding in the deep sand, and stuff my head in the dirt. Prolly happen very soon. Blowing it clean may be the only option then.

Maybe some clear perspex glued over the lens hole while the lens is still clean might be an option dogman, this will prevent any dirt into the hole.


KiM

 

[Thud]

I love this tiny camera. The only issue I have is the sound is never in sync with the video.
I haven't updated te memory card as a lot of guys have recomended.
here is the procedure to set the date time nonsence.(stollen from GCinDC epic video thread in the photo's section)

1 create a file named TAG.txt using notebook
details-the text file should have 3 lines like this:

[date]
2010/04/27
13:56:00

(leave a single space after each line)

2 Set the camera On/Off switch to Off
3 Connect the camera via USB to computer
4 Copy the text file into the root directory of the camera card
5 Disconnect the camera from the computer
6 Set the On/Off switch to On
7 Press & hold the mode switch to get a steady red light
8 Press the play switch to start recording
9 Press the play switch again to stop recording
10 Press and hold the mode switch for 4 seconds to switch the camera off DO NOT TOUCH THE ON/OFF SWITCH as this will re set the time and date to the default

hope that helps. Keep them video's comming.

 

[gwhy!]

I bought the cheaper version of this camera :lol: because of its better aspect ratio and it gets a big thumbs up from me there is a manual available on the HK web site for both these cameras if anyone is still looking .

 

[dogman dan]

I couldn't find the manual on the HK site. Where do I look for it? I didn't see it on the page to buy the cam.

 

[adrian_sm]

Here is the manual for my camera which I believe is the same hardware.

Let me know if it is not the same, and I'll delete it.

- Adrian

 

[adrian_sm]

Oh, I found the link to the manual on the HobbyCity site.
Go down the bottom, select the files tab, the you can see it.

Or here is the link.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/User Manual.pdf

[EDIT]
Found a different manual they link to:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/57468742X43556X2.pdf

- Adrian

 

[adrian_sm]

Found their instructions on changing the date too...

 

[knoxie]

I got tired of changing the date, just want to pick it up off the desk and go!! you can crop it out in video editing software or ignore it, for the money its a minor niggle however I would bet most people dont want it on their videos and would see little need for it?

 

[adrian_sm]

Wish it could be turned off.

Mine does seem to keep the correct date (it is a different model) but I would definitely turn it off i I could.

I got it off ebay, but looks like this one on DX
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32022 $16.45 delivered.

 

[amberwolf]

Has anyone tried adding lines to that, such as Date=false or whatnot? If it's a config file it's possible there is an undocumented switch to disable it.

Is there a possiblity of reading out the MCU in there, to find perhaps the raw variable names it might be looking for, in case there *is* a way to disable it?

 

[dogman dan]

Thanks for the link to the manual, that helps. Interesting that it's supposed to record 30 min segments. Mine records in 2 min segments. 5min would have been about perfect.

 

[knoxie]

If its recording in only 2 min segments its the card, format the card fat32 and try again, I can fill the 2gb card with one video?

I have an 8GB card it will record 4gb and then start another file 4GB is the file size limit with Fat32 format file system.

 

[adrian_sm]

Thanks for the link to the manual, that helps. Interesting that it's supposed to record 30 min segments. Mine records in 2 min segments. 5min would have been about perfect.

No worries.

2 minute segments sounds like it might be in the "voice/sound activation" mode. This will record for 2 minutes whenever the volume is over 65db. (see p6 of the first manual I linked to)

Change modes and you should be fine.

- Adrian

 

[dogman dan]

Wouldn't it record 2 min and shut off in voice mode? It records as long as I want, but breaks it into 2 min. The formatting suggestion may be it.

 

[adrian_sm]

It doesn't take much sound to kick it off. So unless it is really, quiet it will keep recording.

At least that is what happens with mine. I got 17x 2min videos just the other day when I accidentally switched modes. On the ride home I did it properly, and got one big 1.7gb capture.

But I do have a slightly different camera. So it maybe something different on yours.

Good luck.

- Adrian

 

[knoxie]

hi Adrian would love to see some of your videos you posted any?

 

[adrian_sm]

hi Adrian would love to see some of your videos you posted any?

Nah, you wouldn't. All my rides are to work and back, just fighting cars. Boring stuff. Tried to make it less boring by speeding up the footage, but not sure it is worthy of the internet.

Keen to take it on some trails sometime (now that I have a decent dual suspension setup) just need to off-load the kids for a few hours. Then I might have something worth posting.

 

[tycreek]

I've a couple of the cameras Adrian showed ... well, ... they work ok in good light, if you don't move much and get lucky and have it pointed right! Compared to the videos knoxie posted it looks to me that the turnigy cam produces a smoother result. Or... my 700c tires in a paved bike lane are bumpier than that RC car!!!
Here's a short cut from part of a ride on my non-suspension Giant Transend bike where the camera was clipped to my coat zipper V and ended up pointed at the CA. Not very exciting but might give you an idea of the output you could expect for the MiniDV @ $15.
[youtube]IjMTWcGneIU[/youtube]

 

[knoxie]

Hi

If you get the cam bolted to something solid it will be much better, on the BMX it was fixed solid to the fork leg, your video is fine its just the cam moving about, the other thing though may be the card you are using, the older versions of those cams were shipped with a low class card in terms of speed, folks complaining of choppy video simply run brand name cards that were suitable for video and they worked fine.