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

Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Messages
214
Location
el paso texas
i was just getting done posting the thread of adding some sound to my bike and almost forgot to mention! earlier today i ordered this mini spy cam and wanted to pass it along to you guys cuz ive learned so much stuff from the sphere, it seems awesome for some serious helmet recording fun, its got serious streetcred seems alot of people are into hacking it, anyway just wanna let it lose, i know alot of u guys here are way smarter than me for electronics, so wanna see what u guys think, i actually ordered mine to see what i can spy, but im sure we can find more uses to it as well, btw the guy i bought it from on ebay is called keyhere

heres the hacker site for it
http://www.chucklohr.com/808/

from the vids posted there it seems like a high quality cell phone sensor very nice resolution for its size it seems
 
just posting an update, this cam has arrived, for the money it is WAY cool, super smalland totally unnoticeable in case u really want to spy with it, its about as wide as an sd card from the top, a little wider at the bottom, and about as long as a credit card, the lens acnnot be seen at all from outside, simply a small hole, gets 720p recording AND for those of u thinkin of buying that cam up for sale on TURNIGY, i read its actually got the same insides, thinkin about getting another,. btw does anybody know a cheap source for mini sd cards? i havent seen any deals lately
 

Attachments

  • DSCF5599.JPG
    DSCF5599.JPG
    108.2 KB · Views: 1,403
Wow, these guys are SERIOUS about hacking these things haha. I might have to grab one for ebike cruising shots:D
 
Needs a group buy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Spy-Car-Key-Chain-Camera-DVR-Covert-Video-Recorder-/230466920622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0#shId
$1.46 USD for the item itself.
$6.34 USD for shipping it.
$6.04 USD for shipping each additional item sent at the same time.

I haven't checked with the seller, but if they'd do a deal on a whole bunch (like 50+ maybe), sent to one person in a single box, then that person could send them back out to each individual at the cost of postage and packing (and time if desired). Even two or three would easily fit in just a small bubblepack mailer, if acceptable to the receiver.

(I just hate seeing so much go into shipping costs, compared to the item itself...it feels like a sin or something. :lol:)

WIth the form factor of the flat keyfob, with camera at one end, it'd be easy to velcro or otherwise secure it to the side or top of a helmet, or to the top or underside of a CA or other bar-mounted equipment. I even have an old speedo holder left on a bike I got that would easily mount it, using velcro or similar.
 
meh, I think the shipping costs are just masking the acttual cost so that the auction shows up higher or appears cheaper. For 6 bucks? How can you really complian!D
 
I bought one that was in this country and tested by Wingman R/C and it is amazing. He sells a 2 GB card with it and I believe the total was 30 bucks. It is the #3 model and is simply wonderful. We will have helmet cam pictures of our cemetary 1/3 mile course soon. It is very quiet there.
otherDoc
 
there we go about time some interest showed up, i was actually wondering why no one jumped on this thread, being the e-hackers that we are, just look at how we handle these exploding batteries, not ebike related cuz its spy but so totally awesome n adaptable as a helmet cam, and i think the guy on his site mentions its actually the same insides that turnigys got, i still havent gotten my microsd but those videos the dude posted look real good for such a tiny sensor, id say as good as my fujifilm consumer cam which dont even do HD, and for this price i really dont care what happens to it, once again unlike my regular cam, as soon as i get my flash i might even buy another just to mess around with it, put it in an rc or something
 
I just recieved this camera. Here is an on ride video of me riding around my house. Very good quality. Because of the way I mounted the camera I had to rotate the video. So this has been compressed before uploading.
[youtube]F-bwF2IRW2c[/youtube]

This video is me walking around my house. This is uncut video straight off the memory card. Youtube butchered it but the quality is very very good there is no frozen frames or pixelation.

[youtube]bb2-LDvu-O8[/youtube]

The video seems to be a little zoomed. The video taken seems to be 2-4 feet in front of the actual camera placement. Audio is very good. It picked up my neighbor up the street cutting his grass. I took the key chain off cause you can hear it rattling and slapping the frame in the video.
 
Just for giggles, could you try a video in a dark room, with a remote control pointed at a wall or something, holding a button down on the remote? This will show how well it picks up near-IR, and thus how well it could be used for night usage with IR LEDs lighting the way. Based on the odd colorations in the videos, I suspect it picks it up pretty well.

Most cameras will pick up a remote pointed at the camera even in a bright room, but not that many will pick up the flashing reflected off a wall, because they have a little glass filter in front of the CCD to eliminate it. The cheapest cameras tend to not have this, or at least not a very good one, and this is so cheap I expect it doesn't, either. That would be useful....
 
damm ur fast! whod u order the cam from? what about the microsd? target is supposed to have a real good deal for a 4gb one but the one i went to last night was out after being confirmed by their website :evil: :twisted: thanks for posting the footage i think it goes on to prove its got excellent quality for the price of a sandwich, btw, could you post some stills also? i heard those wherent as good, try holding it still and jittering it a bit as i think thats the reason people have complained (no image stabilization)
 
thedarlington said:
just posting an update, this cam has arrived, for the money it is WAY cool, super smalland totally unnoticeable in case u really want to spy with it, its about as wide as an sd card from the top, a little wider at the bottom, and about as long as a credit card, the lens acnnot be seen at all from outside, simply a small hole, gets 720p recording AND for those of u thinkin of buying that cam up for sale on TURNIGY, i read its actually got the same insides, thinkin about getting another,. btw does anybody know a cheap source for mini sd cards? i havent seen any deals lately

Hey td, I have one of these fobcams and it is not technically a 720P device. It records 720x480 and the 720 is stretched 640 pixels. It's fairly good quality, but definitely not 720P which is 720 horizontal lines and not 720 vertical lines that this camera records. There's also no way to remove that annoying time/date stamp in the image except to crop it out after the jump. Lastly, the lens on the camera gives a fairly zoomed image and so doesn't capture a very wide field.

Despite that, I still like the camera a lot. It's very handy to have on the keychain and is always with me.

Ambrose
 
http://shop.ebay.com/marktech101/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686
This is the vendor I bought it from. Its a US vendor. I ordered it Friday. It got here Monday morning. 29.99 Shipped.

It came with a 4gb Micro SD card. It shoots about 100mb a minute. So you have about 40+/- minutes of video.

Here are some still shots. Its not the greatest. Reminds you of web cam stills. It gets the point across but dont expect it to be on National Geographic. There are artifacts that show up in the photographs more than the video. Some of the weird coloration is due to the sun. Regular cameras can adjust their Fstops on fly. I hear a mechanism in my regular camera when I move it between bright sources of light and indirect light. This camera does have some sensor that does adjust to a certain extend but there is a lag or time delay it seems.

I shot some video in the dark with the remote amberwolf but it failed to pick up the IR.
 

Attachments

  • SUNP0013 (Medium).JPG
    SUNP0013 (Medium).JPG
    83.3 KB · Views: 4,339
  • SUNP0014 (Medium).JPG
    SUNP0014 (Medium).JPG
    55.9 KB · Views: 4,339
  • SUNP0015 (Medium).JPG
    SUNP0015 (Medium).JPG
    118.7 KB · Views: 4,339
  • SUNP0016 (Medium).JPG
    32.3 KB · Views: 1,656
  • SUNP0017 (Medium).JPG
    SUNP0017 (Medium).JPG
    72.9 KB · Views: 4,339
  • SUNP0018 (Medium).JPG
    SUNP0018 (Medium).JPG
    43.2 KB · Views: 4,339
Here are some unboxing on what to expect from the vendor.

Also for my bike mount I put velco on the back of the key chain. I found a stiff piece of plastic and cut it to size. I drilled two holes to loop a zip tie through it to fasten it to the handle bars. I then put the other piece of velcro on the stiff piece of plastic. This gives the camera a stiff platform to stick to and sit on. It seems flimsy like the velco doesnt want to hold but the velcro has a good grip on the camera. Trust me it wont get knocked off. Even in a crash. Slide the zip tie around the handle bar to change the vertical angle. to change the horizontal angle just apply the camera to velcro in the position you want to shoot.
 

Attachments

  • IMAG0033 (Small).jpg
    IMAG0033 (Small).jpg
    44.9 KB · Views: 4,333
  • IMAG0034 (Small).jpg
    IMAG0034 (Small).jpg
    49 KB · Views: 4,333
  • IMAG0036 (Small).jpg
    IMAG0036 (Small).jpg
    56.3 KB · Views: 4,333
  • IMAG0037 (Small).jpg
    IMAG0037 (Small).jpg
    38 KB · Views: 4,333
  • IMAG0039 (Small).jpg
    IMAG0039 (Small).jpg
    25.6 KB · Views: 4,333
  • scan0010 (Medium).jpg
    scan0010 (Medium).jpg
    30.4 KB · Views: 4,333
I have the number 3 camera from ebay. I got it for $8 shipped. You do need the mini sd card. I took the one out of my phone (8gb). The video is good, and is like the videos posted above. I tested mine and get 47 minutes of continuous video on a full charge. I had hoped I could make out the license plates of the cars zipping by me (in case of a hit and run), but you can't. Keep that in mind if you buy one. All in all, a good cheap camera.
 
close enuff for government work, i think i speak for all when i say the pictures suck especially the leaf details but i doubt i can complain about being able to snoop around in the first place since thats really what i was interested in, anyone who owns the cam would you chime in on overall satisfaction? what about battery life after a couple uses? can u download video with the plug or have to remove the SD? ambrose i was certain i read something about stamp removal, but hey! seems also i found how to fix the narrow vision, wow people reallly like to hack these things! i think i just might buy a second one and try messing with its view hole since im guessing itll make it more obvious its a cam, with a wider angle set, itll really be a great helmet cam option, id hate to run over/ drop a cell phone cuz i was being stupid n duct taped a phone into my helmet, at $6 a pop however, i think i can afford myself that luxury, now if i could only find a way to remove the loud click noise

http://www.chucklohr.com/808/#timestamp.vdf
 
If you find out how to remove the date stamp, that would be great, but I have had no luck and the 808 page says it can't be done... :cry:

For usage, the odd button presses to make it function are a bit irritating and there's no way to tell how much room is left, what it's actually doing at the moment, etc. However, the quality is adequate for the price! Mine is starting to lose it's rubber coating after a few months on my keychain, but again, for the price, no complaints.

Ambrose
 
u have to download a file and run videodub on it, its like removing burned in subtitles from a dvd, thats not rubber coating its lead to protect it from rf interferance or something like that be sure to wash up properly before eating n dont stick ur fingers in ur mouth, im sure its nothing compared to those of us who ride with SLA but just a heads up, heres the file, from the vid i saw it works excellent, says itll leave some residue of the date but nothing i can see, u have to run that in videodub so its removable in after processing, not bad since ill probly want most of mine with date n just remove it when im doing something useful with the video anyway like uploading,

http://www.aircommandrockets.com/md80clone.htm
 
Last video with new mount. Way better quality than my Saumung 8mp Camera at 640x480
[youtube]xUKRWd4Nt9Y[/youtube]
 
ill be postin some vid soon i took some walkin around in school but the very narrow angle means u really gotta keep it stable, but yea the quality on it is really amazing, even cell phone lenses are bigger and dont even compare with a cam sensor, yet the video quality is right up there or even better than some cameras, i have a fuji with a ccd sensor and while pictures are better, this things video is much better i think
 
Just bought me a couple of them 15 bucks delivered to OZ ... Cheaper than one Turnigy video camera from HK
and from the videos posted, better performers.

KiM
 
yea, honestly i think this thing shoots better video than my fujifilm f60fd, and a Sony Handycam DCR-SR40 both older sd not hd vid, im sure theres better stuff on the market like the kodak zi8 hd, but id much rather fore go a bit of quality for something that i can cheaply replace or even buy a couple extra of, i honestly feel like a peddler of these things but for such a cheap price, id just really want every1 to get 1, my only complaint is that i took it out yesterday, and if ur raelly trying to be sly, sometimes u cant really tell wether its on, and also, u really gotta keep this thing stable, i shot some video just walkin around,not tryin to be obvious but not trying to move my hand alot either, i think in the reflection u can c im walkin a little stiff, just kinda like casually strolling and it shook alot, on the plus side tho, i took it to school and absolutely no one was the wiser so i felt like i was a secret agent or something it was really cool, then i got home to find that it was really shaky video, im gonna work on attaching it to my jacket or shoulder strap instead of hand carrying it just dont know how i could point it, i already ordered another one an that one i am gonna add velcro to keep it as a bike cam, tho i can easily see myself orderin 2 r 3 more to hav preconfigured into different things, a hat an rc plane, tape lectures, possibilities r endless! n just swap out sd cards, another benefit of having the memory separate which at first i admit i found annoying, the tiny mic has real good sound quality, i thought id have alot of clothes n unwanted sounds but ive found its better than my cam in that too! these things r way cool! i luv gadgets as much as the next guy, but for some1 who doesnt have the kind of money to be throwin around every year for the next new cam or incase i drop it, this thing really goes above and beyond what i need, ill try to put new video with a more stable setup, by the way, im uploading it now cuz these files r huge, i tried making it an mp4 but it lost alot of quality so im gonna shoot it again tomorrow, btw videos r huge, 300mb for 4 mins, i cannot see how this thing gets 40 mins ill have to test that out too
 
thedarlington judging by the already shot and uploaded video here alone the cameras are well worth the 6 bucks or
there abouts they cost, i bought two units, one to play with and one to have in case i break the other modding it etc haha Definitely will be fabbing a lil quick release type mounting setup on my bikes for the camera to be housed whenever i am riding any great distances though, haha maybe one pointing forward and one pointing back to capture the expressions of the Lyras and/or E.S memebers Matt.P or Timma when i blow past them on ride days teehehe :lol:

KiM.
 
yea same here, im looking to see if theres any motion activated hacks so that it turns on when its moved and pointed back but from the handles so that if theres any vandals messin with my bike ill know who, hey anybody got a good deal on microsd cards? i bought mine from keyhere so they came without memory, that i bought from a shop on amazon for $10 for 4gb, wanted a $5 2gb but this was the best i could get, most 2gb where about the same price, anybody find anything cheaper even if u have to buy more than 1, yea for the prices ill admit it i cant even believe the quality-video not picture, for $6, id been looking to buy a zi8 or one of those cool cams just for action video that wasnt a more expensive camera, but i think ive just found an ok, not perfect but ok video replacement and considering its so throwaway it more than makes up cuz id hate to break even a $100 zi8 and thats if its on sale, oh yea just another quick question, has anybody tried compressing the video? i was gonna upload some stuff last nite but it was huge, 4 mins at 300mb! i shrank it to about half that but it lost alot of quality, i used handbrake on ubuntu, anyone tried any video converter for winblows?
 
I use windows movie maker. I had 1.2gb of video. I compressed it down to 200 for almost a 10 minute video. The compression was very good. Youtube didnt butcher it either.
 
wow i dindt even know movie maker could compress ill have to check that out, well its a relief atleast to know that what matters is the compression software not how the camera encoded the video because i really like how yours preserve their nice livid color and contrast, a quick question for everyone, i want to mount this on my hat visor bc im always wearin a hat and just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas besides velcroing the piece to it which is what ill probably end up doing anyway but just wanted to check
 
Back
Top