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Video Toys....

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
A few weeks back, some guys at our fire station brought in this little waterproof, ruggedized, solid-state video camera that they had gotten from Oregon Scientific. It records up to an hour of video on a 2 Gig SD memory card, in 640x480 resolution - just fine for web videos! I got to thinking that it might be kind of cool to play with in the airplane - good for external mounting and lighter than a regular camcorder if I wanted to strap it to a helmet or headset.

For $125, it was hard to pass up, and I got one in the mail last Friday. I immediately went out to the airport, strapped it to my head and went to fly a a few rolls and loops. The resulting video was cool, but pointed out a real problem with aliasing of the prop - black lines that will drive you nuts if you watch it very long. The first video I shot is on YouTube here, but watch out - the prop lines get annoying pretty quick - hey, I warned you!

Today, I decided to mount the thing outdoors, down low on the landing gear, to try and get the prop mostly out of the picture. The results are better, but the camera shut itself down both times I flew it, apparently right at landing. I'm guessing the impact shook the battery contacts and it powered down. My next try will be to build a little mount to screw it into the wing tie down fitting - that should work fine for a fixed-camera, forward-looking view. It really isn't going to work at all for views with the prop (from the cockpit), but might be effective looking backward out of the cockpit.

Today's video is here, and was a nice excuse to get an IFR block for a few minutes and fly close to the clouds. I was up about 9,000' at the time....

I mounted the camera on the gear leg with it's Velcro strap, overlaid with vinyl tape (which leaves very little residue), overlaid with duct tape on top of that, and finally, a loop of safety wire around the camera and gear leg - hey, I'd hate to lose the thing in less than a week!

IMG_1074.JPG


IMG_1073.JPG


The quality is far from what Doug is doing with a REAL camera....but I doubt he wants to strap his camera outside the airplane..... :rolleyes:

Paul
 
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airguy said:
What about a hard-mount in the top of the VS?

I actually built my plane with that in mind - made the vertical stab tip removable, and I have a string through a conduit to pull the cables....but that sounds like a lot of work (this particular camera wouldn't fit in the tip - would have to be external) - and you'd have to get a ladder out to turn the camera on before each flight!
 
How about duct taping it to the outside of your wheel pant? Might get more prop arc out of the frame.
 
dan said:
How about duct taping it to the outside of your wheel pant? Might get more prop arc out of the frame.

I don't think I want to put that much duct tape on Grady's beautiful paint....oh, of course, that's not a problem for you, is it Sharpie! :p

I've actually got a wing tie down hard-point mount all sketched out in my mind - should cost me about 50 cents for the right bolt, and some scrap from the bin....

Paul
 
Looks promissing

Just a thought but how about pointing it backwards from inside the airplane like the Blue Angels to show the effects of 9G on their unsuspecting pX'ers.....Personally I would absolutely HATE a ride in an F18...No,NO, no perish the thought...

But anyway Tony Blair from OZ did the same thing and his Vids look pretty good.

Frank 7a
 
camera

so, iron, was this a special one-time deal, or can any of us regular schmucks get one these cameras? where?

thanks,

john
 
Hey Larry, your web site was the one one that inspired me to leave provisions for a video cam era in the tail in the first place! Now I'm just to lazy to get a good camera and do a full install.... :rolleyes:

And Mike....gee, I've had the thing five days, and already I could have bought it for less! I look forward to taking it out on my jet ski, into caves, etc....it's nice not to have to worry about getting it wet and dirty.

Paul
 
Ironflight said:
Hey Larry, your web site was the one one that inspired me to leave provisions for a video cam era in the tail in the first place! Now I'm just to lazy to get a good camera and do a full install.... :rolleyes:

And Mike....gee, I've had the thing five days, and already I could have bought it for less! I look forward to taking it out on my jet ski, into caves, etc....it's nice not to have to worry about getting it wet and dirty.

Paul

Good! :)

A full-blown install has the advantage of capturing audio too -- which is at least half of the story, IMO. I've received as many comments on the often dorky audio on my tail cam as I have the video! Either way, lots of fun.

Cheers,
 
cam in landing light

Has anyone considered mounting a small cam in the landing light, behind the cover but out of the way of the light?

The landing light cover would protect it, but might also cause distortion. Just a thought.

I would like to install a cam, but my 8A project is still a year away from flying and I am hoping that some super micro cam gizmo will appear on the market before then.

By the way, I wish you jet ski guys would stop scaring the fish when I am fly fishing.

Tony
 
Audio Panel <-> Video

N130WN said:
A full-blown install has the advantage of capturing audio too -- which is at least half of the story, IMO.

Any advice on how to link an audio panel to video camera feeds? My hope is to use a 'passenger headphone output' to a mic or line input on a DV camera. I'm expecting to need some 'magic' (cap / resistors of some kind) to balance the impedence between the source / camera - any suggestions?

Carl
 
zkvii said:
Any advice on how to link an audio panel to video camera feeds? My hope is to use a 'passenger headphone output' to a mic or line input on a DV camera. I'm expecting to need some 'magic' (cap / resistors of some kind) to balance the impedence between the source / camera - any suggestions?

Carl

I wired the intercom output for passenger three or four to an RCA jack, which in-turn plugs into the camcorder. That's it...... :D
 
Video camera inside the cockpit...

You can see the video camera I put into my RV-9A starting on this link: http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a211.htm#June8. The stereo audio from my Garmin GMA-340 works fine. There is no problem with impedance matching. Information about the video camera is on this page: http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a219.htm.

My long cross country trip to Denver in June 2006 was the first time to try it out to learn what it can do. Links to my 2006 Oshkosh videos are linked from my home page. I shot a short video from my Florida day trip just this past weekend, but won't post any of that until I do a repeat trip next weekend.

Jerry K. Thorne
East Ridge, TN
www.n2prise.org
 
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wing mount for video camera

I've actually got a wing tie down hard-point mount all sketched out in my mind - should cost me about 50 cents for the right bolt, and some scrap from the bin....

Paul[/QUOTE]

I was looking for photos of a wing mount for a video camera , I think it was your post but can't find it now. Can you help?

Thanks
Larry
 
It will cost a little more, but...

There is a better way to mount that little camera.

I build a inspection over that holds the camera.
[img=http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2249/07img2898ux7.th.jpg]

[img=http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9664/07img2899rd5.th.jpg]

You can replace any inspection cover on the wing with you camera one and then point it where you want. I didn't figure out how to move it up and down but should take much to adjust that we if you want.

[img=http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8982/07img2902gr8.th.jpg]

Kent
 
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