kross1

I have been recording video from the air on my 32" electric YAK-55 foamie with a $4 digital video camera.

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

I bought the camera on E-Bay for $3.52, plus shipping. These "keyfob spy cameras" are typically around $12 to $20 per including shipping. Add a 4+gb micro-SD memory card, and you're good to go. Please see full details on these cameras at:: http://www.chucklohr.com/808/

Sooo.... much fun!

AH-64_d

Kross1,

It would seem that the camera you bought is a really good deal. MY LHS, Hobby Works, is selling "MP10, Digital Pocket Video Recorder," which is supposed to be an updated version of a gumstick camera capable of shooting stills as well as video. I have an early gumstick camera that works pretty well, so I bought one only to find that it was DOA due to a bad battery. The few seconds of video that it did record included a legible image of a letter addressed to me and a holiday picture of my grandchildren that were sitting next to my PC while I was trying to figure out the Chinglish instructions for the darned thing. I cannot erase the video, so I am going to have to eat the $35 I paid for it rather than return it for one that works. As a result, I have decided to take it apart, remove its battery, and add an external pigtail so that I can power it off of an EFlite MCX battery. It may yet work after the surgery, but I would advise anyone who sees an ad for the MP10 Digital Pocket Video Recorder to ignore it. The instructions do not pertain to the MP10. Its functions require "long" and "short" pushes on one button to activate them and there is no clear indication of activity when it is recording. If it does not behave any better with a good battery, it will quite likely fail to operate when you want it to, and operate when you do not want it to...

AH-64 D

kross1

Boy, I sure hear you regarding the Chinglish, and flakey operation.

Do some searching here on RCUniverse, and also on RCGroups.com. There are some excellent discussions of the cameras, lessons learned, and mods/fixes on the web once you find them. http://www.chucklohr.com/808/is mostly about the "keyfob" style I used, but is FULL of good data, and I think at least has a picture of yours.

One common problem with the "pen" variety is they need to be up-and-down to record, if you lay them flat on a wing you get a sideways video. They "keyfob" style works when layed flat, so works great on a wing surface. What you prefer of course depends upon the mount to your plane!

My 2 cameras operate well, 1 however sometimes needs a "reset" to behave. Hope you get yours going!

AH-64_d

kross1,

Thanks for the suggestions. The keychain cameras are really good and at a good price. A FlyCAMone2 can tilt its lens to look forward when strapped on the belly of my CX2, but its lens sticks out below the landing gear which causes the ground to tuck it back up everytime I land unless I land in my hand. The gumstick camera looks down from that perch - boring.

I may learn to today if the new gumstick can be resurrected. Am going in search of a pigtail lead for MCX battery. If it lives, the gumstick will be stood up on the side of my CX2. The red color of the CX2 draws attacks from hummingbirds. I am hoping to record one when the butterfly bush out back comes into bloom. If not, chasing crows will do.

AH-64 D

AH-64_d

kross1,

Have you noticed any radio interference generated by your keyfob camera? I ditched the new gumstick and bought some keyfob cameras. They definitely shoot sharper video than a FlyCamOne2 or my old gumstick AeroCam based on comparison of video recorded by all 3 cameras pointed at the same subject. Having determined that, I taped a keyfob camera onto the belly of my CX2 about an hour ago...The tape began to come loose, so I landed. The CX2 then went nuts. It made a high speed motor whine and began to turn like a top because its upper rotor continued to spin while the lower rotor came to a stop. It would not respond to throttle commands and did not drop into failsafe when I turned off the transmitter. I used the back of the transmitter to knock the CX2 onto its side so I could unplug its battery leads. After looking things over, I plugged the battery back in, spun the rotors up, and tested the controls. It responded to commands just fine. My next step will be to tear it down and look for clues. It seems odd that a camera might cause interference, but my CX2 has never done this before, and it has never flown a keyfob camera before. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but it sure has made me cautious about flying a keyfob until I can figure out what happened.

kross1

AH-64_d

Sorry to hear about the problems, at least you were at or near the ground when things went wacky. No, Ihave never experienced any interference from these cameras, has anyone else out there? As I see it, they shouldn't have the capability of interfering.I see your point however that a known reliable system went nuts, and the addition of the cameras was the only (known) variable.

Have to ask, basic question #1, battery voltages OK? Were other controls showing signs of interference when this occured? If so, this leads to basic question #2: Any chance someone else was on your frequency at the time?

By the way, how did the videos come out?

AH-64_d

The video recorded the spin. The lens had the bottom of the CX2 tail in its field of view, so it is the only thing not moving violently during the spin. I grabbed a couple of frames using Pinnacle Studio 12 to illustrate that point. However, the aerial footage was lousy because the tape was coming loose - The camera was shaking pretty badly. Wish there had been another camera shooting from the ground. It was really wild to watch it spin and probably would have been amusing to see me dancing along trying to figure out how to stop it.

Hmm, Studio saved the files as bmp, which are not supported. Will crank up SnagIt, play the video in Quicktime, and snag a frame or two that way in jpg.. Got 'em. Could not walk frame by frame, so could not capture the first still image recorded after I knocked the CX2 on its side to stop the spin...It shows the back of the transmitter, which is what I used to knock it over. Could see it in Studio, but could not find it by moving the slider in Quicktime.

AH-64_d

Solved the problem. The camera was not to blame. The receiver battery lead connection has become intermittent because of 2 years of wear and tear. When the receiver lost voltage, it re-initialized and became uncontrollable. It was an accident waiting to happen. I am glad that it let loose on the ground. It would have been a lot harder to figure out from whatever was left after falling out of the sky.