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on board camera


chaz

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I'd like a camera I can mount on/in a 7mm wagon/van which would allow me to make video tours of my layout - "driver's eye". I have done this in the past on my home layout  by putting a compact camera on a flat wagon and propelling it along but the compact I have is too wide to go through the bridges on Dock Green so the tour would be a bit disjointed.

Anybody done this and have any suggestions? I should say that a quick search of the forum didn't find anything relevant but if there is a topic somewhere I would be grateful for a link.

 

Chaz

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Somewhere way back on this forum was info about a keyring camera that could be mounted on a 4mm scale wagon and give you a driver's-eye view of your layout. Quite good fun so I bought one but could never quite understand the instructions! Had a micro-SD card in it and wasn't too expensive, hence the impulse buy.

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Pendon's driver's eye view video http://www.pendonmuseum.com/about/valewas filmed using a Hedcam www.hedcam.com (usual disclaimers) by one of our volunteers, Jeff Glasspool.

 

The cylindrical, cigar like shape makes it ideal for this type of filming and it can be mounted on a bolster wagon or similar.

 

Professionals will often go for a GoPro, but even the smallest model is probably too big - at least for 4mm. BBC's Countryfile visited us earlier this year and filmed their own driver's eye view video. The use of a GoPro caused us some "out-of-gauge" issues which were overcome by the temporary removal of certain lineside structures.

 

Unfortunately, the footage never made it to air which was a shame as there was talk of removing the overhead lights in post-production and replacing it with computer generated sky.

 

Andy

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Pendon's driver's eye view video http://www.pendonmuseum.com/about/valewas filmed using a Hedcam www.hedcam.com (usual disclaimers) by one of our volunteers, Jeff Glasspool.

 

The cylindrical, cigar like shape makes it ideal for this type of filming and it can be mounted on a bolster wagon or similar.

 

Professionals will often go for a GoPro, but even the smallest model is probably too big - at least for 4mm. BBC's Countryfile visited us earlier this year and filmed their own driver's eye view video. The use of a GoPro caused us some "out-of-gauge" issues which were overcome by the temporary removal of certain lineside structures.

 

Unfortunately, the footage never made it to air which was a shame as there was talk of removing the overhead lights in post-production and replacing it with computer generated sky.

 

Andy

 

I have just watched the Pendon video - most impressive. I will have a look at the website. Could be just what I am looking for. Thanks Andy.

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Good morning Chaz

 

I have a recent Blog Post describing the Branor Systems Cam Truck.  This is a purpose made 00 scale camera truck which is made by Bruce Piggott - he has a website.  I have been delighted with my purchase.

 

Regards

 

Ray

 

Went on to the website and had a look at some of the videos - impressive stuff. Thanks for the info Ray.

 

Chaz

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Pendon's driver's eye view video http://www.pendonmuseum.com/about/valewas filmed using a Hedcam www.hedcam.com (usual disclaimers) by one of our volunteers, Jeff Glasspool.

 

The cylindrical, cigar like shape makes it ideal for this type of filming and it can be mounted on a bolster wagon or similar.

 

Professionals will often go for a GoPro, but even the smallest model is probably too big - at least for 4mm. BBC's Countryfile visited us earlier this year and filmed their own driver's eye view video. The use of a GoPro caused us some "out-of-gauge" issues which were overcome by the temporary removal of certain lineside structures.

 

Unfortunately, the footage never made it to air which was a shame as there was talk of removing the overhead lights in post-production and replacing it with computer generated sky.

 

Andy

 

Having looked at the Hedcam website and the Pendon video this looks very, very tempting. In due course I will want to use it both on my 7mm BR layout (Dock Green) and on the US On30 layout I have recently started - so a camera that can be moved from one to the other, rather than a dedicated wagon which wouldn't run on both would suit me.

 

Thanks again Andy for the info'.

 

Chaz

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I bought one of the keyring cameras from ebay to film my layout,as was said before the manual ! was rubbish .

The camera soon followed the manual into the bin.

It did not like any movement of any kind , it was just a blur going around curves.[ at any speed ]

Dont waste your money on one.

Spend a lot of money on a GoPro + 3 or 4 if you want a decent picture.

Happy New Year.

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I bought one of the keyring cameras from ebay to film my layout,as was said before the manual ! was rubbish .

The camera soon followed the manual into the bin.

It did not like any movement of any kind , it was just a blur going around curves.[ at any speed ]

Dont waste your money on one.

Spend a lot of money on a GoPro + 3 or 4 if you want a decent picture.

Happy New Year.

 

Having looked at GoPro from Amazon I have to say that these are just too expensive. The size also counts against them. Results from the Hedcam cameras look very good to me (have a look at the Pendon video) - unfortunately they are out of stock of the 720 model at £99.99  - the 1080 is around about the £170 mark which is a bit much. I don't need the 1080's resolution - attractive though it would be so will wait for a 720 - if these reappear....

 

Chaz

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I did some playing around with this a few years ago and this is what i used

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Wireless-Nanny-SPY-Camera-Transmitter-with-Receiver-TV-System-KK-/321606720210?pt=UK_CCTV&hash=item4ae1411ad2

you need to get one where the camera looks the same as in link above as there is quite a difference in picture quality.

The camera needs a power supply(9v pp3 battery)

I was originally going to fit in a loco but there was too much interference but it does work fine being pushed on a separate wagon but best results were with plastic wheels fitted to the wagon.

the results were pretty good and it is fun to be viewing in real time.

Dave

 

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I ordered a Hedcam 720 from Amazon as Hedcam themselves were showing them as out of stock. When it came it was from Hedcam in Wrexham. Huh?!?

 

Here it is mounted in the flat mount and just plonked on a Bachmann On30 flat car.

 

P1040393-2600x351_zpsc074d298.jpg

 

It worked first time, battery fully charged and Micro SD card (I bought the 8GB one) already formatted. Totally painless one button operation. Test video downloaded simply after the usual "New hardware found - loading driver" stuff from Windows.

 

And here's my test video (a quick run up and down the staging tracks on my new On30 layout).....

 

http://youtu.be/pXou8l7is3w

 

Quality more than good enough, although there is siome fairly extreme distortion of straight lines near the picture edges.

 

Chaz

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  • 3 months later...

Somewhere way back on this forum was info about a keyring camera that could be mounted on a 4mm scale wagon and give you a driver's-eye view of your layout. Quite good fun so I bought one but could never quite understand the instructions! Had a micro-SD card in it and wasn't too expensive, hence the impulse buy.

Some time ago, I became interested in the idea of shooting video from the footplates of my model locomotive. I found a miniature video camera, popular with aircraft RC enthusisats, which was both very small and gave good quality results, recording HD video onto a micro-SD card.. The camera I bought is known as an '808 #11' and it is packaged within a car key-fob, as a rather dodgy-looking spy-cam.

 

There is now a slightly larger, but conventionally packaged version, called the 'Mobius Actioncam'. There's a review of this model at

 

You can read loads of information about all these cameras at: http://www.chucklohr...808/index.shtml

 

I have posted an example of a video taken with my camera in a Forum thread at http://www.rmweb.co....i-video-camera/

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See my post yesterday on this page  http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/229-early-risers/page-3594   post number 89843  - It would just about fit into a 1" cube

interesting, in that the video compares the Y2000 with the 808#11 that I've used on my railway.  Of course most of the size of the package is down to the battery, electronics and connectors; the camera itself is really tiny and could be fitted into a model footplate (certainly 7mm and probably 4mm), if someone was prepared to take one of these things apart :)

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