Author Topic: Video Camera  (Read 3740 times)

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LV LOU

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2012, 04:32:23 PM »
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Would be neat to have a helicopter with this capability.  But - how long before this scares the crap out of the railroad or other facility and Homeland Security decides to do something about it.
I'm not really worried about any of that at all,at least if I stay close to home..I pretty much know everybody on the railroads where I live,engineers,conductors,ETC,and my ex brother in law's brother is the head of the CP Police,LOL!![Of course,your results may vary.. :P..]

peteski

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2012, 05:03:33 PM »
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The use of video on trains in n-scale was done on the Atlas forum. No names of posters comes to mind.
It certain takes n-scale modelling to another level. 
The best version of a camera car I have heard discussed is mounting the camera in a dummy A unit so that it can be run in "disguise."  8)

I was one of the Atlas forumites who (since 2005) have been installing fully hidden cameras in N scale locos. But that was fol getting a live video feed, which is great for remotely running the trains or for public entertainment during train shows.  But as DKS and others said, the live video quality is not the best.  For making a presentation video of your layout I would agree that attaching one of the micro video recorders is the best way to go.

I have couple of my setups documented.

One of my installations is documented on http://www.katousa.com/gallery/albums.php?set_albumListPage=5 . Scroll down until you see "Peter Wisniewski" then view the album. I use a system sold by RF System Lab in Japan. They mainly make medical and dental micro-cameras. It is an excellent system which includes a DC/DCC power supply with NiCad battery backup.

Second install is documented in http://www.cybersandy.net/peteski/TrainCam02.pdf
Here are some videos taken with that camera (this was my 1st attempt at this and while the video from the camera is not up to current standards, I could have done things different during editing and file conversion).  But taking the same video with a small video recorder placed on a flat car would have yielded much better quality video.



For more discussion see http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=64197
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DKS

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2012, 05:24:18 PM »
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This was my answer to the "totally hidden railcam" category:



The advantage of this over hiding it in a dummy engine is that you can fine-tune the focus by turning the plow blades. However, as mentioned before, the interference problem ended this project for me because my desire was for good video, not a live feed.

peteski

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2012, 06:27:42 PM »
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Using the snowplow for focus adjustment is a very clever idea. But in my example the depth of field of the 0.020" diameter lens (almost a pinhole) is so great that (considering its overall video quality) it has acceptable focus from about 1.5" to infinity.

Also having a snow plow in front of a passenger or long freight train would be a bit awkward. I enjoy people at train shows trying to figure out where the video camera is on the train and witnessing their surprise when they see a fairly unobtrusive lens opening in a small engine which otherwise appears like a normal powered engine (which it is not).
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alhoop

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #19 on: July 06, 2012, 12:31:16 PM »
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Do a search on ..ebay and look for "Security Lighter DV Hidden Camera"
I have used one before and they are cheap as chips
Here is one I did using a friends..
/>
I used one of these $9 cigarette lighter cameras to make this video under very poor lighting conditions, but notice
no glitches.

/>
I made this movie using SuperCam a 2.4 ghz system that came out around 2005 and sold for $250. It came with an
LCD monitor that could select the output of one of four cameras. Some of the same track as shown on the cigarette
lighter camera movie with the same poor lighting conditions.

/>
Notice the glitches, a condition I have found that is inherent to all the 2.4 ghz systems I have tried, the SuperCam, an RF systems
2.4ghz TC9(see peteski's movies from a TC9 system) train camera and another no name system.
I think the glitches on the 2.4ghz systems could be caused by intermittent engine pickup, intermittent shorts when
 running over a turnout/crossover and by an electronic track cleaner, if one is used - I use one.

The cigarette camera lends itself well to swivelling so that view along the track is followed. The video out should be
run through a program like MS MovieMaker to remove any jostling at the start when the camera is first setup and in
my case to remove the tunnel runs.

David is right about the frame rate - if you pause where the train is passing the farm you'll notice the blurring.
If you just want to check your track work and the adjacent scenery then it should be satisfactory.

AL
« Last Edit: July 06, 2012, 12:59:13 PM by alhoop »

GimpLizard

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #20 on: July 06, 2012, 02:16:19 PM »
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I bought one of those cigarettte lighter cams and I got it to work once. (In a quick test of it, which I deleted soon after.) Now I can't get it to work at all. And the instructions just don't seem to make sense to me. (Or... maybe I'm just dense.  :D) Does anyone have some easy to understand ENGLISH directions for charging, recording and viewing with this thing?

alhoop

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #21 on: July 06, 2012, 02:27:19 PM »
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I bought one of those cigarettte lighter cams and I got it to work once. (In a quick test of it, which I deleted soon after.) Now I can't get it to work at all. And the instructions just don't seem to make sense to me. (Or... maybe I'm just dense.  :D) Does anyone have some easy to understand ENGLISH directions for charging, recording and viewing with this thing?
Do a search on Ebay for item# 160750815325. This seller (watadeeel) has instructions in the listing on how to use the camera.

Al

DKS

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Re: Video Camera
« Reply #22 on: July 06, 2012, 03:35:20 PM »
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Just ordered a Looxcie today. Hope it arrives in time for a trip to Rick's S&U next week.

Incidentally, the Looxcie can be linked to any Bluetooth device (e.g. iPhone) for real-time image monitoring. My laptop has Bluetooth, so this should be a fun experiment.

I also read somewhere that it has IR for night vision, but that could be a brain-fart.