Testing New Onboard Camera

[RR_Mel]

Very nice!!!!

 

I’ve been dinking around with onboard cameras for around 15 years and never ended up with a good enough quality video worth showing in a post.

 

I have eight tunnel portals on my HO layout mainline so camera size limits quality.  I finally ended up with a camera mounted in a used Bachmann depressed center flatcar off eBay.

 

 

I spent over a month working on the plan above but my project was doomed with all kinds of problems from the getgo.  I went through 7 cameras before I got one that actually worked as advertised.  Because some of the cameras were shipped from China the delays were terrible.

 

After about 5 months I finally got the mechanics to work with good quality video but before I actually recorded a good video we had a break-in and the thieves stole the Android and controller I built.  It took over a year before I could really get back into my layout and I still haven’t ordered a replacement Andriod.

 

Because of health problems my layout has been down for almost a year so nothing to show yet.  This is what I ended up with, it clears my tunnel portals.

 

 

I hope once I get my camera car actually working again that the video looks just half as good as yours and I'll be happy.

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[SeeYou190]

I am so jealous of that basement train room. It looks like plenty of room to build a very nice and enjoyable home layout.

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Good work with the camera car too.

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-Kevin

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[mbinsewi]

Nice Kevin.  I jumped around your video, 30 minutes is a little long for me.

I give up videos on my small layout.  The main line follows the edge of the layout, so you see other parts of the basement more than you see any layout features.  Plus I have some hidden track.

It looks like you have all the makings of a nice layout! 

Mike.

[gmpullman]

chatanuga

Actually, I did that with the rearward view going around the layout in both directions. 

Very good!

Thanks, Ed

[chatanuga]

gmpullman

Another hint to try, I believe there is a setting in your camera to flip the image, thus you can run the camera upside down with the lens lower to the track for a better, low angle view.

Actually, I did that with the rearward view going around the layout in both directions.  In both directions, there's the view looking forward, the view looking back over the locomotives, the view looking forward over the caboose, and then the lower view looking back (from the caboose).

Kevin

[gmpullman]

Very nice  Thank you for sharing.

If you ever come across one, you might want to try using a well car which lowers the center of gravity just a bit. I put some ballast weight in mine, too.

IMG_2435 by Edmund, on Flickr

Another hint to try, I believe there is a setting in your camera to flip the image, thus you can run the camera upside down with the lens lower to the track for a better, low angle view.

Check that out. 

Regards, Ed

[York1]

Nice work.  This is something I've wanted to try for while.

[chatanuga]

With the money I got for Christmas, I got myself a Sony HDR-AS20 video camera. I'd already had since about 2003 a mini video camera from MicroMark for making onboard videos. However, the camera ran on 9-volt batteries and was wireless, sending signal to a receiver that came with it. However, the video signal would sometimes experience interference from the motors of the locomotives, and the receiver frequently needed adjusted to clear up the signal. Also, to get video onto my computer, I would need to record the video on my VCR, transfer it to DVD, and then rip the DVD onto my PC, which would be quite a process to do. So with this camera, which mounts on the same Con-Cor piggyback flatcar, I now have crystal clear HD video recorded onto the camera, which I can then plug directly into my PC to pull video. This video is a test of the camera, attached to the car with rubber bands. I'm going to make a cradle for the camera on the car to make it more stable (it was rocking some with the rubber bands flexing) and to make it easier to put on the car.

Enjoy the ride!

Kevin