I found this camera that might work great mounted on a flat bed car for the "in train view." It is for r/c helicopters and airplanes. And it is priced very reasonable and the video quality looks good from the youtube videos I saw. http://www.xheli.com/86p-988-dice-minicam.html
That looks cool! The guy can fly a lot better than I can
Dean
30 years 1:1 Canadian Pacific.....now switching in HO
That's a recording camera, if you look closely. It eliminates the RF transmission problem which makes the video from most of these look poor, but you don't get to see the output in real-time. Instead, you have to stop the train, remove the memory card from the camera and put it into your computer to see what you've got.
Of course, retrieving the memory card from a train on your layout is a lot easier than getting it down from the top of a tree.....
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Looks good, thanks for the link.
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
If it's got a memory card, that's good enough for me. I've got an on-board camera I got from Micromark, and it works just fine as long as you've got a TV monitor to watch while you're using it. Otherwise, in order to record from the camera, I have to use a DVD burner attached to the monitor and then try and download the DVD onto the computer.
I'd much rather use a memory card, and the price looks just right.
I think I'll bite on this one, LOL!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Right. LION prefers the card kind, and is not interested in the TV kind. Him has no TV anyway. Him wants pics to post here, he can see his trains from the tower. Him was looking at one from B+H with a somewhat similar price, perhaps a bit smaller in size. LION would probably build a special car to push it around the layout rather than to build it into a locomotive of subway car.
QUESTION: Focus. On a helicopter infinity focus is good, on a model train less so. And it will not look ahead on the line when the line goes around a corner. Oh well... It will do.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
That's pretty cool. I was searching for these cameras last week. I found one on ebay that can attach to helmets for motorcycles, etc. But it was like $80 and from China.
I like this one, I wonder how good the video is.
I like that it has night vision for going through dark tunnels.
Like Tom, I prefer to just record it and then transfer to my PC.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
BroadwayLion QUESTION: Focus. On a helicopter infinity focus is good, on a model train less so. And it will not look ahead on the line when the line goes around a corner. Oh well... It will do. ROAR
I think the focal length is not too far out. This vidoe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cp0CtZQV0&noredirect=1 keeps the front wheel in focus and it appears fairly close. I just ordered on and when I get I will post a video or two showing how good or bad it works.
I just ordered one too!
I have one mounted on my rc chopper and it works like a dream. Amazing what you can buy for less than $50 these days as long as it's "electronics".
Choo Choo
CDN Dennis
Modeling the HO scale something or other RR in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies Alberta, Canada
Wow !
Great video!
Alton Junction
Why couldn't affordable technology like this exist when I was still racing?!?!?!?
Hornblower
type this in for a search, "keychain mini spy camera"
looks like a normal car remote. ive been using one of these for awhile on the trains and r/c planes and cars. these things are all over flea bay. mine cost 5.00 for the camera, 9.00 for shipping, and 15.00 for the mini sd card. some places iv seen this same exact ones for 99.00. takes 740x460 video and i think 800x600 pics.
later
g
FB page of my layout *new*
https://www.facebook.com/ghglines
.
thread to my layout
http://www.warcrc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10505
pics
http://s237.photobucket.com/user/rockcrawling/library/#/user/rockcrawling/library/ho%20scale%20trains?sort=3&page=1&_suid=1388183416990004180295067414064
BroadwayLion LION would probably build a special car to push it around the layout rather than to build it into a locomotive of subway car.
LION would probably build a special car to push it around the layout rather than to build it into a locomotive of subway car.
A subway car is an ideal place to mount a camera, though.
This one is from SJT Enterprises. It's one of the RF ones that transmits the signal so you can watch it on a TV or record it. The power supply is squeezed into the other end of the car. This supply is designed to take DCC power to run the camera, so I never need to change batteries. The camera just fits in the front of the car.
Since these are run in dark tunnels, I drilled holes in the front and added bright LEDs. Only the holes are there in this picture.
This camera has an adjustable focal length. I set it for about a foot in front of the train, which seems to work best.
Just spent my monthly "Train Cash" on this Camera! Cant wait to Play! By the way, every reply Ive read from Lion has either taught me something or saved me time and money. Thank You! Mark.
http://mwcohio.blogspot.com
You young whipper snappers always have to have the latest and greatest. Always trying to pry more moths I mean money out of my wallet. I tell ya if it's not trying to convince me that there is something different than DC or "L girder" construction, then it's saying I need to run out and by another Video Camera. Well no thanks I'll stick to the old tried and true , thank you very much!
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Holy Low Clearance, Batman! Watch out for that tunnel!
Remember: In South Carolina, North is southeast of Due West... HIOAg /Bill
I got my onboard camera from MicroMark back in 2004. The camera's mounted on a retired flatcar. The receiver is mounted on a wall above the layout with the video cable going through the hole in the floor to the VCR upstairs in the living room. I could also take the receiver and plug a video cable into the DVD burner I have that I usually use to record to DVD off my VCR, DVD, or DVR. So far, I haven't made any videos with the camera, but it's been fun seeing things from an HO perspective.
Two modifications that I've done since these pictures were taken was to mount the camera a little higher on the flatcar. I've also bent the antenna so that it will clear my highway overpass, which was knocked over when the camera first went under it.
Another thing I'd like to do is find out some way of mounting it in an old dummy locomotive or something to give the look of looking out from the cab.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
GGOOLERtype this in for a search, "keychain mini spy camera" looks like a normal car remote. ive been using one of these for awhile on the trains and r/c planes and cars. these things are all over flea bay. mine cost 5.00 for the camera, 9.00 for shipping, and 15.00 for the mini sd card. some places iv seen this same exact ones for 99.00. takes 740x460 video and i think 800x600 pics. later g
A hem...
THAT thing will not fit through my subway tunnels. There *IS* a reason why subway cars are 12'1" tall and not 12'2" tall!
I have even had to remove some track spikes from an upper level because they were in the way of train on a lower level.
I bought one of the $7.95 (including shipping!) keychain cameras and another $9.00 for the micro SD card (be sure to get at least a class6-8 SD) and taped it to the roof of my BLI Hudson. I was very impressed with the quality video and sound. Only problem (?) is you have to press the record button and then let the train go; then stop the train and press the stop button; no remote here. The view is amazing and I got to see areas of my layout that you can only see from a distance or from above. Going through tunnels, under and over bridges is just great. Give on a try, it isn't much of an investment and it also makes a good keychain.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Well, just ordered the Dice with the mini-memory card. Just to show you how computer-challenged I am, I had to check my computer to make sure it had a miniSD port, LOL! The company must be here in California, because I was charged state sales tax. So maybe I'll have it by next weekend and I can have videos of the layout that I can actually download!
I think I'll actually mount it mid-train instead of 'cab-ride'. That way I'll feel like I'm bumming a ride, LOL!
Looks like a really nifty little camera. Reports (and video) as soon as I get it.
I bought one of the 'spy-cams' from fleabay a couple of years ago & when I downloaded the video I noticed a 'time-stamp' at the bottom of the screen. I went through all of the included literature & found out how to change the setting but not how to remove it entirely. I then contacted the company in China & found, to my frustration, that the time-stamp is 'hard-wired' into the video camera & cannot be removed. When mounting it on a rear car to film a train behind, if I want to see the cowcatcher or the rails, I have to install the camera upside down to avoid this problem, or at least put it in a place that's not in the way.
Luckily I have use of an Adobe Pro video program so I can stretch the size of the video so that the time stamp disappears from the screen - but it would be a deal-breaker if one didn't have this ability.
I also see that they have a remote wireless system for sale on your link for under $30 - there goes next month's discretionary hobby spending...
I think we're about to see a lot of layout videos!
Jarrell
twhite Well, just ordered the Dice with the mini-memory card. Just to show you how computer-challenged I am, I had to check my computer to make sure it had a miniSD port, LOL! The company must be here in California, because I was charged state sales tax. So maybe I'll have it by next weekend and I can have videos of the layout that I can actually download! I think I'll actually mount it mid-train instead of 'cab-ride'. That way I'll feel like I'm bumming a ride, LOL! Looks like a really nifty little camera. Reports (and video) as soon as I get it. Tom
Tom, and if anybody else is wondering about how to connect it to your computer. You can get a miniSD USB card reader to connect it to your computer's USB port.
Like this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Gear+Head-Computer+-+CR6800+5-in-1+USB+2.0+Flash+Card+Reader/3933338.p;jsessionid=711F122586CBE96D5C3F547993EF0B99.bbolsp-app01-21?id=1218443167354&skuId=3933338
Why does everyone who mounts these things mount them in the center of the locomotive for a cab ride version? All the engineers I ever saw sit off to one side or the other and not dead center. So if you have a long nose loco, will the side of the nose show? Cool stuff though.
Robert H. Shilling II
BroadwayLion A hem... THAT thing will not fit through my subway tunnels. There *IS* a reason why subway cars are 12'1" tall and not 12'2" tall! I have even had to remove some track spikes from an upper level because they were in the way of train on a lower level. ROAR
what happened to you talking in third person???? Maybe this isn't really Lion. Just an impostor.
Anyways I wanted to find out what a cab veiw of my layout looked like last summer. I sat my camera on a flat and pushed it around with my GP15. it did great. Untill the over hanging camera hit some trees and almost hit the cement floor.
"Mess with the best, die like the rest" -U.S. Marine Corp
MINRail (Minessota Rail Transportaion Corp.) - "If they got rid of the weeds what would hold the rails down?"
And yes I am 17.
gabeusmc BroadwayLion: A hem... THAT thing will not fit through my subway tunnels. There *IS* a reason why subway cars are 12'1" tall and not 12'2" tall! I have even had to remove some track spikes from an upper level because they were in the way of train on a lower level. ROAR what happened to you talking in third person???? Maybe this isn't really Lion. Just an impostor.
BroadwayLion: A hem... THAT thing will not fit through my subway tunnels. There *IS* a reason why subway cars are 12'1" tall and not 12'2" tall! I have even had to remove some track spikes from an upper level because they were in the way of train on a lower level. ROAR
Him sometimes talk in first lion to deceive his prey and lull it into false sense of complacency.
But him prefer third lion and gabeusmc be wise not to rouse sleeping predator.
Otherwise, gabeusmc might be laying prone on track with LION's video cam strapped to his belly.
P&Slocal Why does everyone who mounts these things mount them in the center of the locomotive for a cab ride version? All the engineers I ever saw sit off to one side or the other and not dead center. So if you have a long nose loco, will the side of the nose show? Cool stuff though.
A great many videos I've seen of 'cab-rides' actually have the camera mounted on a flat car and pushed ahead of the locomotive. Positioning the camera on the left of the car might throw it out of balance, even though the newer mini-cams only weight several ounces.
I generally mount my min-camera on a flat car about 4 or 5 cars into the train when I've videoed my layout. it gives a pretty neat effect, even though my camera won't download into a computer. I'm hoping that the new Dice will cure THAT little matter, though.