FlyCamOnev2 .... first experiences/impressions.

[Bubblefish777]

Ok got my new FlyCamOne v2 the other day and straight off the bat had a few problems.

Firstly they will not charge off pure Mini USB socket chargers (like the ones that come with a Blackberry) NOR will they charge off normal USB to Mini USB cables either. I founf the only way to get a charge was to use a USB to Mini USB cable that came with my Cannon Camera and that has a big lump in the cable which I assume is some sort of filter. anyway so I finally have got it to charge and hold a charge. Problem 1 over.

Secondly ... Don't believe the Website !!!!
This camera WILL NOT work with anything bigger than 2GB. I tried 4 and 8GB and even a new hybrid 6GB SD card and they all have a problem being recognised and the 4Gb is intermittantly recognised. So 2GB is the max on an SD card. Problem two sorted.

Next the lens and aperture is very very small and so is extremely sensitive to lighting conditions. The frame rate might claim to be 25fps (on the website...robotbirds claim 30fps) However it 'looks' like a lot less. Frame rate is very jerky and poor. Looks more like 10fps. The screen often 'washes-out' with light conditions changing so the picture quality isn't very good at all.

However you get what you pay for sooooooo for £40 I'd say it 'just' about makes it worth playing with as an entry level into video's for modellers. It is amazingly light but on the whole pretty unremarkable.

[jiberjaber]

I have one of these but I havent had chance to stick it on a heli yet.

I had no problems charging mine, I didnt use the lead that came with it, just the old canon one I leave connected to the PC all the time.

Only got a 1G card to hand at the moment, no problems with that in there.

It is very sensitive to ambient light, inside it is quite poor, I hope it will be better outdoors in daylight.

Frame rate seemed fine to me from my simulated flight indoors (i.e. running around the front room with it in my hand lol)

Did you take the plastic protective film off the lens?

There are some advantages, it will operate off an external power supply (this will not charge the battery however for some reason) and it can be controlled by a spare servo port to switch the recording on/off or take a picture or not (depending on what mode you have it in).

I am looking forward to some calmer dryer weather to give it a go.

[loiphin]

I was pretty disappointed by the Flycamone2. Looking at their website, those computer generated pictures of the camera looked really cool. But in reality its built like a cheap chinese christmas cracker toy

Tried it out at home and also suffered from poor lighting. I then mounted it to my Trex 450 and went for a spin on Sunday. Light was good enough, although it did suffer when the light suddenly changed (ie, pointing it at the sky). For some reason the video was all wonky and played really slowly, at about one frame per second. But the sound was normal... So the whole video was out of sync. I have ordered a faster 2GB SD card.

So all in all, I think its a piece of crap for the money. I wonder if I could buy a 2nd phone or digital camera that will do a better job, albeit a bit heavier.


loiphin.

[Gav]

I was thinking of getting the flycamone but as it is only a cheap vid camera for rc modelling I think I will just go for the flycamone V1 rather than the V2. I mean I am not after footage I want to keep forever just fun vid clips to watch footage of flying from a view that I will never be able to see if it wasnt for this gadget. Plus the V1 is a tad lighter than the V2 which is a bonus. Has anyone got the V1 here? Cheers Gav

[simon_t]

If you want an alternative to the Flycamone, have a look at:

http://www.dansdata.com/edvr.htm

Simon

[Nutz]

Well I wanted to be quit to see what others had to would say, I have tried the flycamone and flycamone2 back to back indoor recording and the image quality seems the same, the flycamone seems better in low light levels (such as an light lit room as a webcam) as I could not make the image out on the flycamone2 were as the flycamone I could. I also noticed that the flycamone uses RGB24 where as the flycamone2 uses l400 so I think the camera sensors are different and I think the flycamone2 may be poorer quality.

I should also add I have had 2 flycamone2s from different suppliers, and both of them have a dark spot/shadow around the top left and right (like the lens is being blocked or shadowed by the lens holder.

Just my views, hopefully now the weather is turning I can get some side buy side flying tests with these 2 cams.

[Nutz]

[quote=loiphin;93565]For some reason the video was all wonky and played really slowly, at about one frame per second. But the sound was normal... So the whole video was out of sync. I have ordered a faster 2GB SD card.

My first video came out like that too, it has about 5 minutes long and caught about 10 sec of footage, sound was fine but the 10 sec of video was stretched across the 5 minutes

[Nutz]

If you want an alternative to the Flycamone, have a look at:

http://www.dansdata.com/edvr.htm

Simon

Or get a flycamone as they hae dropped to about £30 now.

I prefer my flycamone to the new flycamone2

[jiberjaber]

If you want an alternative to the Flycamone, have a look at:

http://www.dansdata.com/edvr.htm

Simon

I have two of these, the problem is mounting them and getting the footage in to a decent format using either linux or vista.

Also they only have a limited amount of memory onboard, the advantage with the flycam ones is it has external storage in the form of a SD card and is flat so easier to mount.

[Bubblefish777]

Just to fill people in on a little more data...
The camera head comes with a screw in servo horn. So you could attach a servo and push rod to it and vary the angle in flight.... novel idea I suppose.
The modes the camera works in are :
VR : Continuous Video Recording
VE : Looping recording. Sets aside 200Mb and then loops over this. The recording is roughly 1sec=1Mb
PR : Photo taken once the shutter button is depressed.
PE : Photo taken every few seconds over and over
SR : Video taken in 'Spy Mode' . Video Starts if either thermal or movement change is deteced. Video shuts down after 13 seconds if nothing is detected and goes back into 'spy mode'
SE : Video as above but uses the 200Mb limit and simply records over the old video.

PC : Connects to PC
XX : Two othher modes indicating charging and memory full. Can't remember what they are.
XX : See above.

[Nutz]

WE is Webcam
PC is USB key mode
MF is memory full
DL is delete last file but there is also delete all which could be DA.

[jiberjaber]

Well I decided to give mine a try today seeing as the weather was great...

I mounted it under the canopy on my Raptor, seems OK but there is still a fair bit of vibration.



I have two clips in the movies section, both suffer from the sound not being in sync, the amount the sound is out of sync is non-linear, I have no clue as to the cause, which is a shame.

I think next time I shall click my finger in the field of view and use that to measure the amount of adjustment the sound needs to bring it back in sync.

I got about two full flights before the battery gave up on it, I have no idea on how charged it was or anything like that though.

Movie 1

Movie 2

[jiberjaber]

For those who might stumble upon this thread and wonder what it is about, here are some pictures of the camera:

Power on off, mode button to the top, shutter button in the middle.


Side view of above showing also the mounting bracket


Front view showing the hole for the servo arm mounting


Front view with camera tilted fully open


Rear end of the mounting bracket showing the four connections to remote control the power and shutter of the camera (no details of if it is a no of nc contact to trigger the shutter and the external power supply input does not charge the internal battery)


Shot of the mounting bracket disconnected from the camera - dont short these pins or you'll break the camera!.


Other side showing the SD card slot, mini-USB and mic hole.


Front view of the camera

[JonnyVXR]

Hi there guys, wondering if anyone can hopefully help me with my Flycamone2. I received it this week and finally got the chance to use it today. The problem I'm having is when I try to play the video back on my PC it is really, really slow and jumpy, even though the first vid this morning seemed ok when played back. I've contacted the place where i got it and they said to try another memory card, (The one i'm using is 1 1G out of my phone and works fine) If the problem persits then I'm gonna send it back. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

[jiberjaber]

I would sugges teh same, I had the audio sync issue myself rather that video jittering - have you tried playback on another PC to rule out any dodgy codecs etc?