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.
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…
Theres a guy that has a website with a HUGE amount of info on these keychain cams. This includes fixes for things like time stamp removal. I know you said it was hardwired, but he may be talking about another camera. I wish I could remember his name…He also has reviews of many of the different spy cams avialable.I would definetly try to find and read this website before purchasing one. Dang, what was his name. I think he has some threads on RC Universe if you want to search. Also, if your computer doesnt have a sd reader, you can buy a reader that plugs into your usb port for about $5 shipping included on Evilbay.
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.
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.
what happened to you talking in third person??? Maybe this isn’t really Lion. Just an impostor.[#offtopic]
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.
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.
Well, for the LION and the NYCT, we have (had) what is called a “Rail Fan Window” (RFW) which was in the storm door at the front of the car, and the motorman sat in a little telephone booth sized compartment to the right.
Now the Train/Operator’s compartment (note new official title) is the entire front of the car. There is a door with a window between the passenger compartment and the T/O’s compartment, and you can look through this and through the storm dooe, but it is not the same for the window in the compartment door is a special glass that will not let you see the T/O, nor does the light from the compartment fall on the T/O’s vision glass. Makes for weird pictures, Especially the track side signals.
That said, I have seen a crewman (on a locomotive) set his camera on the dashboard in the middle of the cab, and let it run while he was taking pictures.
We have a railfan on the SubChat site who likes to ride the last car on AMTK trains getting pix of the wayside.
But in HO, I think I’ll put my cam in the middle, the train will be more stable.
I bought one that uses RF, but the receiver will only interface with a VCR. Does yours interface via USB with your PC. It seems whenever I find the latter, the companies are always sold out.
The receiver for my RF unit has an RCA-plug output, so it will go to an analog TV or recorder. It’s a good 7 or 8 years old now, which was before the time when everything suddenly went USB. I’ve also got a PCI-card interface for my computer which takes analog TV signals. It was made by a company called Hauppaugh - WinTV. That’s how I got my videos on to my computer for editing.
Unfortunately, the computer where I did that work died last summer. I replaced it, but found that new machines no longer come with PCI slots, so I can’t use this card anymore. We still have one more older machine in the house, or I might be able to resurrect that one.
I just did some quick browsing, and there’s a gadget called and EasyCap DC60 that claims to be able to convert 3-cable audio-video (like VHS or older camcorder) to USB. Some discount place had them for $7. That just might be the way to go.
If you look at the camera units, they are basically a cube, about 1 inch on a side. The camera lens is mounted in the center of one face of the cube. In HO, that pretty much says that you have to mount it in the center, because offsetting it to the engineer’s-eye-view position would put the edge of the camera too far outboard, and it might not clear obstructions.
If you’re going to put the camera inside a locomotive shell (or subway car, in my case) then the camera has to be centered. It’s pretty much a perfect fit.
Actually you can still get computers with PCI slots, they just maybe cost a little more. You have to watch what you are buying. LION does not buy them without. Never know what you might want to put in there.
You probably can get an PCI box that connects via USB but I have never looked into that. An old box is your best bet at the moment.
Okay, UPS just delivered my Dice. Right now I’m reading the instructions with a magniifying glass, LOL, and as soon as I have the little thingy all figured out, into the garage to try some video with it. It looks intriguing–1" square and pretty simple to use. I’ll mount it on a flatcar and see what I come up with.
I got mine today as well. Here is a small test video. Does a good job other than the IR/ night camera part makes the trees look a strange shade in lower light.
