The "GumCam"

[Peter Miller]

I had the same problem with the Oregon camera. It is just the blades passing in front of the lens. nothing you can do about it.

 

I said on the other thread, I ordered mine in minutes after seeing the video.

 

Much better than the FlyCam one.

[John Horsfield]

Posted by Reg Tyson on 17/04/2010 21:55:36:

Posted by John Horsfield on 16/04/2010 22:53:29:

Reg and John, can you confirm that this is a version 3  ebay link

It has no internal memory and req an sd card as Reg mentions.

 

 

 Certainly looks like one. The advert, including photos, is just the same as the one I bought.

 

 

 

Posted by John Privett on 16/04/2010 23:08:21:

The other factor suggesting it's a version 3 is the video resolution of 720x480.

 

Lots more info on these here including info on how to set the date/time.

 

 That is a brilliant site. Everything you ever wanted to know about the different versions of these cameras.

 

 

 Agreed, what a great site! Very interesting. By the way, have you noticed the keyfob cams with silver buttons on ebay, I wonder if they are a new version? 

[Reg Tyson]

Haven't seen the ones with silver buttons.

 

I have seen comments about a mark 4 version of the keychain camera, supposedly you can turn off the time and date display. I wonder if it is one of these ?

 

Haven't really seen any comments on the mark 4 - just an odd mention somewhere.

[Dusty]

 

It dont like props! However spot the "near miss"?

[John Privett]

The one at 2:03?  Or is there a closer one that I haven't got to yet?!

[Phil Cooke]

pretty close!  Ive been standing on my head at the paused view and it looks like a yellow chipmunk flashing past at 2:03!!!  Would have been an interesting head on with you in the inverted like that!!!  Bet that got your pulse racing!!!! 

Edited By Phil Cooke on 20/04/2010 21:55:36

[Pete B]

Well, the Class 6 card arrived for my Lighter Cam and it hasn't made any difference at all. The recording remains just as jerky as the original.

 

One thing I've noticed with mine is that the focus is at its sharpest no more than about 12" from the camera which may explain why infinity views are so unsharp. Even the very short focal length of the lens cannot accommodate that depth of field. One shouldn't expect much in the way of QC at that price, I suppose..............so I'll stick with the Gum Cam for now.

 

I haven't bothered posting the vid - just as the take-off run started on the Beaver, the Turnigy 4250 decided to let go of 8 of its 14 magnets............... 

Pete

Edited By Pete B on 24/04/2010 22:15:36

[Dusty]

John, Phil

 

Was a QuiQui 2m Yak with a "skywriter" yes I think 2:03? Was purely a cheesy flight testing the camera out. Obviously forward facing views with propellers are poor.

 

Not much depth perception with the camera but it was close! Think I would have lost being inverted!

[Pete B]

Not only do you get the prop interference, Dusty, but filming through the canopy means the definition is seriously degraded, too. Canopies may look brilliantly clear but are optically awful and introduce all sorts of distortion - look at the difference in the cowling sharpness before and after you attach the canopy.

 

Pete

[Conwy Soarer]

Had a play with the Gumcam on the Orme today.

 

http://vimeo.com/11404794

 

and heres one from the other day with some aerial views of St Davids College and the Llandudno area.

 

http://vimeo.com/11215033

 

Jon

[Tim Mackey]

Hi Jonathan - you part of the St David's Posse then I take it?

We must have met up the Orme several times.....is that video on the Orme flown from the other car parking area, on the road down to the church? I have flown that site in northerlys and its not bad at all.

[Conwy Soarer]

Hi Timbo, 

 

I was flying form the ridge that you can get to by walking left at the top of the ski slope rather than right to the main slope (NE) overlooking the pier. Its a cracking slope for close in foamie flying or you can push out and access the lift form the main cliff edge a few yards in front. YOu have to be careful with this one as the path you fly from is very narrow with an almost vertical drop in front and spikey gorse behind. You can also access it by driving up towards the summit and turning right just after the cattle grid, there is space to park just before you go under the cable car cable. I went up yesterday and had an hour or two, I was going to go up conwy mountain (which is superb) but though I would brave the extravaganza traffic!

 

Here is another gumcam vid taken yesterday this time onboard the Flying Fish.

 

http://vimeo.com/11455118

 

 

[John Horsfield]

Ive just received a key fob cam to try out as a comparison to my "lighter"cam. Unfortentley it looks like Ive got a dud... It often refuses to switch on and when I fianlly get it working the battery seems to fail after about 10 mins. When it is working I think its fair to say the quality is better, but I find it effected by vibration more. I'll try and get the ebay seller to send me another...

 

Also the 4GB card that came with my lighter cam is no more...

It is now unreadable, which i guess comfirms how poor the quality of these cheap copys are...

[John Sheehy]

Does anyone have the driver for the Gumcam?  The file is

spca1528_v2220_m setup.exe

It's on the CD but mine came without a CD.

 Glad of any help,

John.  P.S. Thanks for the tip Timbo, I got mine for £8.99 including post.

John.

[Tim Mackey]

You dont need a driver or anything else of the rubbish thats on the little CD - just plug it in, and wait....and wait....and eventually it will show up as drive on your PC

[John Sheehy]

Thanks, my computer says error on installation hardware may not work, or words to that effect.  Doesn't show up on my computer.

No problem, I can read the SD card and thats all I need.

 Thanks again,

John.

 

[Bob Moore]

A few observations on this camera which is very similar to the  808 key chain camera and MD80 mini dv. I think the internals are much the same.

I  bought four of these cameras, MD 80 and 808 Key Fob.. Two produced bad results. One was out of focus. I managed to re-focus the tiny little camera, but lost a pretty important IR filter from the back of it. About the size of a match head!)  (So grass now looks white on the video.).  The other had very bad video quality. I sent the e bay seller a sample clip and they refunded my £12! (OK it cost me £2 postage to return it.)

 

The web site that compares the key chain cameras and has loads of other useful info is herethere's a sample of my 'no ir filter vid linked on it.

 

Two of the cameras have produced remarkably good results.

This was recorded by me a couple of weeks ago with £12 MD80 with a £2 wide lense glued on.

 

 

 

This is my Key Fob on my Orion Electric Glider

 

 

 

 

It's possible to blur the date time stamp using free software, Virtual Dub and Logoaway filter.  Details are on the web site I linked.  You do need to be a bit computer savvy to do it!

 

And finally this is another MD80 vid I made paragliding in Cornwall.

 

 

I'm a great fan of these cameras, though it can be slightly hit and miss whether you get a bad one? A gamble for a tenner. (You can always send a bad one back!)  The camera with jerky video sounds to have a processor problem. The 808 I returned had bands of colour flashing across the video .  I used good brand (Kingston) class 4 cards, from good suppliers. See the web site I linked for info about fake cards too!

 

My You Tube web site has other video examples. Hope this is helpful.

 

Bob

 

 

Edited By Bob Moore on 12/05/2010 20:50:31

[Plane Addict]

Hobbyking also sells a 808 cam, it comes with a 2GB SD card:    http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11867 for $15.95

[David E]

I got a "type 3" 808 key fob cam (as described on the chucklohr.com link earlier in the thread) fom ebay; it cost me £7.49 inc. P&P!

 

I'm very happy with it, for the money. It would be nice to be able to turn off the date/time stamp, it's a shame it stretches it to 720x480, the USB cable was a duff and I sometimes have to reset it after disconnecting from computer, but once you've learned it's foibles, it's superb for the money. Buying from ebay is tricky as you have to figure out from the specs whether it's a type 3 camera or not!

 

I wonder if the Hobby King one is any good? I'll have to look at the sample videos on HK later. Does anyone know if it corresponds to any of the types described on chucklohr.com? It apparently outputs 640x480.

 

Here's a sample video:

 

http://www.vimeo.com/11874771

[Bob Moore]

Hi David

 

I don't really find the change in AR noticeable?  Chuck Lohr suggests that it's possible to change the AR in editing, though I haven't tried it.

I probably mentioned it before, but it is possible to blur the date stamp out with Virtual Dub and either logoaway filter, or  timestamp filter. All free to download. I've done so in most of my clips.

 

I just put together another flyiing video, (sorry, paragliding not model flying!) some of which was filmed with MD 80 and 808 cameras.  (Some was £140 Sanyo Xacti C40) It's hard (on You Tube) to see the difference!  Apologies for posting,  but apart from being an example of mini DV footage, I was quite pleased with this edit

 

 

 

Edited By Bob Moore on 21/05/2010 16:36:33

[Gemma Jane]

As Ken has banned me from just lurking on the forums thought I would chip in. Inspired by this thread I went for a 'type 3'  808 key fob cam too.

 

Tried it out for the first time this morning very grey day here but I was pleased with the results.

 

 

 

I also got a non-working USB cable and had to get use to the units oddities but for £7.99 what a bargain.

 

 

I've got a massive loss of quality on uploading to youtube though. I've seen way better quality clips on youtube from these cams, any tips of what I should do to preserve the quality on upload?

[David E]

Posted by Gemma Jane on 01/06/2010 16:04:12:

I've got a massive loss of quality on uploading to youtube though. I've seen way better quality clips on youtube from these cams, any tips of what I should do to preserve the quality on upload?

Yes! Use Vimeo! The quality is so much better and the playback smoother as their servers are less overloaded!

 

eg my video above: http://www.vimeo.com/11874771

 

Now we just need vimeo embedding on this site, as with RCGroups.

Edited By David E on 01/06/2010 16:26:09

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Like this Dave 

 

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Administrator on 01/06/2010 16:29:01

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Just use the YouTube upload icon and paste the embed code into the yellow box 

[David E]

lol thanks... I just figured out how to get the embed code!