I sorted through dozens of sellers of these little cams.
Some 'claim' to come in the box that I show above and claim CCD
Others come in the same box but it has CCD written on it and they claim neither CCD or CMOS
Some sell for about 27.00 buy-it-now and are 4gb, come in a box, have the ac charger and state that they are 15fps :-(
Some say the box you see is not sent out...the cam is slipped into an envelope to save on shipping.
Some cost about 45.00 and have a vid you can play that they claim was made with one of the cams...looks just like erco's good cam vid. no mention of CCD, box, or charger
Some say 29fps, some 30fps... probably these are all 29.7fps
A few say 25fps?
One says 20fps?
In short, not all the 4gb cams are 30fps some are 15fps even though they have box and charger so beware.
When my cams all come in I will post detailed reviews here and if any of them are good I will tell you where I got them.
I ordered yet another one tonight, 4gb, box as above, ac charger, claims 30fps, not specific re CMOS or CCD.
If I was selling these I'd post a link to a sample video on youtube.
I'm suspicious of those that don't....of course it could always be a fake video but they would get beaten down in the buyer comments if they pulled that.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
The big chip on the side where the 2 gold colored buttons are
is an SDRAM chip at 133mhz maybe for fast buffering from the camera?
The big chip on the other side, where the SDHC card is has to be the processor
but I could not look it up on google as the last 2 digits are fuzzy.
up above the cpu, is that an eeprom?
see how pins 3 and 4 are solder bridged... pins 1,2,3,4 are usually
connected together aren't they? Maybe that is an eeprom with the code
for the cpu inside? If you could get the info on the cpu and find a datasheet
with the asm codes you could hack the actual program. I bet the thing is
programmable via the usb, I'd sure have engineered it like that if I designed the cam.
If you used a scope I guess you could see if that eeprom? is sending data
to the cpu on power up. I guess that chip could be the time chip? It is nice and
close the the one xtal. If so then the cpu probably has flash program memory.
Two nice tiny xtals there, one is certainly a low freq 38khz type for the time clock.
The other is for the cpu.
Nice that the cams runs on 3.7v that probably means a single v a tad lower would suffice
for both the cam and a prop if you make a project with this thing.
They used hot glue to stabilize wires on the board same as I always do.
I love to use a glue gun
I think I see some regulators on the button side.... easy to check with a meter...maybe
3.0 or 3.3 or 1.8
Looks as though the camera sensor has an adjustable focus lens on it.
Looks like it was set and then a dab of glue was brushed on to fix its position.
Might be useful to set it at infinity for some uses...it probably is focused perfectly
at somewhere around 8 - 12 ft as a compromise.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 9/4/2009 4:57:26 AM GMT
Holly: Looks just like my setup except my box has a CCD sticker on it. Clearly added to the box after made. Bad image from my good cam attached. I must have bumped or smudged the lens when I went in there. Another thing to fix.
On another note, I just·received 3 of these these 8 GB cams from cititrading on Ebay:·http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170372236219· This is the lower-grade image CMOS cam, but get this, on two of the three, the image is rotated 90 degrees! Not sure how they managed that, the sensor is not free to rotate on its mylar ribbon connector. They work fine if you rotate the camera 90 degrees! I'll have to open one up and see how they botched that. So stay clear of cititrading on Ebay.
Alternatively,·anybody need any RARE cameras that are custom-built to operate in a vertical orientation?
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
Between the two of us erco we will narrow it down to one or two sellers
that have the best quality cams. I figure a good one like your first is
definitely worth 40.00
They probably got a bargain on sensors that were assembled 90deg
out of kilter.
I hope you pop one of the cheap cams open so we can see if there are
any salvageable goodies in there! If there is an 8gb mico SDHC then
it's not a total loss. Still pictures and an 8gb card is not bad.
Hook a prop to one of them and a 3.3v supply for the cam and the prop
and have it click stills of the babies 24/7
There is free software that can assemble the stills into a time lapse avi.
And you are bound to get several images worth way more than the cams cost you
It occurs to me that these would be easy to stick on a telescope for
surveillance uses. I did it with a webcam once by just carving up a
piece of Styrofoam so that the camera stuck tightly into the foam block
and then the block stuck onto the eyepiece of the scope...it worked
amazingly well. But the most fun idea is to put this into a mundane
object that will not attract attention and have it grab a jpg every second
and then combine into an avi.... some locations would yield interesting
results
They should have programmed the cpu for a time lapse mode
with selectable compression levels of the jpg images.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 9/4/2009 6:26:24 PM GMT
I was reading about several cameras.· You can find them on remote control helicopter sites because they're light.· Another camera I was reading about is called Flycamone and there is already a more expensive version out.· One of the chapters in the manual talks about controlling the camera with your remote control so if you can interface it with a remote control, you can interface it with a microcontroller.· I suppose that if someone were to mount the cameras on a servo then you would have more camera movement.
The other cameras I've seen are more expensive because they are wireless and operate in the 2.4 and 5GHZ range. ·
What is so cool about these cams is they are so inexpensive.
That means you can do things with them where they might be lost or destroyed.
You would not want to do that with a 250.00 cam.
I am going to experiment to see how IR sensitive the cams are.
If I can illuminate using a dozen powerful IR LEDs then I have a
few fun ideas for night vision time lapse projects.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
CoMedia is the supplier. CoMedia has a higher resolution camera... the DVR623v with a
a 5M camera and video out. I checked with Electronics123 and they will special order
the higher resolution version for about $90. I am interested in a monochrome version... still waiting on that
question.
Thanks for investigating this. Unfortunately, I rushed out and purchased the 8GB version from cititrading. I haven't gotten it yet, but like Holly said, if it has a microSD in it, it is not much of a loss, and still quite amazing.
I just hope I don't get one of the "vertical" ones.
If you open one up, please post pictures like you did for your 4GB one.
I can see a completely remote camera that would take stills and connected via prop 2 wire high speed serial "beau" style. I have tested the link with a stripped pair out of an RJ45 at about 30feet, and it worked quite well.
Now for a tiny motorized mount.......
I just thought of something else. Have you tried these in low light conditions, or in infra-red illuminated conditions? These things might be usable as night vision with a couple of those little Coby DP151 screens right above your normal field of view like hanging from a baseball cap.
Oh the possibilities.....
One thing is puzzling me. Looking at the pictures, I can see the two buttons in front right, but not the buttons in back left on the circuit board.
Are they just dummy buttons? The directions on the ebay page you recommended doesn't have any instructions for them either.
I just thought of another possibility. When prop controlled, there may be a way to power down the CCD so that the recording is all black video wize and therefore compress very well on video.
Then you could get really long audio only recordings. You would just have to strip the audio out of the AVI files with something like:
mplayer -vc null -vo null -ao pcm[noparse]:fast:[/noparse]file=out.wav in.avi
Thanks for posting that pdf detailing that camera.
That camera already has many of the abilities I envisioned
as possible if we were to hack the original keychain/spy camera
erco posted this thread about.
@hinv
Yes, those other 2 buttons seem to be just dummies. I suppose
they were meant to make it look more like a car remote usually
does?
I don't think you wasted your money on the 8gb unit even if it
turns out it has cmos instead of ccd or even if it has a COB flash chip
instead of an actual 8gb class2 SDHC card.
The thing will still be useful as an 8gb USB thumb drive and as you said
it could be useful just to record audio and it might be good for
IR night vision stills and low-res video. And it appears these have
a time chip with a precision xtal connected to it.
After I get my cams I will certainly post here or in a new thread about
what I find inside the things...and of course there will be many jpg
images of its innards
I want to mount one of my cams inside a case just large enough to
hold it and 3 D size nimh batteries. I will bring out control buttons
and the LED from the cam to new ones mounted on the larger case.
I highly recommend using conductive glue to hook D cell batteries
together in series, it is nearly impossible to solder wire connections to
batteries and it is very hard to find a holder for 3 D cells.
Also a full size USB jack will be in the case. I have some very tiny
dc motors and I would like to mount one inside this case and attach it
to a suitable small, well balanced metal disk so that it can be switched
on and serve as a sort of poor mans steady-cam device...I perhaps
can use my new miniature lathe to fashion this tiny disk. I will of course
mount a small circuit board in the case with a controller to add new functions
like time-lapse and vox control to the cam...but I may not use a propeller.
This is not because I think a propeller is a bad choice but because I hate
to 'waste' one of my dip propeller chips when something like a smaller and
cheaper ATtiny device will suffice...and I have a bunch of those around here.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Thanks, I look forward to seeing some more camera guts. I hope there are none of those dreaded "drip chips" with no label on them.
It really isn't that hard to solder to the q44 pin version of the propeller like clock loop has done in his avatar. Now that 128pin toshiba part in the camera is a bit tougher, but not undoable. I modify some SGI boards with finer pitch than that. You just need a steady hand(stay away from caffeine) a small soldering iron tip, and patience.
Since you are a real good resource hound, could you tell me where to get the glue you are referring to. It sound's like a really good idea. I have even entertained the idea of getting a battery tab welder because I am real tired of my batteries not making contact. It sound's like the glue is a much simpler solution.
On cameras the IR filter is sometimes right on the inside of the lens element.
Holly... are you going to be hooking this up to a telescope? If you are... you'll probably want to keep track of temperature, humidity, be able to monitor it from the other side of the planet, etc... eventually you are going to want a Prop in there.
about the IR filters... it depends on the manufacturer. Some put them right on the sensor... some leave them off and then offer a lense with the IR filter built in as a lens coating or on the back of the lense...
I got this at Walmart for $10... threw the case away. Has 640x480 resolution and can be seen through USB with no fuss by ImageJ for image capture. Second image shows the IR filter fixed to the back of the lens. This seems to be a trend... I saw a company marketing a new CMOS security camera that flips the ir filter in and out automatically depending upon ambient light settings and using IR lights for the dark... really nice chip... where did I put the info?[noparse]:)[/noparse]
As I recall this chip is supposed to be the first CMOS chip that outperforms CCD's... so you can probably google it.
Sorry about the photography... done with my cell phone and a hand held magnifyinging lens[noparse]:)[/noparse]
fsrw 2.1 and greater can handle sdhc and fat32. these are cool cameras but i have no use at the moment.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
I got my camera in from cititrading today. It takes the image 90degrees of like erco was saying. If I take a picture with it laying flat buttons up, it will produce a picture with the top on the right. Kindof annoying, but after I thaught about it, if I was going to attach a server to it, it might turn out better this way.
I have my better one(CCD) on the way from the same guy that erco purchased his from ebay.
If someone could tell me how to take this one apart without breaking it, I could scan some images from it.
I took it(8GB cmos version from cititrading) apart, but I didn't notice the screws next to the chain...so the holes are stripped. ;^(
Anyway, I have to say, that I am quite disappointed that the flash is not microSD like in the one that erco posted pictures.
I also noticed that the microphone was not in front of the hole, but was instead facing the case itself. It looked like it would almost seal against the case with the rubber grommet it was in.
So I clipped off the piece of circuit board that prevented it from being mounted correctly and crammed it in the spot in front of the hole
The camera itself was mounted on double sided sticky tape, which made it interesting to get back pointed squarely out the hole. I had to add a couple of stickers folded over to get it back in the right spot. It is much better centered now.
I tried to set the date via erco's instriuctions to no avail. Is there another way for the cmos version?
It looks like the 4GB version has much better construction, and the microSD, which should allow you to upgrade to 16GB hopefully. It also should allow for propeller hacking as the propeller should be able to power off the camera and take over the flash... we will have to see.
Mine came from a PE kit... also the breadboard. With Phildapill's board, all of the pins come out in a single row... so the breadboard numbers can be used as a reference as well.
I talked to Andy about them. Here was his response:
The Propeller Pin Map label for the DIP chips included in the Propeller Education Kit 40 Pin Dip Version is listed in the PE Kit Components Listing. Its Parallax part number is 120-00003, and it can be purchased from Parallax by contacting their sales department. See www.parallax.com -> Company -> Contact Us.
Looks like I've poked a hornet's nest with my DVR post. I started off unknowingly with the best possible unit. I have found (and heard through this forum and some PMs) that there are many poor variations out there. Sorry if you got a bad one, when I first posted I thought that Ebay would make things easier, not worse. I'm just the messenger. But I hate to be the messenger of bad info. I can tell you that the picture quality of the cheaper units is bad compared to the good ones.
I first imported a dozen units (MOQ) direct from China (not Ebay) and was quite impressed. I had no trouble seeling these to friends and people at work. I'm ordering another dozen from the same China seller (also for friends & work), expecting the same high quality 4 GB CCD units. Should arrive any day. If they are the same good units, I'll repost here. I could order another dozen or two if there is demand here in the forum, my price is $35 plus shipping. If anybody's interested, just PM me.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
I got my camera in yesterday... I think it's the crappy CMOS though, but it still works ok for $40.... However, everytime I plug it in, I get the "USB device Not Recognized" bubble come up in my system tray. It says the device has malfunctioned. The thing worked fine at first, but then started doing this. However, when I plug it into my laptop, or any other "virgin" computer(one that has not had the camera plugged in before), I DO NOT get the error.
Any ideas on what is going on? I'm thinking about demanding a refund as the seller posted videos that are clearly not taken with the device, AND it doesn't work right, now...
EDIT: erco, if the seller agrees to accept the unit back, and refund my money, put me down for one of the good units. I bought this, HOPING I could record my class lectures - especially what is written on the board, but the quality of this unit is so bad, I can't even make out whats on the chalkboard at 10-15' away. I hope your units are better...
Post Edited (Philldapill) : 9/13/2009 3:20:10 AM GMT
What was the seller's id (assuming ebay)?
Was it the 8GB unit?
I had the same error from my 8GB DVR from cititrading. First, something about the microUSB retractable cable that I used for my demoboard, didn't seem to work with my DVR, so I switched to the cable that came with it and it worked again.
I had other problems later of not being able to write to it, so I reformatted it. I still haven't gotten the date set correctly, but I was sent an attachment from cititrading that I haven't tried out yet that is supposed to set the date.
Well, I'll be damned... That was exactly the problem. Now that I think about it, I had the cable they sent with it, but it was plugged into a USB extension(at my parents house - the first encounter with this problem). Tonight, I had the original cable at first and it worked great, but then started using the same retractable USB cable that I use for my Propeller - didn't work. I took your advice, got the original cable out of my backpack, and voila...
The retractable cables from parallax are junk. Not a problem for propplug but is for highspeed devices.
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
I have had problems with the retractable cables before also, but they are a different brand than parallax. Prob an inherant design issue to high speed devices.
When I got home about 5pm there was a tiny manila envelope from China
in the mail box. Inside was a single camera and a usb cable, both wrapped in
bubble wrap. A rather indecipherable instruction sheet was in there as well.
Thing is I ordered 4 cams from 3 different ebay sellers and this envelope
has nothing to identify which one it came from!? Evidently there was supposed
to be a mini-cd in there also but they left that out :-( The instructions say there
is a program on that disk that when run will set the time on the cam to the
time of the pc's clock...damn! now I have no way to set the clock @#$%^
There was also a yellow slip from the mail carrier in my mail box...it was
to let me know a registered parcel from Hong Kong was at the post office and
I had to either come get it or sign the slip so they could deliver tomorrow.
So it seems another cam is in and was sent with more expensive shipping.
Maybe my luck will change and it will be a ccd cam like erco's #1
If anyone has one of these cams please send me the exe that sets the clock
You can identify the cam by what the clock display looks like in the 2 images
posted below...if yours looks the same and you set your clock using the cd
then we have the same cams.
The still images are really awful, they are obviously 640x480 images enlarged
out to 1280x1024 size! :-( I think the cmos device is limited to 640x480 and
the promised large image jpg quality was a bald faced lie.. You get a much better
quality image if you take a frame of the video and make a jpg out of it. That is
how the 2 images below were made. The code they wrote to make the expanded
image from the 640x480 raw image is really poorly done...the bigger image
comes out really sad looking...it's slow too, takes about 2 seconds to render
the big bad images between shots....so you can't take a rapid sequence of
pictures...arrgh
At first glance the video looks like 25fps but it is actually 12.5fps
If you look frame by frame with a util like virtualdub you see that each 2
successive frames are identical, frame0 and frame1 are the same, frame2 and frame3
are the same..etc :-(
The slow frame rate is due to either slow processor speed, slow flash speed or
poor cmos quality....or maybe a bit of all 3.
The audio seems fine.
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 4/30/2010 3:09:10 PM GMT
Comments
I sorted through dozens of sellers of these little cams.
Some 'claim' to come in the box that I show above and claim CCD
Others come in the same box but it has CCD written on it and they claim neither CCD or CMOS
Some sell for about 27.00 buy-it-now and are 4gb, come in a box, have the ac charger and state that they are 15fps :-(
Some say the box you see is not sent out...the cam is slipped into an envelope to save on shipping.
Some cost about 45.00 and have a vid you can play that they claim was made with one of the cams...looks just like erco's good cam vid. no mention of CCD, box, or charger
Some say 29fps, some 30fps... probably these are all 29.7fps
A few say 25fps?
One says 20fps?
In short, not all the 4gb cams are 30fps some are 15fps even though they have box and charger so beware.
When my cams all come in I will post detailed reviews here and if any of them are good I will tell you where I got them.
I ordered yet another one tonight, 4gb, box as above, ac charger, claims 30fps, not specific re CMOS or CCD.
If I was selling these I'd post a link to a sample video on youtube.
I'm suspicious of those that don't....of course it could always be a fake video but they would get beaten down in the buyer comments if they pulled that.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
is an SDRAM chip at 133mhz maybe for fast buffering from the camera?
The big chip on the other side, where the SDHC card is has to be the processor
but I could not look it up on google as the last 2 digits are fuzzy.
up above the cpu, is that an eeprom?
see how pins 3 and 4 are solder bridged... pins 1,2,3,4 are usually
connected together aren't they? Maybe that is an eeprom with the code
for the cpu inside? If you could get the info on the cpu and find a datasheet
with the asm codes you could hack the actual program. I bet the thing is
programmable via the usb, I'd sure have engineered it like that if I designed the cam.
If you used a scope I guess you could see if that eeprom? is sending data
to the cpu on power up. I guess that chip could be the time chip? It is nice and
close the the one xtal. If so then the cpu probably has flash program memory.
Two nice tiny xtals there, one is certainly a low freq 38khz type for the time clock.
The other is for the cpu.
Nice that the cams runs on 3.7v that probably means a single v a tad lower would suffice
for both the cam and a prop if you make a project with this thing.
They used hot glue to stabilize wires on the board same as I always do.
I love to use a glue gun
I think I see some regulators on the button side.... easy to check with a meter...maybe
3.0 or 3.3 or 1.8
Looks as though the camera sensor has an adjustable focus lens on it.
Looks like it was set and then a dab of glue was brushed on to fix its position.
Might be useful to set it at infinity for some uses...it probably is focused perfectly
at somewhere around 8 - 12 ft as a compromise.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 9/4/2009 4:57:26 AM GMT
On another note, I just·received 3 of these these 8 GB cams from cititrading on Ebay:·http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170372236219· This is the lower-grade image CMOS cam, but get this, on two of the three, the image is rotated 90 degrees! Not sure how they managed that, the sensor is not free to rotate on its mylar ribbon connector. They work fine if you rotate the camera 90 degrees! I'll have to open one up and see how they botched that. So stay clear of cititrading on Ebay.
Alternatively,·anybody need any RARE cameras that are custom-built to operate in a vertical orientation?
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·"If you build it, they will come."
that have the best quality cams. I figure a good one like your first is
definitely worth 40.00
They probably got a bargain on sensors that were assembled 90deg
out of kilter.
I hope you pop one of the cheap cams open so we can see if there are
any salvageable goodies in there! If there is an 8gb mico SDHC then
it's not a total loss. Still pictures and an 8gb card is not bad.
Hook a prop to one of them and a 3.3v supply for the cam and the prop
and have it click stills of the babies 24/7
There is free software that can assemble the stills into a time lapse avi.
And you are bound to get several images worth way more than the cams cost you
It occurs to me that these would be easy to stick on a telescope for
surveillance uses. I did it with a webcam once by just carving up a
piece of Styrofoam so that the camera stuck tightly into the foam block
and then the block stuck onto the eyepiece of the scope...it worked
amazingly well. But the most fun idea is to put this into a mundane
object that will not attract attention and have it grab a jpg every second
and then combine into an avi.... some locations would yield interesting
results
They should have programmed the cpu for a time lapse mode
with selectable compression levels of the jpg images.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 9/4/2009 6:26:24 PM GMT
The other cameras I've seen are more expensive because they are wireless and operate in the 2.4 and 5GHZ range.
·
What is so cool about these cams is they are so inexpensive.
That means you can do things with them where they might be lost or destroyed.
You would not want to do that with a 250.00 cam.
I am going to experiment to see how IR sensitive the cams are.
If I can illuminate using a dozen powerful IR LEDs then I have a
few fun ideas for night vision time lapse projects.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
CoMedia is the supplier. CoMedia has a higher resolution camera... the DVR623v with a
a 5M camera and video out. I checked with Electronics123 and they will special order
the higher resolution version for about $90. I am interested in a monochrome version... still waiting on that
question.
Well documented.
Thanks for investigating this. Unfortunately, I rushed out and purchased the 8GB version from cititrading. I haven't gotten it yet, but like Holly said, if it has a microSD in it, it is not much of a loss, and still quite amazing.
I just hope I don't get one of the "vertical" ones.
If you open one up, please post pictures like you did for your 4GB one.
I can see a completely remote camera that would take stills and connected via prop 2 wire high speed serial "beau" style. I have tested the link with a stripped pair out of an RJ45 at about 30feet, and it worked quite well.
Now for a tiny motorized mount.......
Doug
Oh the possibilities.....
Doug
One thing is puzzling me. Looking at the pictures, I can see the two buttons in front right, but not the buttons in back left on the circuit board.
Are they just dummy buttons? The directions on the ebay page you recommended doesn't have any instructions for them either.
Thanks,
Doug
Then you could get really long audio only recordings. You would just have to strip the audio out of the AVI files with something like:
mplayer -vc null -vo null -ao pcm[noparse]:fast:[/noparse]file=out.wav in.avi
Doug
Thanks for posting that pdf detailing that camera.
That camera already has many of the abilities I envisioned
as possible if we were to hack the original keychain/spy camera
erco posted this thread about.
@hinv
Yes, those other 2 buttons seem to be just dummies. I suppose
they were meant to make it look more like a car remote usually
does?
I don't think you wasted your money on the 8gb unit even if it
turns out it has cmos instead of ccd or even if it has a COB flash chip
instead of an actual 8gb class2 SDHC card.
The thing will still be useful as an 8gb USB thumb drive and as you said
it could be useful just to record audio and it might be good for
IR night vision stills and low-res video. And it appears these have
a time chip with a precision xtal connected to it.
After I get my cams I will certainly post here or in a new thread about
what I find inside the things...and of course there will be many jpg
images of its innards
I want to mount one of my cams inside a case just large enough to
hold it and 3 D size nimh batteries. I will bring out control buttons
and the LED from the cam to new ones mounted on the larger case.
I highly recommend using conductive glue to hook D cell batteries
together in series, it is nearly impossible to solder wire connections to
batteries and it is very hard to find a holder for 3 D cells.
Also a full size USB jack will be in the case. I have some very tiny
dc motors and I would like to mount one inside this case and attach it
to a suitable small, well balanced metal disk so that it can be switched
on and serve as a sort of poor mans steady-cam device...I perhaps
can use my new miniature lathe to fashion this tiny disk. I will of course
mount a small circuit board in the case with a controller to add new functions
like time-lapse and vox control to the cam...but I may not use a propeller.
This is not because I think a propeller is a bad choice but because I hate
to 'waste' one of my dip propeller chips when something like a smaller and
cheaper ATtiny device will suffice...and I have a bunch of those around here.
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- Some mornings I wake up cranky.....but usually I just let him sleep -
Thanks, I look forward to seeing some more camera guts. I hope there are none of those dreaded "drip chips" with no label on them.
It really isn't that hard to solder to the q44 pin version of the propeller like clock loop has done in his avatar. Now that 128pin toshiba part in the camera is a bit tougher, but not undoable. I modify some SGI boards with finer pitch than that. You just need a steady hand(stay away from caffeine) a small soldering iron tip, and patience.
Since you are a real good resource hound, could you tell me where to get the glue you are referring to. It sound's like a really good idea. I have even entertained the idea of getting a battery tab welder because I am real tired of my batteries not making contact. It sound's like the glue is a much simpler solution.
Thanks,
Doug
Holly... are you going to be hooking this up to a telescope? If you are... you'll probably want to keep track of temperature, humidity, be able to monitor it from the other side of the planet, etc... eventually you are going to want a Prop in there.
Rich
Are you saying that the IR filter is a physical lense, not a different CCD or a different way of digitally filtering CCD output?
Thanks,
Doug
I got this at Walmart for $10... threw the case away. Has 640x480 resolution and can be seen through USB with no fuss by ImageJ for image capture. Second image shows the IR filter fixed to the back of the lens. This seems to be a trend... I saw a company marketing a new CMOS security camera that flips the ir filter in and out automatically depending upon ambient light settings and using IR lights for the dark... really nice chip... where did I put the info?[noparse]:)[/noparse]
As I recall this chip is supposed to be the first CMOS chip that outperforms CCD's... so you can probably google it.
Sorry about the photography... done with my cell phone and a hand held magnifyinging lens[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I saw a Prop with a sticker on it not in a PEKit in the background. Did you get the sticker separately? If so, from where?
Thanks,
Doug
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
There is a quality JPG image of the sticker in a post by Andy Lindsay in this thread: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=608508
You can just print your own on appropriate sized label stock, then cut-and-stick.
Duffer
I have my better one(CCD) on the way from the same guy that erco purchased his from ebay.
If someone could tell me how to take this one apart without breaking it, I could scan some images from it.
Thanks,
Doug
I took it(8GB cmos version from cititrading) apart, but I didn't notice the screws next to the chain...so the holes are stripped. ;^(
Anyway, I have to say, that I am quite disappointed that the flash is not microSD like in the one that erco posted pictures.
I also noticed that the microphone was not in front of the hole, but was instead facing the case itself. It looked like it would almost seal against the case with the rubber grommet it was in.
So I clipped off the piece of circuit board that prevented it from being mounted correctly and crammed it in the spot in front of the hole
The camera itself was mounted on double sided sticky tape, which made it interesting to get back pointed squarely out the hole. I had to add a couple of stickers folded over to get it back in the right spot. It is much better centered now.
I tried to set the date via erco's instriuctions to no avail. Is there another way for the cmos version?
It looks like the 4GB version has much better construction, and the microSD, which should allow you to upgrade to 16GB hopefully. It also should allow for propeller hacking as the propeller should be able to power off the camera and take over the flash... we will have to see.
Mine came from a PE kit... also the breadboard. With Phildapill's board, all of the pins come out in a single row... so the breadboard numbers can be used as a reference as well.
Rich
The Propeller Pin Map label for the DIP chips included in the Propeller Education Kit 40 Pin Dip Version is listed in the PE Kit Components Listing. Its Parallax part number is 120-00003, and it can be purchased from Parallax by contacting their sales department. See www.parallax.com -> Company -> Contact Us.
Propeller Education Kit 40 Pin Dip Version
http://www.parallax.com/tabid/768/ProductID/415/Default.aspx
PE Kit Components Listing
http://www.parallax.com/tabid/377/Default.aspx#project
www.parallax.com
http://www.parallax.com
Contact Us
http://www.parallax.com/Company/ContactUs/tabid/66/Default.aspx
I first imported a dozen units (MOQ) direct from China (not Ebay) and was quite impressed. I had no trouble seeling these to friends and people at work. I'm ordering another dozen from the same China seller (also for friends & work), expecting the same high quality 4 GB CCD units. Should arrive any day. If they are the same good units, I'll repost here. I could order another dozen or two if there is demand here in the forum, my price is $35 plus shipping. If anybody's interested, just PM me.
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·"If you build it, they will come."
Any ideas on what is going on? I'm thinking about demanding a refund as the seller posted videos that are clearly not taken with the device, AND it doesn't work right, now...
EDIT: erco, if the seller agrees to accept the unit back, and refund my money, put me down for one of the good units. I bought this, HOPING I could record my class lectures - especially what is written on the board, but the quality of this unit is so bad, I can't even make out whats on the chalkboard at 10-15' away. I hope your units are better...
Post Edited (Philldapill) : 9/13/2009 3:20:10 AM GMT
What was the seller's id (assuming ebay)?
Was it the 8GB unit?
I had the same error from my 8GB DVR from cititrading. First, something about the microUSB retractable cable that I used for my demoboard, didn't seem to work with my DVR, so I switched to the cable that came with it and it worked again.
I had other problems later of not being able to write to it, so I reformatted it. I still haven't gotten the date set correctly, but I was sent an attachment from cititrading that I haven't tried out yet that is supposed to set the date.
I hope this helps.
Doug
Thanks, Doug! I wonder why the cable matters?
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propmod_us and propmod_1x1 are in stock. Only $30. PCB available for $5
Want to make projects and have Gadget Gangster sell them for you? propmod-us_ps_sd and propmod-1x1 are now available for use in your Gadget Gangster Projects.
Need to upload large images or movies for use in the forum. you can do so at uploader.propmodule.com for free.
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Tia'Shar Manetheren
in the mail box. Inside was a single camera and a usb cable, both wrapped in
bubble wrap. A rather indecipherable instruction sheet was in there as well.
Thing is I ordered 4 cams from 3 different ebay sellers and this envelope
has nothing to identify which one it came from!? Evidently there was supposed
to be a mini-cd in there also but they left that out :-( The instructions say there
is a program on that disk that when run will set the time on the cam to the
time of the pc's clock...damn! now I have no way to set the clock @#$%^
There was also a yellow slip from the mail carrier in my mail box...it was
to let me know a registered parcel from Hong Kong was at the post office and
I had to either come get it or sign the slip so they could deliver tomorrow.
So it seems another cam is in and was sent with more expensive shipping.
Maybe my luck will change and it will be a ccd cam like erco's #1
If anyone has one of these cams please send me the exe that sets the clock
You can identify the cam by what the clock display looks like in the 2 images
posted below...if yours looks the same and you set your clock using the cd
then we have the same cams.
The still images are really awful, they are obviously 640x480 images enlarged
out to 1280x1024 size! :-( I think the cmos device is limited to 640x480 and
the promised large image jpg quality was a bald faced lie.. You get a much better
quality image if you take a frame of the video and make a jpg out of it. That is
how the 2 images below were made. The code they wrote to make the expanded
image from the 640x480 raw image is really poorly done...the bigger image
comes out really sad looking...it's slow too, takes about 2 seconds to render
the big bad images between shots....so you can't take a rapid sequence of
pictures...arrgh
At first glance the video looks like 25fps but it is actually 12.5fps
If you look frame by frame with a util like virtualdub you see that each 2
successive frames are identical, frame0 and frame1 are the same, frame2 and frame3
are the same..etc :-(
The slow frame rate is due to either slow processor speed, slow flash speed or
poor cmos quality....or maybe a bit of all 3.
The audio seems fine.
Post Edited (HollyMinkowski) : 4/30/2010 3:09:10 PM GMT