Cheap Self-Contained Bullet Camera

Cool thread, thnx for sharing this find! I still cant decide if I wanna spend $80 on this unit or just put it towards one of the higher end bullet cams out there.

For those who dont have a laptop and do not want to spend a bundle in a bunch of SD cards, Google PORTABLE STORAGE DEVICE (PSD). In a nutshell, they are little devices (about the size of a walkman) that accepts several types of storage cards and allows you to copy the data on to its HDD (laptop HDD).

I found one called DigiMate II on eBay for around $35, then purchased a new HDD (60GB, cost me $75) for my laptop, then placed my old HDD (20GB) in the DigiMate. Laptop HDD's vary in price, you can literally find them for arnd $25 on eBay used <30GB.

Good luck!

 

Ryan: What setting were you using for the vid above?

Has anyone tried hard wiring it to the bike's battery?

 

I have hard wired mine with a converter from Wal mart . Used in cig. lighter to power different radios , set it on 6.0 volts. Soldered wire through battery pack , and through the screw on end cap. Find me at RA on Sat. If interested in setup !

 

I ran it on the med resolution 320x240 at 25fps. The higher 640x480 has too low of a frame rate (20fps) IMO.

Mark Stringer (739) direct wired his and I'm gonna look at his setup at RA. New batteries before every race works fine, but the direct wire would be even easier.

 

I got on this idea kinda late, but I bought one as a back up to my chasecam setup. I plan to use this camera to record rear view, shifter view, hand clutch view, looking up at my helmet from the dash view. Get views similar to AMA/MotoGP camera setups.

 

Do not drop these cams on the ground ! They are not shock proof !!! I have , and something is rattleing on the inside now. It makes the video wavy now. I got a new one yesterday and ready to try it at Road A . The 1gig SD card seems to hold all I need in a days sessions , I bought another 1gig card for the next days ride. Ryan is right on the speaker,black permatex the speaker hole and you can always peel it back out if you decide later to do something different with the cam, it stops the wind noise so you can hear the engine rpm's. Keep posting your trials , and errors , we will all benefit in the long run !!!:up:

 

Sweet work on the hardwire...I may try to look you up at Road A to have a look. I'm in a black sprinter van with dark tinted windows and a really ugly SV1000 so feel free to stop by if you see me.

Question on gooping the mic. Did you fill just the oval hole or goop all the way down the notch leading to the lens?

Thanks in advance and pray the weather is better than this weekend.

 

I filled the oval hole . Really helps on the wind noise !:up:

 

I think I'm going to have to try epoxy or something. I double gooped the hole with red high temp but think because my camera is mounted on my helmet that the wind noise is too great above 40.

***Note on dropping the camera*** I zip tied my chase cam into the stock mounting thingey that came with it. Just before turning into 10A I felt a little tap on the back of my calf and.... the camera will pull out of the mount unless you tape it. I actually taped around the lens cover-to increase the diameter-so it won't pull out again. But after practice I went out to 10A, picked up the cam from the dirt outside the track, popped out the batteries, reinstalled and by George it works. I had to have been doing 100 when that thing fell so...I'm actually a big fan of the durability now.

 

UPDATE: Oregon Scientific now has an ATC-2000 that does 640x480 at a full 30 fps, and it now only takes (2) AA's. I haven't seen one in person, but unfortunately it looks like it got bigger in size.

I still might pick one up though. I've heard that it can be had for closer to $100 on Amazon (retail $130).

http://www.oregonscientific.com/eng/

A review is here: http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/24/oregon-scientific-busts-out-head-mountable-atc-2000-webcam/

 

Yeah...I was looking at that one too. It was either that, or go with the fancy setup that Dan Schafner has on his bikes. But then you're dropping close to $600. Decisions, decisions.

Let me know when you get that one...I'd like to see the quality.

Oh..you going to Long Beach this weekend?

 

Well, it turns out my ATC-1000 sort of still works, so I won't be getting the ATC-2K just yet. Here is an unpublished troubleshooting tip for the ATC-1000: If it stops working, give it a good whack and that might fix the problem

(Trey - nope, I didn't make it out to LB this weekend)

 

Looks like a big improvement over last years 1000 . I'm in the market since my 1000 is in several pcs right now One thing I learned is if it loses power before you switch it off via its menu , it never writes the end file , so you won't be able to retrieve the last video that was being recorded . Sucks in a crash . If you want a tip , wrap the battery compartment with duct tape or something to hold it in place . They might have changed that to make it stronger though , the last one did not claim to be shock resistant . I had mine hardwired to the R6 and it worked fine but you had to switch the camera off before you shut the bike off or you had the same problem .

 

i'm in the market for one too. I'm going to see if i can take advantage of some holiday specials.

 

Radioshack RC battery packs work great!

yep. Radio Shack RC 6vdc NiMh battery-pack. Mounted remotely, with a 1/8 jack interconnect to the camera. Ran it all day, and part of the next before it died. The newer version (high fps) should be a little better, the lower fps produces a lot of artifacts and distortion, but useable vid, depending on what you are looking for.

let me know if you need pictures of the battery eliminator/parts.

 

I got the new ATC-2000 for xmas. Thanks, Mom!! They are available and run about $100-$130 depending on what you find out there.
It defaults to hi res - 640x480 at 30 fps. No more going thru the menu every time! Just hit "on", then "record" - nice. This camera will record a bunch in 2007. I might even take it to the SE regional banquet and get a couple cheep shots - so dont drink too much

I've got a free ATC-1000 battery tray if anyone wants it. First person to email me at ryan AT 29dreamsracing com and I'll ship to ya for free.

 

Mark Stringer claimed the 1000 battery pack.

 

God***it. I just bought the ATC-1000

Anyway, they sell ATC-2000s here for $99. Not in stock until Jan 15. I see they support 2gb SD cards now :up:
http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/product/product.asp/item/112301/N/0/cmpn/900000/CMP/KNC-900000
Never used those guys btw^

 

Has anyone shot any vid with the ATC-2000 yet? I bought one on ebay for $100 but haven't received it yet. The auction stated it was in stock and ready to ship, I sure hope I actually get it (everywhere else I've seen online has it backordered). If all goes well I'll be trying it out in February.

 

I have, not on bike just testing it around the house. Works sweet with the AA's and I also have a 2gb card for it. I was going to strap it to the ice bike this weekend but it's supposed to be like -10....probably do it no good.

Thanks for the above link too...that's where I got mine!