Awesome addition to my layout for just $21!!!!

I just realized it puts the date on there..... that date is wrong as I just took that video today.  I mainly wanted to show you guys what kinda video it took so you'd see it's pretty darn good for that price!  And if you did break it you wouldn't be out much.  

Very impressive, thanks for the information.

If you do not want to wait 3 weeks, there are US seller of the same SJ4000 Cam from $ 25.00 shipped.

They might get it to you faster.

John

 At twenty one dollars that would be the cheapest thing i ever added to my layout or Jeep.  Thanks for the tip

Yeah a US seller would definitely ship quicker.  I figured at this price I'd try it and I'm so glad I did.  I'm having fun thinking of what I can do with it (as my wife rolls her eyes at me).  But it gives such a unique look at your layout.  I'm going to run it around a few more times and see what I come up with.  

Like I said, I just wanted to pass this on to you guys because it's going to provide a LOT of fun to me!  And if a few of us got them we might see some really cool videos on here!  

I also thought to myself tonight, that its good to run through the tunnels to make sure nothing came unglued and is hanging down.  I had a train keep getting derailed by a wire that came undone and it took me a while to find.

And here I told the wife I wasn't going to buy anything else for the train room for a while! LOL Stupid me!

I got a little dizzy at that speed but pretty neat for the price. Hope it holds up for you. A long time ago I put my small Sony video camera on my G scale outdoor layout and filmed it. There was a grasshopper there and it looked like a prehistoric monster. Have fun. 

Looks really good....and you can't complain about the price for sure!

Alan

tackindy posted:

 I'm having fun thinking of what I can do with it (as my wife rolls her eyes at me).  But it gives such a unique look at your layout.  I'm going to run it around a few more times and see what I come up with.  

Good resolution for a $21 camera.

John,

it sure does make great video.  Considering it is only $21 I almost hate to ask this question.  Does it also capture the audio  as well.

Thanks,

Ed

John and totrainyard,

When answering ed, Could you guys add links to the units you bought, please. Thanks and that video is good.

Impressive indeed.  The Chinese can do some awesome things with stolen technology.....

Mini DVR 808 Car Key Chain Micro Camera #16, search on eBay, there are plenty of listings.

I also recently picked this upgraded model, but I haven't done any long videos with it yet.

 Full HD Sports Mobius Camera 1080P 30FPS, same story, lots of sellers.

jim pastorius posted:

I got a little dizzy at that speed but pretty neat for the price. Hope it holds up for you. A long time ago I put my small Sony video camera on my G scale outdoor layout and filmed it. There was a grasshopper there and it looked like a prehistoric monster. Have fun. 

Yes I sped it up a bit, the slow video was great too though!  

Ed Walsh posted:

John,

it sure does make great video.  Considering it is only $21 I almost hate to ask this question.  Does it also capture the audio  as well.

Thanks,

Ed

Yes it does capture audio too!  I had the mic muted.

hokie71 posted:

John and totrainyard,

When answering ed, Could you guys add links to the units you bought, please. Thanks and that video is good.

If you go on Ebay and type "gopro" you'll get a lot of real GoPro cameras for lots of money and a lot of "same as gopro" or "like gopro" knockoffs for anywhere from $40 to $20 shipped!  Thats why I put the picture in the post to show you what to look for.  Here is one on now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2015-S...1:g:H4oAAOSwxN5WZQxG

 Here is this morning's experiment!  A drive to work speed up 16 times.  And while this doesn't appear to be train related.... it is!  This Jeep has carried many a train car to and fro!

I like the size of those camera's Gunrunner got, but this one has a little (and I mean LITTLE) color LCD screen that shows what is being filmed for the first 5 minutes of filming and then cuts off to save battery life.   This makes it easy to set up a shot and see what is filming instead of finding out later that something was in the way.

It's amazing you can buy something like that for $20, no wonder we can't compete here in the US on prices!

I agree, there's room for both types of cameras, I like the ones I got because I can stick them on top of an engine or caboose and there are no limitations where I can run.  With something larger, I'd have to push a flatcar around with the camera on it.

totrainyard posted:

If you do not want to wait 3 weeks, there are US seller of the same SJ4000 Cam from $ 25.00 shipped.

They might get it to you faster.

Which dealer is this? If it's on eBay, please provide the link. A search for SJ4000 cam produces more than 1,000 listings.

Taping an iPhone to a locomotive or car also works. I assume that other smartphones would likely work, too. My personal preference is to tape it to the rear-end of the locomotive, looking forward, so that you see some of the locomotive in the picture. I use blue painter's tape because of its non-marking qualities.

I just ordered one from China for less than $9 including shipping.

Which ones (if any) are true HD - 720p min or preferable 1080P?

On a decent monitor, you can really see the difference between even the 720p and the 1080p

The Mobius I posted above is a true 1080P camera.

Is there a memory card?

How long of a video can you create?

Thanks,

Seems most will take up to a 32GB card, which depending on price is extra. Some have different resolution and claim they can record up to a n hour. It is the old resolution versus file size trade off.

I ordered mine yesterday from Hi-etech -an USA based seller on ebay.

They claimed it shipped today by Fedx.

Auction I won was $19.99 shipped,

Buy it now is $25 shipped.

32gb Micro SD card was $4 from hong kong. It may take a little longer to get.

You can search SJ4000 by shipped price or distance to get USA sellers.

Now that's a deal! Once I have a decent layout built I'll have to get one of those.

GRJ,

That mobius looks like quite the unit. I know you have a ton of spare time, would love to hear what you think of its performance based on checking it out. 

Once I have a decent layout built I'll have to get one of those.

Well, that's what I thought, too.

Then I talked with a trains customer (LHS) who bought a similar camera that was being sold as an attachment for a drone....about 2 years ago!  He put it on a flatcar, pushed it around.....and had mixed feelings about what he saw.

As nice as the perspective was, it revealed a plethora of faults in the layout that only a mini-camera being pushed on a flatcar would reveal....poor track alignments, buildings poorly placed/detailed, holes in the scenery, clunky this, crappy that, etc., etc..   Turned the train around and ran it in the opposite direction.....a whole new list of indecent issues on his decent layout.

Some of them, he said, were easy fixes.  But, the ballasted track alignment issues?..........his portrayal of a Class I railroad was demoted to Class III...in his own opinion!

So, he said he was somewhat careful to whom he showed his mini-cam videos....his embarrassment, their criticism. 

Of course, we said he was being too hard on himself.  His layout was, in fact, excellent by the average Joe's standards.  The new perspectives were a good teaching aid towards seeking better techniques/choices for working on the layout.

Sort of fits in the 'be-careful-what-you-wish-for' category, maybe??

KD

It has been awhile but I shared one my videos,  doing a ride along on the top of my UP Challenger's tender roof.........  same price point,  this looks exactly like a GoPro,  called GearPro,  1080p,  uses the mini SD cards.  I got it from a subsidiary of Amazon called "Woot" which does daily deals.   I think it was $35,  with the waterproof mount and various mounting brackets like GoPro.

https://youtu.be/nhv5j9BI2_g

hokie71 posted:

GRJ,

That mobius looks like quite the unit. I know you have a ton of spare time, would love to hear what you think of its performance based on checking it out. 

I've done some test videos with the Mobius, it produces very good quality videos.

Here's a video shot with the older 808 #16 at 720P, this was shot at Pat Marinari's house in his magnificent layout.  The Mobius seems to do a better job.

Wow, great videos:  neat ceiling rail views and what a layout Pat has! 

He does have a great layout, it was a fun day.

tackindy posted:

I just realized it puts the date on there..... that date is wrong as I just took that video today.  I mainly wanted to show you guys what kinda video it took so you'd see it's pretty darn good for that price!  And if you did break it you wouldn't be out much.  

John, great post.  Due to its size, this will work a lot better than trying to nail down my Canon on my train.

Just ordered mine from ebay for 21.24 including shipping from yallstore in New Jersey.  Finally took a good look at the pictures of it and saw the micro SD card slot; now, I will order a SD card.

BUT, I do have some questions:  How do you charge the battery?; Does the battery have a model number on it so that you can order a spare??  My Canon Powershot uses a NB-11L battery which is quite common.

Thanks,

Batteries are charged through the USB port with a 5V supply or a USB port on your computer.  You can buy batteries for these, you may have to look a little harder. Both are ready available by searching for the camera and adding battery on eBay.

Here's the battery for the Mobius.

Here's the battery for the 808 #16 camera.

GRJ, yep, you are right, there are plenty of chargers+batteries for the SJ4000 on eBay.

RickM46 posted:

tackindy posted:

I just realized it puts the date on there..... that date is wrong as I just took that video today.  I mainly wanted to show you guys what kinda video it took so you'd see it's pretty darn good for that price!  And if you did break it you wouldn't be out much.  

John, great post.  Due to its size, this will work a lot better than trying to nail down my Canon on my train.

Just ordered mine from ebay for 21.24 including shipping from yallstore in New Jersey.  Finally took a good look at the pictures of it and saw the micro SD card slot; now, I will order a SD card.

BUT, I do have some questions:  How do you charge the battery?; Does the battery have a model number on it so that you can order a spare??  My Canon Powershot uses a NB-11L battery which is quite common.

Thanks,

Yes guys!  You need a Micro SD card.  I meant to mention that and forgot.  It has a built in rechargeable battery.  Luckily it uses a micro usb port to charge, which is what most cell phones except Apple uses.  You can plug it into a wall charger or better yet just plug it into your PC and it'll charge.  So far the battery keeps a good charge I think!  

As for showing the ugly side of your layout..... well from my video you can clearly see I didn't do the inside of tunnels and I'm not planning on it!  I made my layout look good only on the area's and angles I can see.  Now, it would be awesome to have a layout that looks good EVERYWHERE but that isn't in my plans right now.  Maybe having a camera like this will change that.

John,

My camera arrived today.  Came in a mailing envelope and the factory box was in good shape inside the envelope.  One question, how do you get it out of the waterproof case??  Tried sliding the catch at the top and lifting that black gate at the top but it won't budge.

Question concerning stationary use.  I need a camera to monitor my storage yard as I back my trains in as well as the hidden through track.  Can these cameras be attached to a small screen for real tine video and be permanently on, getting power from a separate source (wall wart) not just the battery?  If I could set up 2-3 to the same screen that would be great.

CAPPilot posted:

Question concerning stationary use.  I need a camera to monitor my storage yard as I back my trains in as well as the hidden through track.  Can these cameras be attached to a small screen for real tine video and be permanently on, getting power from a separate source (wall wart) not just the battery?  If I could set up 2-3 to the same screen that would be great.

This camera does have a small output for for that I believe.  I'd have to look.

For that I got a D Link 930L camera with WiFi built in.  I can pull it up on my Dlink App for free and see the problem spots on my layout to make sure a train is not fouling the line on a back siding.   

RickM46 posted:

John,

My camera arrived today.  Came in a mailing envelope and the factory box was in good shape inside the envelope.  One question, how do you get it out of the waterproof case??  Tried sliding the catch at the top and lifting that black gate at the top but it won't budge.

The black clamp on top.  Pull the little tab with the arrow and pull up on the black plastic beside it and the clamp will come undone.  It might be a little tough as it is clamped pretty good, but that is how it is done.  The clamp lifts up from the front of the camera first I believe (at work so cannot see it).  It is tricky until you figure it out.

John,

I just got one of these (with WiFi) and it has a problem. It won't recognize the trans flash card. It messages that I must insert a memory card when the card is already inserted and is secure (removing requires pushing down on the top card edge to pop it up).

The card works fine and formats successfully when in its SD card carrier on my Mac. I've tried formatting as both FAT and EX-FAT with the same result.

Can you provide any insight on this issue?

Thanks!

tackindy posted:

RickM46 posted:

John,

My camera arrived today.  Came in a mailing envelope and the factory box was in good shape inside the envelope.  One question, how do you get it out of the waterproof case??  Tried sliding the catch at the top and lifting that black gate at the top but it won't budge.

The black clamp on top.  Pull the little tab with the arrow and pull up on the black plastic beside it and the clamp will come undone.  It might be a little tough as it is clamped pretty good, but that is how it is done.  The clamp lifts up from the front of the camera first I believe (at work so cannot see it).  It is tricky until you figure it out.

Thanks John!!

That did the trick.  I was erroneously sliding the tab with the arrow and then pulling at the large black latch on top.  It is the small housing that the tab is seated in that you have to pull upward from its front.  Now to charge it and see how it works.

Some of the regular digital cameras are small enough to fit on an O-gauge car. I mounted my older Canon A540 on some wheelsets for a layout tour. It was close clearance in places, but it made use of a camera that I already had.

Barry Broskowitz posted:

John,

I just got one of these (with WiFi) and it has a problem. It won't recognize the trans flash card. It messages that I must insert a memory card when the card is already inserted and is secure (removing requires pushing down on the top card edge to pop it up).

The card works fine and formats successfully when in its SD card carrier on my Mac. I've tried formatting as both FAT and EX-FAT with the same result.

Can you provide any insight on this issue?

Thanks!

Hmmmm.  I'm guessing you don't have a PC to format the card with do you?  Do you have any other microSD cards you could try?  Seeing as these are cheap camera's it is possible you got a bad one.  I mean, for this price I wouldn't expect the best in quality control, but I'm hoping the problem is just the formatting of the card.  Did you format FAT32?

Barry Broskowitz posted:

John,

I just got one of these (with WiFi) and it has a problem. It won't recognize the trans flash card. It messages that I must insert a memory card when the card is already inserted and is secure (removing requires pushing down on the top card edge to pop it up).

The card works fine and formats successfully when in its SD card carrier on my Mac. I've tried formatting as both FAT and EX-FAT with the same result.

Can you provide any insight on this issue?

Thanks!

It sure sounds like the card is not seating properly, given you need to manipulate it to remove it.  Any card that doesn't seat properly will throw an error that no card is present.  I can't imagine it is in upside down.  Have you visually inspected the socket with a magnifying glass to see if any of the contacts are misaligned? 

I ordered my cam from ebay for 21.24 including shipping from yallstore in New Jersey.  It is the HD1080P version with no WiFi and is a copy of the SJ4000.  It showed up after about 5 business days in a padded shipping envelope in a colorful English factory box with all accessories.  With only little use so far, I am impressed for the money.  I will be ordering extra batteries and a charger.  Here are some observations:

• The micro memory card must be a class 10 of either 8, 16, or 32 gig capacity - max 32 gig.  I used a Transcend 32 gig.
• To remove the camera from the waterproof case, you must slide the tab at the top and lift the small housing around the tab from its front.
• When you connect the camera via the supplied USB to a Windows 8.1 PC, it is recognized immediately and you can manage your videos on the memory card via Windows.  You can play your videos using Windows Media Player.  I tried using an OLD micro mini USB cable I had laying around and Windows would not recognize the camera.
• When you connect the camera via the USB cable, it will immediately begin charging and signal that by a blue/red led on the top of the camera.  When it is done charging, the led will stay solid red.  With the factory battery, that only took a few minutes.
• Be careful of the battery box door.  When you slide the catch to release the door, it will pop up.  There is a very fragile spring on the door to pop it up when the door is released.  Note the position of the small extended tab on the door.  When putting the door back on, that tab goes opposite the slide catch. 
• The battery has a very firm fit.  You have to pull firmly on the tape tab attached to the battery and it will slowly come out.  It it wasn't for the tape tab, you would not be able to remove it.
• Pressing the ON/OFF button cycles you thru the various modes and allows you to eventually set date, time, and various options.
• Now for experimenting with it.

Mike,

I don't need a PC. My Mac will format a card in any Mac or PC format I choose.

I first tried the card with its factory FAT file format and, when that didn't work, I reformatted the card for both PC formats, first FAT and when that still failed, EX-FAT, in my Mac. In all 3 cases the error was the same. I've also tried using a different Micro SD card.

I've contacted the Amazon seller and they're sending a new camera which should arrive early next week. I was just thinking that there might have been a quirk that wasn't covered in the somewhat meager instructions.

Thanks for responding.

George,

The card seats just fine.

Pushing down on the top edge is how just about every SD or smaller memory card is removed from a device. The exception is that when removing a Mico-type card from an SD card carrier, one must pull it straight out.

Rick,

The micro memory card must be a class 10 of either 8, 16, or 32 gig capacity - max 32 gig.  I used a Transcend 32 gig.

Mine is a Sandisk ULTRA microSDHC UHS-1 32 GB card. Its  the acrd hat Amazon suggest for use with the camera.

I bought the $21 camera.  It does take videos and photos pretty well.

I am having a problem where the camera only charges to about 10-20%.  I can see the files on the camera's sad card so it is making the connection.

I just sent the seller an email but I was wondering if anyone had an idea about it not charging fully.

Thanks,

Ed

Ed Walsh posted:

I bought the $21 camera.  It does take videos and photos pretty well.

I am having a problem where the camera only charges to about 10-20%.  I can see the files on the camera's sad card so it is making the connection.

I just sent the seller an email but I was wondering if anyone had an idea about it not charging fully.

Thanks,

Ed

Do you have the camera powered off when charging?  I'm not sure what could be causing that.  Mine came with a full charge right out of the package I think!