Monday 26 August 2013

What's the Best Onboard Model Railway Camera?

This article covers the 808 Key Chain style micro camera, but I've also written an updated list of cameras which rely on more modern technology in "The Next Generation of Micro Video Cameras for Model Railways" article.

A quick search of the web pulls up a company called 4K Systems, who sell a device they call the MC120 Micro Video Camera. If you want to have a quick look at this, before I tell you the price, you can check it out here.

Now, this camera is the size of a car key fob, can take video in HD, holds about an hour of charge, and has an on-board micro SD card slot. It also costs over 90 GBP including postage and packaging.

Even though model rail is a pretty expensive hobby, it occurred to me that there ought to be a better solution, so I thought I'd share a few with you.

The first thing to note is that Amazon have a good line of keychain cameras. My favorite is the Keychain Keyring Cam 808 #11, which costs half as much as the 4K camera. It might boast a lower resolution, but the Amazon videos and reviews show it to be more than capable.

Amazon has a fairly extensive list of keychain cameras, ranging from around 5 GBP up to the aforementioned 808 #11. Worth checking out, but there's a problem.

4K Systems MC120 Micro Video Camera
I've borrowed an image from 4K's web site to illustrate what I think is a problem with the 808 keychain solution - it just doesn't sit right.

In fact, for N gauge and smaller scales, it would be unusable; it's just too big.

O gauge modellers might be able to fit it into a box van, but for the most popular scale - OO gauge - it's just a little bulky.

Now, my first reaction was to have a look on eBay,  Amazon, and others to see if a custom solution existed. The first thing that came up was this wireless video camera, which costs around 30 GBP from Amazon, and looks as if it could be secreted in a truck, wagon, boxcar, or suchlike.

In fact, trawling eBay pulled up such a custom-made solution for US modelers. For about 150 GBP, the TrainCam System for 1/87 scale modelers is a reasonable solution, and could feasibly be pulled apart and fitted into UK rolling stock.

Unlike the keychain camera, it actually transmits an image to a receiver, as opposed to storing the video on an SD card. It does look promising, but the price puts it out of my reach. But then I found this:

This Mini DV Camcorder might only record in 640x480 (which is just fine for online!) but it is small, has great battery life, and takes up to 32GB SD cards.

It also looks pretty; not that this is a criteria, as it will likely lose that exterior pretty fast if you're modelling in N, or even OO gauge. I'd say it's well worth the $10 or so that it's currently on sale for!

In the end, I also bought a keychain camera, which I will tear apart and see if it can be fitted into a Railfreight box van, and am also looking at ways to adapt a pen based video camera. The chief drawback with pen based cameras (and button based ones) is that they are vertically mounted.

Looking at the tear down video of the 080 style keychain camera, this looks possible, as the camera component seems to be flexible (i.e. it's on a short ribbon cable.)

So, as to which is the best solution, there's no easy answer. If you know any better, please post a comment, and if you want to find out how I get on in my experiments, follow the blog!

Don't forget to check out the "The Next Generation of Micro Video Cameras for Model Railways" article for more examples of adapting micro, miniature and spy cameras for model railway filming use.

2 comments:

  1. I use the Sony version of a gopro

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    1. That's fine, but unlike, say the Mini DV camera above, you can't fit it into rolling stock (G gauge excepted!)

      I want to get a 'tracks eye view' of my layout, as the train's running around...

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