Cheap Cyclecam

[Caph]

I took delivery of a cyclecam this week and I've been surprised by how good the unit is. I bought it from 7 Day Shop which is based in the Channel Islands where anything under £20 is VAT free apparently. At 13 quid I thought I'd have a punt on the off chance it was any good and it turned up trumps. There is even a mount with it which allows you to fix it to your helmet - it's nothing fancy just a ball and socket mount with two holes in the plastic fixing plate. I've just electrician taped the fixing plate to my helmet and that seems to work fine.

The video is 720x480 at 30fps with sound and after testing it looks like I can get about 1hr 45mins on an 8Gb microsd card. The battery life is quoted at 2 hours which is probably no coincidence.

Here's a snippet of video of me out today which I uploaded to YouTube. I had a bit of a tailwind which is why I was almost freewheeling at 17mph. The actual video quality is better than the YouTube quality, for instance the number plate of the first car that overtakes me is clearly visible on the original footage whereas it is blurry on YouTube. I guess they re-encode it and lose some of the info.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this in case it was of interest to anyone else.

 

[tillson]

That is very good quality video. In fact, it is so good that I can tell that you were cycling along the B6010 Dovecote Road approaching the junction with Nottingham Road.

 

[Caph]

Yes indeed! The quality of that road down towards the Ram Inn is renowned all around the region.

 

[daniel.weck]

I bought one from eBay a few months ago, 13 GBP delivered too. Great value for money !

 

[NRG]

Thought I'd get one: £9 shipped off Ebay! The microSD card costs more

 

[benjy_a]

For the price....looks astounding! I bought one too!

Can never have too many gadgets!

 

[Caph]

Thought I'd get one: £9 shipped off Ebay! The microSD card costs more

Now that, is a bargain. Any cheaper and they'll be paying us to take them!

 

[onmebike]

I've just received two of the £12.99 one's from 7day shop and was shocked to find 8gb class 4 cards in each of them, obviously a mistake?

 

[flecc]

I've just received two of the £12.99 one's from 7day shop and was shocked to find 8gb class 4 cards in each of them, obviously a mistake?

You are going to tell them of course?
.

 

[Caph]

I've just received two of the £12.99 one's from 7day shop and was shocked to find 8gb class 4 cards in each of them, obviously a mistake?

Now they really are paying us to take them!!!

 

[onmebike]

You are going to tell them of course?
.

I thought hard about telling them and my conscience got the better of me.
It may get a junior member of staff into trouble or even the sack?

 

[onmebike]

Now they really are paying us to take them!!!

It was rather strange. Two days after ordering them, I got an email saying they were out of stock and I could either cancel the order or wait for stocks to be replenished. I decided to wait. The following day I got another email saying they'd been dispatched? I wonder if being a clearance item's they simply decided to send what they had. The cards were installed in the camera's already so I doubt it would have been worthwhile opening the package's to remove them.

 

[Old Timer]

It was rather strange. Two days after ordering them, I got an email saying they were out of stock and I could either cancel the order or wait for stocks to be replenished. I decided to wait. The following day I got another email saying they'd been dispatched? I wonder if being a clearance item's they simply decided to send what they had. The cards were installed in the camera's already so I doubt it would have been worthwhile opening the package's to remove them.

Could they be the ones I returned after they fell down the toilet? I dried them out but the pictures came out like crap

 

[onmebike]

Could they be the ones I returned after they fell down the toilet? I dried them out but the pictures came out like crap

I wonder what you were doing in the toilet with them The picture's would obviously come out like crap, they were of crap.
Thought's of you peering down the loo camera in hand has given me cause for concern. This has to be the strangest of photographic subject
matter I've heard of. When the hospital requested a sample I doubt they mean't photographic?
The resulting picture's being recognisable as crap only bears testament to the quality and resolution of this camera. Many thank's for your input or
should I say outpoop?

 

[NRG]

My camera arrived today, now I know why is was only £9 shipped All bits dropped into a plastic bag, placed in a jiffy bag and shipped

Still everything seems to be in one piece and the translated word document is a giggle It seems to work but is only recording in 640x480 mode SVGA I think....as the manual is next to useless how do you switch to 720x480?

 

[NRG]

...well it looks like I might have bought a fake Watchout if buying form HongKong on Ebay...

 

[benjy_a]

...well it looks like I might have bought a fake Watchout if buying form HongKong on Ebay...

I think these are all 'fake' to be honest at that price. If you look at the manual available on the site listed on the first post of this thread it is for a DV001 camera which is the clone of the MD80.

I got one from a UK supplier which is still the DV001 camera but works well and it's still amazing for £12! The instructions are crazy but there's loads of help for this camera online.

B.

 

[NRG]

Does it record 720x480?

and have you managed to set the date and time correctly?

 

[NRG]

I've sussed out the time and date, all the material on the web says use a file called TAG.txt that does not work for me but this does:

Create a text file on your desk top called time.txt

Edit it and on the first line type the date and time in using this format: yyyy.mm.dd hh:mm:ss EXAMPLE: 2010.09.14 17:14:00

note the space between .dd and hh Do not put a new line / carriage return after the .ss

Save the file. Attach camera to PC with USB cable, open the camera drive letter and drag n drop the time.txt file into the root.

Disconnect camera, turn it off, power it on, record a short vid to check the time is correct. The time.txt file should be gone from the camera root directory...which means if you power the thing off you will need to reset the time again using the same method.

 

[Caph]

which means if you power the thing off you will need to reset the time again using the same method.

I think the time is maintained by the battery even after you switch it off. It is on mine anyway, which means I can switch it off and it remembers the time the next time I switch it on.

I've seen other very similar looking cameras quoted as being 640x480 so maybe that is the resolution yours is. I can't change mine, it just comes out at 720x480.

I love the text file for setting the time. It's like going back in time to the 70s where anything electronic required serious technical skills just to get the thing to work.