Hobby Lobbys new FlyCamOne v2

[Crash9]

I got one of these on the way FlyCamOne v2 video camera. It's alot better then the first one I'm told which I have but rarley use. Anyone have anymore info or feedback on it. Thanks

[English Electric]

I got mine over a Week ago but the Weather's so bad in the UK, I've not had chance to try it.

It's attached to my PZ Spitfire ready for a flight!

Here are a couple of videos from the FCO 2 I've seen elsewhere.

http://www.acme-online.de/video/c17.wmv

http://www.airmix.de/modules/shop/fi...9aa7c11953.wmv

Paul.

[Crash9]

Thanks for sharing the videos. Mine will be here Monday. I like the way the camera lens can turn 90o, that's cool. There picture resolution looks pretty good.

[Murocflyer]

Waiting on some more examples. Thanks for sharing those.

What format does it record in?

Thanks,

Frank

[English Electric]

It does't seem to say in the manual. AVI I think.
It drops straight into Windows Media Player/Movie Maker.

I did my first flight today. It's very gloomy here, so came out a little dark. Not too bad though. I'm pretty happy with it considering the light.

If you have plenty of Sun light it would be fine.

Paul.

[Murocflyer]

Thanks Paul. Most likely AVI if WMM takes it.

Frank

[English Electric]

Just found the Official Forum on the ACME website.

It's mostly in German, but I would think if you asked questions in English, you would get an English reply.

http://www.flycamone2.com/index.php?id=28&L=3

Paul.

[Crash9]

It might be AVI since it records 30min of video on a 2gb card. That's a big file.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by Murocflyer

Waiting on some more examples. Thanks for sharing those.

What format does it record in?

Thanks,

Frank

I just got my FCO2 a couple of days ago, but the weather has kept me from trying it outdoors yet. I shot a little test video inside the house just to verify that it was working. I checked the video with Gspot to see what format it was using for audio and video. As you can see from the Gspot output below it shoots MotionJPEG video and 8 bit PCM audio all contained in an AVI container. It outputs about 4 Megabits per second to the SD card.

--Dave
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- File Information ---
File Name: PICT0001.AVI
File Name (with full path): L:\DCIM\100DSCIM\PICT0001.AVI
File Size (in bytes): 6,396,932

--- Container Information ---
Base Type (e.g "AVI"): AVI(.AVI)
Subtype (e.g "OpenDML"): AVI v1.0,
Interleave (in ms):
Preload (in ms):
Audio alignment("split across interleaves"):
Total System Bitrate (kbps): 0
Bytes Missing (if any): 0
Number of Audio Streams: 1

--- Video Information ---
Video Codec Type(e.g. "DIV3"): MJPG
Video Codec Name(e.g. "DivX 3, Low-Motion"): Motion JPEG
Video Codec Status(e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): Codec(s) are Installed
Duration (hh:mm:ss): 0:12.514
Frame Count: 329
Frame Width (pixels): 640
Frame Height (pixels): 480
Storage Aspect Ratio("SAR")" 1.333
Pixel Aspect Ratio ("PAR"): 1.000
Display Aspect Ratio ("DAR"): 1.333
Fields Per Second:
Frames Per Second: 26.290
Pics Per Second: 26.290
Video Bitrate (kbps): 4018
MPEG-4 ("MPEG-4" or ""):
B-VOP ("B-VOP" or ""):
QPel ("QPel" or ""):
GMC ("GMC" or ""):
NVOP ("NVOP" or ""):
H264 ("H264" or ""):
Quality Factor (bits/pixel)/frame: 0.498"

MPEG-2 ("MPEG-2" or ""):
Interlaced ("I/L" or ""):
Progressive ("Prog" or ""):
Top Frame First ("TFF" or ""):
Bottom Frame First ("BFF" or ""):
3:2 Pulldown ("3:2" or ""):
Picture-per-field ("PPF" or ""):

--- Aspect Ratio Related ---

Broadcast standard: "PAL" (else blank)
Broadcast standard: "NTSC" (else blank)
src:"VCD", "SVCD", "CVD", or "DVD (else blank):
Instructions to convert to VCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to VCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, first part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, second part:

--- Audio Information ---
MPEG Stream ID (e.g. "0xbd"):
MPEG VOB file Substream(e.g. "0x80"):
Audio Codec (e.g. "AC3"): PCM Audio
Audio Codec Status (e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): No Codec Required
Audio Sample Rate (Hz): 8000
Audio Bitrate(kbps): 64
Audio Bitrate Type ("CBR" or "VBR"):
Audio Channel Count (e.g. "2" for stereo): 1

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by English Electric

It does't seem to say in the manual. AVI I think.
It drops straight into Windows Media Player/Movie Maker.

I did my first flight today. It's very gloomy here, so came out a little dark. Not too bad though. I'm pretty happy with it considering the light.

If you have plenty of Sun light it would be fine.

Paul.

On the ACME forums site, ACME indicated that they "burned their fingers" on the delivery of the FCO2, and that they will be offering a firmware update for the FCO2 on their web site "real soon now". Dark videos seemed to be a relatively common concern, so I hope they address that with the upcoming new firmware. I know that I can not get decent videos indoors, with normal room light, with mine.

--Dave

[Murocflyer]

Dave,

That settles that! Thanks for the info. Very cool program you have there.

Looking forward to the FC2 videos.

Frank

[autorail1]

Does any one know if a SanDisk 4GB Extreme III SDHC 4GB Secure Digital or something that wil read and write faster than a regular 4GB SD card will be compatiable. I see FCO2 has something that has a faster read rate. To make sure your Frame rate is getting the max frame rate.

Thanks,

Jeff

[autorail1]

Originally Posted by DaveS

I just got my FCO2 a couple of days ago, but the weather has kept me from trying it outdoors yet. I shot a little test video inside the house just to verify that it was working. I checked the video with Gspot to see what format it was using for audio and video. As you can see from the Gspot output below it shoots MotionJPEG video and 8 bit PCM audio all contained in an AVI container. It outputs about 4 Megabits per second to the SD card.

--Dave
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- File Information ---
File Name: PICT0001.AVI
File Name (with full path): L:\DCIM\100DSCIM\PICT0001.AVI
File Size (in bytes): 6,396,932

--- Container Information ---
Base Type (e.g "AVI"): AVI(.AVI)
Subtype (e.g "OpenDML"): AVI v1.0,
Interleave (in ms):
Preload (in ms):
Audio alignment("split across interleaves"):
Total System Bitrate (kbps): 0
Bytes Missing (if any): 0
Number of Audio Streams: 1

--- Video Information ---
Video Codec Type(e.g. "DIV3"): MJPG
Video Codec Name(e.g. "DivX 3, Low-Motion"): Motion JPEG
Video Codec Status(e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): Codec(s) are Installed
Duration (hh:mm:ss): 0:12.514
Frame Count: 329
Frame Width (pixels): 640
Frame Height (pixels): 480
Storage Aspect Ratio("SAR")" 1.333
Pixel Aspect Ratio ("PAR"): 1.000
Display Aspect Ratio ("DAR"): 1.333
Fields Per Second:
Frames Per Second: 26.290
Pics Per Second: 26.290
Video Bitrate (kbps): 4018
MPEG-4 ("MPEG-4" or ""):
B-VOP ("B-VOP" or ""):
QPel ("QPel" or ""):
GMC ("GMC" or ""):
NVOP ("NVOP" or ""):
H264 ("H264" or ""):
Quality Factor (bits/pixel)/frame: 0.498"

MPEG-2 ("MPEG-2" or ""):
Interlaced ("I/L" or ""):
Progressive ("Prog" or ""):
Top Frame First ("TFF" or ""):
Bottom Frame First ("BFF" or ""):
3:2 Pulldown ("3:2" or ""):
Picture-per-field ("PPF" or ""):

--- Aspect Ratio Related ---

Broadcast standard: "PAL" (else blank)
Broadcast standard: "NTSC" (else blank)
src:"VCD", "SVCD", "CVD", or "DVD (else blank):
Instructions to convert to VCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to VCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, first part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, second part:

--- Audio Information ---
MPEG Stream ID (e.g. "0xbd"):
MPEG VOB file Substream(e.g. "0x80"):
Audio Codec (e.g. "AC3"): PCM Audio
Audio Codec Status (e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): No Codec Required
Audio Sample Rate (Hz): 8000
Audio Bitrate(kbps): 64
Audio Bitrate Type ("CBR" or "VBR"):
Audio Channel Count (e.g. "2" for stereo): 1

What type of card did you use. A standard speed etc....

[English Electric]

The card I have used is a standard speed one.

High capacity cards cannot be used.
2gb is the max.

Paul.

[autorail1]

Originally Posted by English Electric

The card I have used is a standard speed one.

High capacity cards cannot be used.
2gb is the max.

Paul.

So with a 2GB card that is about 30 min of record time. 4GB do not work in the FCO?

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by autorail1

What type of card did you use. A standard speed etc....

I used a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II which has a Write/Read performance of 9MB/sec write and 10MB/sec read. 2GB is the largest card that you can use on an FCO2.

--Dave

[English Electric]

Just shot a video from my PZ Spitfire.

Still gloomy over here, but I think I can conclude that the video quality is not that great...

Sorry about the bad flying! New Brushless motor fitted and needed a bit of a re trim, plus cold hands!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IsgzNN3YDOA

Paul.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by English Electric

Just shot a video from my PZ Spitfire.

Still gloomy over here, but I think I can conclude that the video quality is not that great...

Sorry about the bad flying! New Brushless motor fitted and needed a bit of a re trim, plus cold hands!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IsgzNN3YDOA

Paul.

FWIW, the video quality of current CMOS sensors is never going to match the video quality of the CCD sensors in hand held cameras. There seems to be a few seconds of good exposures every once in a while in that video, but the low light, and prop in the frame, sure seem to wrecking havoc with the exposure control and color balance in the video. Since a CMOS image sensor does not have anything like a shutter mechanism, it would probably be a lot better to keep close in high speed motion out of the frame to avoid strobing the automatic exposure control and color balance software. Hopefully, ACME will address some of the low light difficulties in their upcoming firmware update for the FCO2. As usual, YouTube makes telling much else about the video pretty difficult.

--Dave

[English Electric]

I made another video, this time from a Wing Dragon [BL motor and glider wing].

The Dragon flys much slower and has no prop in the way.

Will try to get a video in decent light if we ever get any...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mtno7-Whr7Y

Paul.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by English Electric

I made another video, this time from a Wing Dragon [BL motor and glider wing].

The Dragon flys much slower and has no prop in the way.

Will try to get a video in decent light if we ever get any...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mtno7-Whr7Y

Paul.

Hey that one looked better! The exposure control seemed better, and so did the color correction (most of the time). Do you see the soft distant focus in the original camera output, or is that an artifact of the YouTube compression?

--Dave

[English Electric]

It's there in the original...

Paul.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by English Electric

It's there in the original...

Paul.

Ouch!!!

I notice that in mine too. I hope someone has the nerve to find a non-destructive way to open the case and adjust the lens focus for those of us who need it. The webcam app on the ACME site might work like a viewfinder to adjust the focus, if there is a non-destructive way to get inside the camera.

--Dave

[gjhaycraft]

My focus sharpness and exposure improved significantly once I noticed and removed the protective plastic film from the camera head. I carefully used a finger nail at the edge to avoid scratching the center. The camera head face is now glossy, instead of flat.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by gjhaycraft

My focus sharpness and exposure improved significantly once I noticed and removed the protective plastic film from the camera head. I carefully used a finger nail at the edge to avoid scratching the center. The camera head face is now glossy, instead of flat.

Man, do I feel like a dummy now, or what???

After reading your post, I just removed the protective film from the lens of my FCO2, and now I need to go take a few more test videos. I am SURE that it will improve without the plastic film covering the lens, but how much?


In my own defense, that protective film was VERY well hidden.
--Dave

[wecky]

I sent mine back.I tried 2 sd cards,sound and video not in sync,and blue and red flashes in video.The directions should say that you need a high speed card,and to remove the plastic film on the lens.I did'nt notice that.I'll follow this board and maybe get a new one later.Dissapointing.