Virtual tour of the Lehigh Valley MRR


OCMRRC Jeff

OCMRRC Jeff

OCMRRC President/webmastr
I should have posted this here, rather than on the other page.

I just got a mini DV 808 camcorder, it is the size of a keychain car control, the type you use to unlock your car. It fits on a flat car with no problem

I was amazed at the quality of the picture and the sound.

[video=youtube;AZbz0Y33aeg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZbz0Y33aeg&feature=c4-overview&list=UULEQ2WOfnBQjmsBpV2AlvDA[/video]
 
Did you use H.264 format or the AVI format option they mentioned?

My experience with H.264 is that it makes things with smooth and continuous motion look stuttery. I first noticed that recording my daughters softball games. A bat swing looked like a pinwheel from that effect. Thrown balls looked stroboscopic going to first base. I see a little of that in the motion here as if the loco is moving in little thrusting forward motions.

Overall it looks good. Especially considering you just used the layout lighting and without normal video studio lights.

Which lens option did you try?

How many minutes will it record and which memory size did you buy?
 
Charles Smiley said:
Did you use H.264 format or the AVI format option they mentioned?

My experience with H.264 is that it makes things with smooth and continuous motion look stuttery. I first noticed that recording my daughters softball games. A bat swing looked like a pinwheel from that effect. Thrown balls looked stroboscopic going to first base. I see a little of that in the motion here as if the loco is moving in little thrusting forward motions.

Overall it looks good. Especially considering you just used the layout lighting and without normal video studio lights.

Which lens option did you try?

How many minutes will it record and which memory size did you buy?
Click to expand...

I used Photoshop Premier 10 to edit and AVI to save the movie. I need to play around with different formats to see if one is better than the other.

Some of the stutter is dirty wheels and track, haven't been cleaned in about 6 months, the other stutter, I think, is that fact that the camera is just velcroed to a flat car and it jiggles at every rail joiner.

The lens is the one the DV 808 came with no added fisheye I wanted the narrowest field of vision. I opened the box and then took it right down to the layout and recorded a run. The lighting is 4 foot florescent workshop lights.
I would say it may not have the quality of a $300 camera but being that it only cost $38 ($49 with the 8 gig card) it is worth it.

My guess is that the card will hold about 2 hours of video, however if you try to hand hold it it is going to make you dizzy with the camera shake. After all the camera is slightly smaller than my car door unlocker.
 
Jeff.

Thanks for the info. The Velcro explains some of the stuttering. Maybe the steam loco rocking the slack back and forth on the flatcar's couplers too.

You might also try just putting it a ground level (tilted up a little) and then just run trains past it to see how that looks too. You'd need to edit it down a little first.

The low-light sensitivity is really good on that little camera. It's far better than my digital Sony SLR A55 camera in HD video mode. Also, I never noticed any problems confusing the auto focus with occasional bluring. So it might be fixed focus.
 
Very nice! I want to get me one of these. I got this other cheap little video camera, that was designed for strapped to helmets. And its a piece of crap, the light sensor sucks, and made my video look all purple.

Very impressive results for a $50 camera.

Do I need a video editing software for the AVI format? or can I just shoot the video and transfer to my laptop?
 
what laptop - PC or Mac? AVI is a bit of a default standard. Both usually come with an elementary editing program. Win Movie Maker or Apple I-movie come to mind.
 
Charles Smiley said:
what laptop - PC or Mac? AVI is a bit of a default standard. Both usually come with an elementary editing program. Win Movie Maker or Apple I-movie come to mind.
Click to expand...

Yup win movie maker, I personally use Photoshop Premier Elements, I am used to the program and it is aimed at the novice, but can still do quite a lot.
 
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