Choosing a camera.

[Vidal]

Hey guys
Am going to order this 5.8ghz Tx and Rx from HK as my first cheap setup.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/%5F%5F15295%5F%5F5%5F8g%5F200mw%5FFPV%5FWireless%5FAV%5FTx%5FRx%5FSet.html

Am looking for a cheap good camera to go with it. What do I need to look for. Any help will be great.

[Biffa]

I recently just got this one:

http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/SONY-Super-HAD-CCD-600TVL-D%252dWDR-DNR-Board-Camera-For-FPV.html

You will be hard pushed to find a bad review

[Vidal]

Looks good. Although I was hoping for something a bit cheaper. There are some on HK for $17. Not sure if they any good.
And what size lens do I go for?

[bunnygirl80]

Please remember that 5.8 only works line of sight, so you won';t be able to see anything when your quad is behind a tree or shed!

[Gav]

Biffa';s cam link is very good or alternatively one inside a case ( I have one on order too ):  http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-SONY-Super-HAD-CCD-II-D%252dWDR-Mini-FPV-Camera-Wide-Angle-Lens.html

2.8mm lens option is good for fpv.

[Vidal]

Hey bunnygirl.
Thanks for that info. Didn';t realise 5.8 was only line of sight. What are you using? Do you how what will work out if line of sight?

[Gav]

I wouldn';t panic. You';ll get good range with 200mw.  Couple of km or so, just don';t fly behind any massive trees or buildings lol. 

[benchmark]

Please remember that 5.8 only works line of sight, so you won';t be able to see anything when your quad is behind a tree or shed!

True, but with special antennas i routinely fly behind  trees and even while sitting in my car  p ;-)
You can use antennas that are better with multipathing or are more sensitive.

[Biffa]

True, but with special antennas i routinely fly behind  trees and even while sitting in my car  p ;-)
You can use antennas that are better with multipathing or are more sensitive.

What sort of ';special'; antennas

The idea of sitting in my car in this cold weather is very appealing.

[benchmark]

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=27750
http://www.circular-wireless.com/en/products-page/helical-modo-axial/heliaxial58/

Here is a video of my FPVing from inside the car.

FPV from inside a car.

[Biffa]

I have the Spironets.

I was thinking of making a mount to stick on top of the car but I wondered about the radio working from the inside. Do you think there would be any signal loss if the FPV antenna is not directly attached to the RX but via a meter or so of cable?

Everyday I come on here there';s something else to think about or spend money on

[Gav]

That would work, biffa.  Thought about doing that on my caravan and quad heli pad on the roof lol. You';ll have some loss in the extension cable, so range will be compromised.  Not sure by how much. Have an experiment and helper for a range test, to find out.

[Biffa]

It';s added to my ';to do'; list which never seems to go down

[SecurityCamera2000]

Biffa';s cam link is very good or alternatively one inside a case ( I have one on order too ):  http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-SONY-Super-HAD-CCD-II-D%252dWDR-Mini-FPV-Camera-Wide-Angle-Lens.html

2.8mm lens option is good for fpv.

Just looking around and found this posts, thanks for your recommendation of our camera from securitycamera2000.com!
Best regards,
Securitycamera2000

[jimbo385]

Hi,

I bought the following camera on Ebay and was able to extract the camera and control board.

Will this work?

Cheers

[dp106]

Biffa';s cam link is very good or alternatively one inside a case ( I have one on order too ):  http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-SONY-Super-HAD-CCD-II-D%252dWDR-Mini-FPV-Camera-Wide-Angle-Lens.html

2.8mm lens option is good for fpv.

Hey, don;t suppose you or someone else can help me :-S  If I get one of these and then a set of Fatshark Attitudes will these just plug together or do I have to know how to splice them together or get an adapter.  Apologies if this is a dumb question :-S

[nub]

good question i wouldn';t mind knowing the answer to that myself, cos i got some pennies to spend :)

[Biffa]

You have to power the camera and the TX, the TX then obviously sends the signal to the Fatsharks. You can most likely get leads alredy made up, but where';s the fun in that

There is a little fettling to do, but not much. That is my next step in my FPV build to make the wires and get the visual side of it all working and tidied up. Bar some decent LiPo packs Biffas FPV build will be ready in a week or so.

It is very simple though

[nub]

cool, next problem is sourcing one in stock, in the UK preferably

[Biffa]

Hey, don;t suppose you or someone else can help me :-S  If I get one of these and then a set of Fatshark Attitudes will these just plug together or do I have to know how to splice them together or get an adapter.  Apologies if this is a dumb question :-S

As promised a very simple explanation of wiring up an FPV camera.

I have just cobled this together to test and make sure all my gear still works after it';s been shoved in the cupboard, but as I stated, it';s very easy to do and requires minimal tinkering.

In the following pic you will see the camera, the Fatshark TX and my OSD.

The cables from the camera (red/black/yellow) are POS/NEG/Video. The positive and negative can be powered how you like although if powering from the flight pack an inline filter is recommended. I will be using a small 3 cell LiPo to keep things clean and separate from the flight pack.

The Fatshark TX also has the same set of wires. You can again power the unit from the flight pack or as I am doing piggy backing from the same 3 cell pack that runs the camera.

You then simply join the yellow wire from the camera to the yellow wire on the TX, and once powered that is basically all you need to send a feed from the camera to your goggles or monitor.

If using an OSD then this sits in between the camera and TX and the video signal is passed through and I have simply used a servo lead to do this. The OSD is then fed data from the board via another cable. So with no OSD the yellow from the camera would go straight to the TX. All in all only 5 wires to mess with and a connector or two.

[dp106]

Brilliant, many thanks for that :) Am I right in thinking you can power the camera directly from the Tx? Looking at the fatshark attitudes they come with a filtered balance lead adapter. So I should be able to use that to connect the Tx to my flight pack, then power the camera from the Tx?

[Biffa]

Yes you can and of course doing it that way is easier.

I don';t have one of those leads and I would rather keep the flight pack just as a flight pack. But my way or using the TX to power the camera neither one is complicated

[nub]

got one, i think

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-600TVL-FPV-CCD-Camera-UAV-Quad-Copter-Quadcopter-UK-SALE-/171003863354?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item27d09fe13a

[Biffa]

That';s the one, although a little expensive it wont take a month to arrive from China

[jimbo385]

I noticed that my previous post here did not have the link to the camera I bought on Ebay. Here it is.

http://www.avtechcctv.co.uk/ganz-pixim-seawolf-super-wdr-690-htvl-dome-camera-with-2-8-12mm-lens/

It';s a PIXIM Seawolf dome camera. It has an OSD module for tuning and can easily be taken out of the dome.


Please let me know if this will work for FPV.

Cheers.

[dp106]

So my camera arrived yesterday and I made up the cable to connect it directly to my fatshark transmitter but I';m not getting any picture..

I';ve checked my cable and it';s sending power through. Check the video and again seems ok.

Only thing I can think is the camera is up to 12v and a fully charged lipo is around 12.6 so maybe to much power? I';m charging a 2 cell battery at the moment to check this theory but sure what else to check? (oh the transmitter was working fine with my gopro connected so that shouldn';t be the problem).

[dp106]

Tried the 2 cell battery still no picture :-(

[Biffa]

Jimbo, never seen one fitted in a dome before, but at a guess I would say the camera would be the same as the type I have.

dp, are you running it with the through put from the VTX? If you are try powering and grounding the camera direct from the LiPo.

[nub]

hmmm u have taken the cap off? 

i have mind hooked up with the main power of the VTx but i never connected the ground wire for the video, should this be connected? seemed to work ok without.

wouldn';t have though the 12.6V would do any damage.

[Biffa]

I seem to remember having an issue with the grounding/powering of my camera using the VTX pass through, hence why I rigged it as shown in the picture above.