Christmas presents... The 808#16 Camera.
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 11:22AM I finished editing this video together at 1:30 this morning (Christmas day) - I was more than a bit punchy when I finished, so I can't tell whether it's informative and interesting or self indulgent and annoying, but it's too late to change anything now anyway - so here it is.
If you want to know everything about this mini camera - as mentioned in the video, you really need to get yourself over to the RC Groups Forum and Chuck Lohr's excellent site . On the RC Groups forum You'll even find links to some excellent PDF instructions
Right, I'm off to have some turkey, hope you are all having a good Christmas and you got something you wanted (I'll be playing about with my 3DS after lunch).
29/12/11 UPDATE - Contrary to what I said in the review, it has since been discovered that the Webcam Function does not have sound. This is not the end of the world and I'm confident that no one buys this camera just to use it as a webcam - but I thought you should know.
As far as the FOV goes, yes the older #11 and Jumbo cameras do have a wider Field Of View than the #16- not massively so, but it it there. I tried to do some side by side comparison shots to show you how much there was in it - but unfortunately I've irreversibly managed to mess up the focus on my #16 camera and no amount of fiddling will sharpen it up. I'm going to order another one from eletoponline365, but in the meantime, further testing is postponed.
I bought mine from his seller
Reader Comments (67)
Hi Techmoan,
Thanks for your excellent reviews!
I need a piece of advice: for the next motorbike season (that is until march or so) I need to get myself a minicam. From your reviews I can see that the best choice at this very moment is the model Jumbo 808. I also understood that the manufacturer is working on a dedicated helmetcam/actioncam.
In your experience, do you think they will put the new model on the market until march/april? Also, in your experience, if Jumbo 808 is one of the most mature product (with detected and removed software problems) will the new cam suffer from all those "childhood ills" like precedent products?
Thanks in advance for your tech-answer!
Happy new year (review) party!
Best regards,
A.
@Adi. The 808 #16 is a good camera, the technology is pretty tried and tested by now and any glitches can be eliminated through firmware upgrades.You probably need some kind of water resistance if you are using a mini camera as a bike cam though, so I'd suggest waiting for something a bit more suitable for your needs
1) missed if it has webcam capabilities (this could be useful once mounted on in order to check field-of-view...for same reason, analog out? maybe too much).
2) wider angle lens
3) waterproof capabilities (maybe on a plastic case, thus saving weight for plane modellers)
4) standard camera screw mount
Thanks a lot for your quick (and boring :) )answer. Although I'm not interested in riding my bike on rainy weather, indeed I'm not in a hurry now, so I will listen to your precious advice and I will wait for a dedicated helmetcam and, of course, for your (not-at-all-boring) review.
Thanks again !
Best regards!
A.
Great review...as usual...when you gonna do the the other 3 cams you have to review?....waiting to buy a suitable camera to attach to a helmet to capture climbing footage as was hoping that one of those may fit the bill...maybe I'm a spanner and have missed it?
Cheers Murd
A friend successfully launches the model 11 camera strapped to in his model rockets and suggested i might want to use it while racing. i currently use a couple of GoPro's to capture the view out the front windshield and in car video (if you search on YouTube under Spec Miata racing you can find lots of us using them). I've always wanted a cheap camera that I can mount on the front and back bumpers that I wouldn't mind losing and this appears to fit my need, so I ordered one to try out.
If this is as good as it appears I'll order a few more and I'm sure there will be others in the racing community that will follow.
R1chy
I'm so glad I found this place. I just haven't got the logical mindset to fathom out how to make technical things work so it's so nice to have somewhere like here to come to for sometimes, complicated advice but that advice delivered in plain, non techno speak language.
A very happy new year to you and your family. You're so generous sharing your know how for nothing. Your enthusiasm shines through in every review you write - hate to say it in case it puts ideas in your head but you deserve a little recompense for all the hard work you put in regarding your reports on these gadgets.
Just one gripe: pleease! DON'T allow the 'are these things for perverts?' Brigade to intimidate you. I absolutely love the fact that where ever I go I now have access to a tiny recording device that can do everything an expensive 'small' sized camera can do - but without the hassle (even the most 'lightweight' devices get to be a pain after a few hours).
These terrific cameras are only sinister when used inappropriately. I ALWAYS let everyone know I'm filming. However, what a great little device for a girl out on her own - can you imagine the evidence that could be gathered? For example, a rape case involving a taxi ride home? Teach girls how to use one of these cameras and drum it into them to practice/learn how to turn it on instinctively in potentially dangerous situations.
The only 'perverts' seem to be those twisted individuals who apparently actively look for evidence of potential perversion -funny how they seem to find it under every stone they turn.....
I stumbled across your reviews and they have been very helpful. I have ordered an 808 camera to play with. I have been on a hunt to find a camera I can record underwater fishing. I noticed the case ideas you had posted in comments and wanted to add my own.
What I have been looking for and playing with trying to build:
- waterproof case
- IR LEDs
- bullet style case (or streamline for water resistance, trolling through water)
- a small tube down the top of the case (run a line through, no sharp edges)
- simple operation
- fairly cheap (on a budget and don't want to worry about losing it)
- a removable and rechargable battery would be nice to allow replacing the battery and sd card and start recording again, but if cheap would just have multiples anyhow.
I would think there would be a fairly large market of fishermen that would be interested.
Here's my contribution to the case design suggestions. Neither one of
these is really anything new but the features I'd be interested in are
casing that would be easier to mount on things and a shape that would
allow easier attachment of third party lenses.
Personally, I like torch or pure rectangular the best.
I also really like the text file based configuration as it does not
involve anything extra on my computer.
Hi,
I bought 808 jumbo version and it was smaller than I tought. So for me, jumbo is not so jumboish :)
Hopefully we get similar firmware update for jumbo too...I would like to have option to:
- recycle operation (when full, rewrite oldest clip)
- when power is connected to usb, start recording automatically (with charging cable)
- change different configuration options in text file like this new #16 camera has (i linke options to select save-stop-start clip length)
I think these should be possible in firmware update (no need to change schematic)?
Then it would be real car camera :) Set and forget if you want.
Meelis