Connection Audio to the Camera that's great. I'm still using a walky talky. Well done.
The only thing to add now would be IMHO a reciever that also directly stores the video stream.

Do you bring it to DragonCon?
Would be fun to watch a sweep from a hel cam perspective.

-Frank

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Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

The wireless micro camera has a mic built in, I'm just moving it to the boom mic where it should be.

It won't be going to a Con as its a surprise birthday present for my brother ina few weeks, so will mostly be for display purposes and the occasional play around.

I have a second one lined up though and have all the parts but the IR sensor and micro cam. I'm also looking for something that can be fitted into the headphone for proper two way comms like a wireless audio reciever, see if I can find one small enough.

Man, after all this work I forgot it was a gift! That's so damn awesome. I'm lucky if I get a t-shirt for my birthday from my brother

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Well it looks like I soldered the wire back on ok, and the mic works fine too

Also, the cam image quality is bang on

Can you post a video? I'd really like to see how it comes out.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

Was just making an edit to my previous post saying just that, but you beat me to the punch

Will post it up in a bit

Awesome! I'd be interested in the price you paid too. PM me if you'd prefer!

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

Right, I realised after saying I'd post a vid that I dont have the facilities to record a direct feed from the cam, sorry bout that :/

Instead, here are a couple of pics, though needless to say, it looks a better not great quality to the naked eye:



As for the price, I managed to snag mine on ebay for £14.98

Holy Sh*t!!! That looks spot on for video quality! I'm going to have to go back and look at how you did this.

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

You called this thread a Rookie Build... But it looks like a pro job to me! Excellent stuff!

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A02/TQ2.0.52141E1

"Errr... Roger that's a 2-1-6..."

Wow, thanks for the great compliment


While I'm new to making replica props, I'm an engineer at heart and make all kinds of things

Yeah that is awesome!! I think I might be ordering another camera to try this mod as well!
The video quality looks pretty darn close to the feeds we see in the movie. I don't know if it would be possible to ad the real time names and serial numbers, but post edits can easily do it. That would be awesome for cons.

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

Hi guys

Using a video mixer would work to get the names and serial numbers on the live feed as some can put text over the footage being played/viewed.

BTW: Did anyone tried anything different than 2.xGHz/Digital Standard PAL/NTSC format pinhole cameras with receives?

Nowadays with HDMI, Bluetooth, Adrino, Smart phones, etc. would be great to easily view, record and share such helmet camera videos with Audio with a large group.
Okay, let's put it on my todo list for DragonCon 2014.

-Frank

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Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

I'm enthralled by this - outstanding work marine!!

What do you expect the range to be like on the camera? It'd be really interesting to see how many decent walls it can penetrate


EDIT: Looking around, it seems to be around 100m unobstructed for similar products, so not going to be massive with walls. My dream of a camera'd up urban Airsoft team just died . Pretty god damn amazing for something that small though.

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Si vis pacem, para bellum
SFC Steve "Fireball" Parsons - A08/TQ1.0.52150E1
69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homers Heroes

@The_Fireball: Yes, 100m at best for the receiver range. Still quite good.

Other option would be converting PAL/NTSC signal from the pinhole cam to any other sending or storing device instead of wirless transfer to the receiver.

Like I'm doing it for the SmartGun Camera that send video/audio data via cable into the Eyetop Display in the SG headset (eye piece).

Again, well done 8Ball! Would be awesome to have a control room with live monitors some day!

Frank

_________________
Sgt. Frank Peters 'reload' Smartgun Operator
A03/TQ3.0.12136E1 "It will be no picknick!"
AL Colonial Admin. - Sergeant at Arms (SgtA) -- 2020-2022
GERCM - Executive Officer (XO)
UKCM Foreign Legion: The Deviant Dragoons

Wow, I'm honoured by all the compliments guys, thanks so much

If you want something small enough to fit that will record instead, look for micro bullet cams. Mostly used as lightwaight helm cams themselves, one or two of them I came across were plenty small enough for the job, and with 2.5GB of storage as standard.

I'll do a wall test with my cam to see how it performs about the house away from the receiver and get the wife to relay quality to me as I move around.

Two technical questions for you: what did you do with the antenna for the cam? Just bend it back into the resin camera body? Also, did you have any issues getting the cam to align properly? (By that mean, getting the cams view to line up properly with the axis of helmet and your viewpoint)

Charlie

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"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

The antenna was sticking out the back of the helm cam when I took the pics. I'm thinking of making a recess the length of the antenna around the foot of the helmet cam so it's on the outside for a better transmission signal.

Getting the camera's horizon to line up was tricky, but I was tired and wasn't thinking straight when I did it last night :p I ended up using a mirror, TV, marker pen and wife (though siblings, friends or mannequins are a good substitute if you don't have a wife handy). It makes it somewhat simpler to put the helmet on someone else's head so the helmet and TV are in view at the same time rather than wearing it yourself and using a mirror.

Could you not use the actual helmet as the antenna?
Soldering the antenna to the helmet might work??

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AKA: Simon

It might do, but it might also have the opposite effect.

The wireless antenna is a specific length that correletes with the wavelength of the wireless signal, soldering it to the helmet might well change size of the wavelength to such that the reciver might not see it anymore.

Will get back to you on that one after some minor experimenting

Ah gotcha

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AKA: Simon

Here's the helmet thus far


I'll be running the antenna from up front, just behind the lens and along the length of the foot to the back as there is a gap along the top of the foot it can go in.

Did a bit of tweeking to the earpiece. I made a hole at the top so the wires could be hidden properly


Though not pictured, I also made some fine adjustments to the hole for the mic as it was sticking out a bit. One thing I noticed when i tested the cam for the first time was that the audio signal was a little noisy. I thought it might have been my soldering that caused it, but touching the mic causes the noise to increase drematically. I think it needs isolating, so a bit of hot glue on the mic should sort that out. Wish I had more Plasti-Dip on me, that stuff is just awsome for all sorts of jobs.


I also adjusted the hight of the headphone part a little as it was a bit low


With the wire coming out from behind the hinge pivot, it cant be seen once assembled. I've made the length of wire a little longer to give the earpiece some freedome of movement. The extra will reside in the cup with bit of silicone grease where it goes through the hole at the top.

And one last minute detail before hitting the sack


I carefully glued the ends of a foam strip together to make a tube, then trimmed to size.

Woah that's looking great!