The 1/96 SWM BLUEBACK's a quick look

[RCSubGuy]

The sub in that video was weaving around like crazy. Must've been some serious current there that it was fighting. I love the idea of a towed camera. My water down here in 'gatorland is so crappy cloudy that it wouldn't help at all for me, though.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

This is what I'm hoping to achieve: https://youtu.be/AoNZRAMJ_Io

David

[HardRock]

Dink Checked the room
Burn the flick sir

Grtz,
Bart

Geeez Buddy. I'm going to have to learn Dutch. What's the difference between a French kiss and a Belgique kiss? Nothing, there's just more Flem in the Belgique kiss!!!!

[trout]

David,
Wait until we talk about editing your video! Go get em!
Film at 11.
Peace,
Tom

[bwi 971]

Dink Checked the room
Burn the flick sir

Grtz,
Bart

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I had a problem with vignetting when I first made the enclosures and enlarged the front lens until it disappeared. However there are a wide range of lenses the 808 cams come with, and it looks like you got one with a considerably wider angle.

if you've managed to get the cam right up front, then that issue has hopefully been eliminated. Picture looks very chrisp, so you should get some very nice shots underwater.

The time and date stamp can be turned off on these cams. They tend to include that for the private dicks that buy them for covert surveillance work, and use the footage as evidence in court.

You'll get a shed load of footage on a 32GB card, battery will be the limit.

Andy, first off I want to thank you for the years of very good information about these cameras and other stuff -- I blame you for my recent success in getting these little 808's to work underwater.

I ground just a little off the sides of the forward half of your waterproof enclosure (the wall thickness was already marginal, but I was careful). I've now got the camera lens right up against the lens of your enclosure -- no more artifacts at the periphery of the image.

And, yes, I sprang for the 120-degree lens -- and very happy I did. Much better capture of the scene with this lens. And I'm with you, Andy, that image is crisp! A big improvement over the older 808 cameras.

I ran both cameras (I bought two) in a test of battery and the 32gig SD card. I got over an hour-and-a-half of good clean video! These new cameras feature a 250mAh battery! So, run-time will not be an issue.

I hope to have this thing in the water, towed behind the 1/96 BLUEBACK, tomorrow.

Film at Eleven!

David

[Subculture]

I had a problem with vignetting when I first made the enclosures and enlarged the front lens until it disappeared. However there are a wide range of lenses the 808 cams come with, and it looks like you got one with a considerably wider angle.

if you've managed to get the cam right up front, then that issue has hopefully been eliminated. Picture looks very chrisp, so you should get some very nice shots underwater.

The time and date stamp can be turned off on these cams. They tend to include that for the private dicks that buy them for covert surveillance work, and use the footage as evidence in court.

You'll get a shed load of footage on a 32GB card, battery will be the limit.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

There are a couple of software packages you can use. The link Andrew gave for the moebius mini has software that will work for the #16, but will also work with the HD camera if you upgrade.

http://www.mytempfiles.info/mobiusmini/index.html

instructions are there too.

Thanks, Tom. Right now I have the two cameras videoing a clock (finding out how much time a 32gig SD will last). Just as soon as that's done I'll take that software I just downloaded and try to get that time/date stamp removed from the image. Thank you so much for your help. Next project is to get your 808 camera case working.

David

[trout]

There are a couple of software packages you can use. The link Andrew gave for the moebius mini has software that will work for the #16, but will also work with the HD camera if you upgrade.

http://www.mytempfiles.info/mobiusmini/index.html

instructions are there too.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Some suggestions....You need to get that camera closer to the glass (or live with the vignetting). Connect the camera to a computer and download the software to change settings (like update the date or turn off the date and time from showing up). Use tippet line, it is a finer fishing line for fly fisherman that use it for building or lengthening their leader. There are several different sizes you can get typically I see ranges from 3X to 8X, 8X being the smallest with a 1.75 pound test. Even if you went to a 6X it will be hidden (I can send you some if you want) I found this chart here:

03X	.015″	25 lb.	Big Game Species
02X	.013″	20 lb.	Large Salmon
01X	.012″	18.5 lb.	Striped Bass
0X	.011″	15.5 lb.	Salmon, Steelhead
1X	.010″	13.5 lb.	Bonefish, Redfish, Permit
2X	.009″	11.5 lb.	Large & Smallmouth Bass
3X	.008″	8.5 lb.	Bass & Large Trout
4X	.007″	6 lb.	Trout
5X	.006″	4.75 lb.	Trout & Panfish
6X	.005″	3.5 lb.	Trout – Easily Spooked Fish
7X	.004″	2.5 lb.	Trout & Panfish / Delicate Presentations
8X	.003″	1.75 lb.	Trout & Panfish / Small Flies

Lastly, you blew my eardrums out with the blast of air and then the compressor. Once I get all the blood cleaned up from the keyboard and find where my earbuds went, I can get tippet material to you. Just let me know if you want it.
Peace,
tom

Just the kind of stuff I need to know. I'll pick up that smaller gauge fishing line local -- excellent tip. I've already ground the inside of Andy's camera body and now can put the camera lens right up to the window of the case, so that problem is fixed. Sorry about the compressor blast, pal. Yes! Show me how to hack that camera software to dump that god-awful date/time thing.

Real good stuff, Tom. I might be towing this thing from the BLUEBACK by Friday.

David

[trout]

Some suggestions....You need to get that camera closer to the glass (or live with the vignetting). Connect the camera to a computer and download the software to change settings (like update the date or turn off the date and time from showing up). Use tippet line, it is a finer fishing line for fly fisherman that use it for building or lengthening their leader. There are several different sizes you can get typically I see ranges from 3X to 8X, 8X being the smallest with a 1.75 pound test. Even if you went to a 6X it will be hidden (I can send you some if you want) I found this chart here:

03X	.015″	25 lb.	Big Game Species
02X	.013″	20 lb.	Large Salmon
01X	.012″	18.5 lb.	Striped Bass
0X	.011″	15.5 lb.	Salmon, Steelhead
1X	.010″	13.5 lb.	Bonefish, Redfish, Permit
2X	.009″	11.5 lb.	Large & Smallmouth Bass
3X	.008″	8.5 lb.	Bass & Large Trout
4X	.007″	6 lb.	Trout
5X	.006″	4.75 lb.	Trout & Panfish
6X	.005″	3.5 lb.	Trout – Easily Spooked Fish
7X	.004″	2.5 lb.	Trout & Panfish / Delicate Presentations
8X	.003″	1.75 lb.	Trout & Panfish / Small Flies

Lastly, you blew my eardrums out with the blast of air and then the compressor. Once I get all the blood cleaned up from the keyboard and find where my earbuds went, I can get tippet material to you. Just let me know if you want it.
Peace,
tom

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good to my word, I did some work over the weekend to make Andy's wonderful little 808 camera enclosure a proper tow-body. Doing so by adding a ring stabilizer and ballasted the thing to keep it from rolling.



Andy, a few years back, sent me this perfect little streamlined waterproof case for the 808 video camera. A marvelous little thing. Very well crafted.





First modification was to put a towing pad eye at the bottom, as far forward as I could. I had already sized a hunk of lead to fit on the inside, under the camera, to stabilize the case in roll and to render the entire assembly neutrally buoyant. I towed this configuration around in the kiddy pool and found -- not too surprisingly -- that static stability was marginal. This, as is, is not a stable platform while in motion underwater. So....





I made this 'ring stabilizer' at the end of a boom long enough to put the units center of pressure well behind its center of gravity. The unit is now dynamically stable. You can see the hunk of lead I came up with to stabilize the platform in roll as well as getting the unit to a state of near neutral buoyancy. The boom is removable from the tear-drop shaped body -- a fixed tube set into the back of the body accepts the boom. Makes it easier to transport and handle if the boom and attached ring-stabilizer are removed.




This is the end-game: a towed camera to 'follow' the submerged model submarine as it maneuvers. The camera faithfully keeping pace and turning with the model as it zooms around the pool. I'll have to bend the boom to work out any unwanted yaw and pitch offsets found during tests. After that, it's a simple matter of turning on the camera, placing it in Andy's waterproof bullet, and making the unit up to a mono-filament line made up to the submarine. "Ready for my screen-test, Mr. DeMille".

The example here is using some nasty twine so you can see it. In operation I'll use mono-filament fishing line which is invisible underwater. We'll see!

David

Just got two of the 'new' HD rated 808 video cameras. Here's a quick video I shot this evening:

https://youtu.be/gsVBixEv1fw

David

[redboat219]

Love when Ellie pretended to throw the model in. Noooooo!

[Subculture]

Shame you didn't run that past me before you ordered them, Dave.

The hot budget-baby cam to get now is the Mobius mini. Actually a little bit smaller than the 808, and a bit more conventional in shape- achieves 1080p at 60fps- good for slo-mo shots-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1080P-60FPS-...73086360&rt=nc

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2697022-Mobius-Mini-Support-Thread-%28READ-Posts-1-7-BEFORE-posting-questions%29

Hope the HD 808 fob cams work out for you, some of the 1080p models aren't true HD cams, is a bit of a case of buyer beware.

[Subculture]

I haven't tried the 1080p 808's. Still rocking the 720p. Be careful though- they're not all equal.

This is the page to consult for 808 info- http://www.chucklohr.com/808/index.shtml

Also be aware that 1080p cameras will use more juice, because the processor is working much harder- no free lunch. You may find battery life is still short despite the extra capacity.

Also the data rate increases so card space will shrink down. thankfully micro sd cards are peanuts now.