Experimenting with ‘in-cab’ videos.
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 10:01 am
Many of us start off putting a camera on a wagon in front of a loco and getting a so-called driver’s view video.
But after progressing from that, I always wanted to get a driver’s view from INSIDE the cab of a steam loco. But without much success because normal cameras don’t fit in the cab.
My first attempt was to put the camera on the tender coal load, which wasn’t too bad. See this video..
https://youtu.be/0heNzK-dWRU?t=26
(It was, I think, the first video I ever put on youtube.)
I did try some small cameras like these…. But it seems that it is impossible to get the inside of the loco cab in focus as well as the longer view ahead.
So I gave up for years. Then recently serendipity cut in. A mate was experimenting with periscopes on cameras and using pinholes. So I was again a bit interested in cameras. And, I was using a loco I don’t use often and noticed that unlike all my other locos, I had used just a 3 wire connection between tender and loco with ‘servo type’ JR plug/socket. (the loco boiler houses the RC receiver and ESC while the tender has the battery and sound.)
As I had plenty of servo extender leads I realised I could separate the loco and tender, put a wagon between them for the camera, and connect them with the servo extender lead, and still drive the loco.
So a quick lashup like this was used to test the idea.
Having run a few sequences along the track, I found that my 12 yr old camera gave better focus of both the cab insides and the passing scene. (but it is only 640x480 pixels video). But the view of the cab was a bit ‘static’ Then I had the bright idea of mounting the camera on a ‘turntable’ moved by a radio controlled servo. That would give me the option of varying the pan of the camera from straight inside the cab to a more sideways view. I needed to add a 2.4 GHz receiver and 6V battery on the flat car, with the Rx bound to the same transmitter as the loco control.
So the following video shows the promising results. I stress that this is just an experimental video – not a final ‘take’. That will come later when I get my buildings out and the sun isn’t so bright.
The problems to be solved/refined are
to find the best compromise between focus inside and out of the cab. Is ‘macro’ better than normal setting? and
to reduce the ‘jerky’ panning movement which I think is due to flexing of the camera’ turntable.
But after progressing from that, I always wanted to get a driver’s view from INSIDE the cab of a steam loco. But without much success because normal cameras don’t fit in the cab.
My first attempt was to put the camera on the tender coal load, which wasn’t too bad. See this video..
https://youtu.be/0heNzK-dWRU?t=26
(It was, I think, the first video I ever put on youtube.)
I did try some small cameras like these…. But it seems that it is impossible to get the inside of the loco cab in focus as well as the longer view ahead.
So I gave up for years. Then recently serendipity cut in. A mate was experimenting with periscopes on cameras and using pinholes. So I was again a bit interested in cameras. And, I was using a loco I don’t use often and noticed that unlike all my other locos, I had used just a 3 wire connection between tender and loco with ‘servo type’ JR plug/socket. (the loco boiler houses the RC receiver and ESC while the tender has the battery and sound.)
As I had plenty of servo extender leads I realised I could separate the loco and tender, put a wagon between them for the camera, and connect them with the servo extender lead, and still drive the loco.
So a quick lashup like this was used to test the idea.
Having run a few sequences along the track, I found that my 12 yr old camera gave better focus of both the cab insides and the passing scene. (but it is only 640x480 pixels video). But the view of the cab was a bit ‘static’ Then I had the bright idea of mounting the camera on a ‘turntable’ moved by a radio controlled servo. That would give me the option of varying the pan of the camera from straight inside the cab to a more sideways view. I needed to add a 2.4 GHz receiver and 6V battery on the flat car, with the Rx bound to the same transmitter as the loco control.
So the following video shows the promising results. I stress that this is just an experimental video – not a final ‘take’. That will come later when I get my buildings out and the sun isn’t so bright.
The problems to be solved/refined are
to find the best compromise between focus inside and out of the cab. Is ‘macro’ better than normal setting? and
to reduce the ‘jerky’ panning movement which I think is due to flexing of the camera’ turntable.