Cheap Cockpit camera

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PPL747

Pre-Flight
Joined
Mar 1, 2019
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747
In order to properly analyze and improve my landings, I'm looking for an affordable camera that I can correctly mount in a 182, and even better if I have an option to mount one outside, to see my touch down point and attitude. any ideas?

Thank you
 
100ll is more helpful for perfecting landings. Oh, CFI's are also helpful.
 
I don't understand how 100ll helps perfect the landing, but I'm thinking about recording landings, after working many hours with my CFI to get the right speed, attitude, flare & landing point, and I feel if I can after the flight go back in analyzing what I have done and when that will boost my confidence for the next flights
 
My girlfriend got me this one a few years ago. Takes great shots at a fraction of the price of a GoPro

https://www.amazon.com/APEMAN-Under...n+camera&qid=1590420679&sprefix=apeman&sr=8-3


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Thank you, How do I get a mount that would work for the cockpit, and what about if I want to record from the outside, is there a special mount for that?
 
could it just be 2 different fish species? look at the time stamp, it is 25 minutes later. as well his girlfriend bought it for him, so please refrain from saying it's horrible
 
Well, the fish turned blue because they held their breath forever trying to look slim for the camera. Faster shutters, people! Geez... :p

To the OP... just look on EvilBay for some used GoPro cameras. Not expensive so if you lose one, not a lot of cash wasted. Click on the link to an EvilBay listing for a GoPro Hero for $70.
 
PPL747 said:
I don't understand how 100ll helps perfect the landing, but I'm thinking about recording landings, after working many hours with my CFI to get the right speed, attitude, flare & landing point, and I feel if I can after the flight go back in analyzing what I have done and when that will boost my confidence for the next flights
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I think it is just his way of saying if you spent the same amount of money on gas and a CFI to go practice, you would get the same benefit.
 
Van Johnston said:
I think it is just his way of saying if you spent the same amount of money on gas and a CFI to go practice, you would get the same benefit.
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I think this is sage advice. No two landings are going to be alike. Winds shift, your angle of approach, speed, time you deployed flaps, flare timing... it's all different and will have to change for the various conditions. The camera may help to identify any habits that you may have to break, or enforce those things you're doing right, but the main thing is to develop the view (attitude in flare), muscle memory, feel of ground effect, and develop that sense of energy management. A CFI will help you do that while keeping you safe. A camera is a good tool to review, but won't give you the immediate feedback when you need it and are task saturated.
 
PPL747 said:
In order to properly analyze and improve my landings, I'm looking for an affordable camera that I can correctly mount in a 182, and even better if I have an option to mount one outside, to see my touch down point and attitude. any ideas?

Thank you
Click to expand...

I don't see the harm in recording your landings and then analyzing them later. If it helps - great. If it doesn't help - then you know it doesn't help - still great.
 
Internal use a suction Mount don't go cheap buy a good one even the good ones are not very expensive. if you're still at the point that you are doing this to review flights you don't need the distraction of a camera falling in your lap as you rotate.

External, I would get a tie-down mount that way you're not dealing with suction cups and you're not screwing anything to the aircraft I think I paid $50 for mine just get on Amazon and search GoPro tie-down Mount their universal.

You don't have to get a GoPro but they really do a lot better job than the knockoffs and I promise you I've tried all of the knock-offs.

You can probably get the GoPro 5 at a low price these days I wouldn't use anything lower than that.

The cheapest and best bet is something called the GoPro 2018. they are very cheap and you can do a firmware upgrade that converts it into a GoPro hero 5 black.

if you need more details on any of this let me know and I will help spell everything out for you in detail if you need it.
 
PPL747 said:
In order to properly analyze and improve my landings, I'm looking for an affordable camera that I can correctly mount in a 182, and even better if I have an option to mount one outside, to see my touch down point and attitude. any ideas?

Thank you
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Check amazon for cheap gopro knockoffs. I've got two action cams that look and act like gopros for a fraction of the cost. One has a mic input so I can also listen to the audio. I'll post an external mounting idea that won't break the bank.
 
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As a CFI, I can't fathom what direction you could point a gopro and gain any useful insight about "how to improve that landing"
 
I picked up the parts for this at Home Depot. Maybe $20 total but if I could have found a shorter piece of aluminum flat bar it would have been cheaper. The one Home Depot sells was 36” long and something like 10 bucks by itself. So now I have enough to make 10 more of these.
 

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eman1200 said:
that's a horrible camera. in the first pic it makes the fish look blue when you can clearly see in the second photo they are, like, uh, zebra colored.
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:dunno: It’s a camera that shoots in 1080p that takes decent pictures and doesn’t cost as much as a GoPro. Sounds like the OP doesn’t need something that shows every speck of dust on his plane.
 
jordane93 said:
:dunno: It’s a camera that shoots in 1080p that takes decent pictures and doesn’t cost as much as a GoPro. Sounds like the OP doesn’t need something that shows every speck of dust on his plane.
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Yep. I was joking. I forgot the “I’m totally fkng with ya” emoji
 
schmookeeg said:
As a CFI, I can't fathom what direction you could point a gopro and gain any useful insight about "how to improve that landing"
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You don’t need to fathom anything - as long as it helps him, that’s all that matters. A replay of ones landing, especially when used to correlate actions in the cockpit with visual representation of what was happening on the ground is very helpful. Why would you not want to clearly visualize for a student what every CFI is trying to explain ( often unsuccessfully ) with words and crude drawings ?
 
Warmi said:
You don’t need to fathom anything - as long as it helps him, that’s all that matters. A replay of ones landing, especially when used to correlate actions in the cockpit with visual representation of what was happening on the ground is very helpful. Why would you not want to clearly visualize for a student what every CFI is trying to explain ( often unsuccessfully ) with words and crude drawings ?
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Exactly, The landing video I posted above was actually a super smooth landing and I was excited to see the ground view. Once I watched the video I saw that while it was a smooth landing, it was flatter than I would want and only barely wasn't a true flat landing as the mains touched just prior to the nose wheel.
 
Warmi said:
You don’t need to fathom anything - as long as it helps him, that’s all that matters. A replay of ones landing, especially when used to correlate actions in the cockpit with visual representation of what was happening on the ground is very helpful. Why would you not want to clearly visualize for a student what every CFI is trying to explain ( often unsuccessfully ) with words and crude drawings ?
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I guess I don't understand how you'd extrapolate video into which cockpit actions were correct and which were not -- without a matching video feed from the cockpit.

I may lack sufficient imagination on the subject.
 
schmookeeg said:
I guess I don't understand how you'd extrapolate video into which cockpit actions were correct and which were not -- without a matching video feed from the cockpit.

I may lack sufficient imagination on the subject.
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When I record my flights I typically only recorded inside views during my training as I wasn't creative enough to make an external mount. But now that I've got both cameras I can compare the videos and view the landing or any other maneuver from both views. If I want I can even use free video editing software to sync them up, yes it takes time to determine the sync point but it can help identify any issues I had and why. I also talk a lot when doing things and since I record audio I can tell what I was thinking and what I was doing at most moments.

I say if the OP wants to record flights and the school is okay with him doing it then go for it. Its amazing how much a video can help solidify a learning point about how things operate and work. But it requires just as much time and maybe more than the flight itself to extrapolate that data and if your not willing to invest the time into the post flight production/research you likely won't get much data from it.
 
I've never allowed a camera of any stripe in my cockpit. Less evidence made is less to burn. Don't need a camera to know my landings suck.
 
Take a look at the Activeon Gold, not very expensive and it comes with a nice watertight case for outdoor use. Don't plan on audio with this camera if you use it inside. As far as a mounting bracket I suggest the MyPilot Pro.

For in cockpit video I suggest the Garmin VIRB with the additional audio cabel hook up. Very good audio and a stable platform that is easy to use.

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Active on video camera
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here is a pic of the mypilot pro bracket
9.20%2Bmypilot%2Bpro.JPG
 
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Until now I've been using an older GoPro Session (Session 4). Takes good video, but the cellphone app needed to control it sucks getting it to reconnect, battery life also sucks. Last week I bought a knockoff, an Akaso EK7000 4K. Only $50, comes with two batteries, an external battery charger, a waterproof case, and a bunch of GoPro compatible mounting accessories. The Akaso also has a phone app that I couldn't get to work either but I didn't try hard as it also includes a dedicated remote control, and an LCD screen so you can see where you're pointing it (with the Session you have to use the phone app). It's hard to say without identical or at least similar videos, but I'd say quality is comparable to the GoPro. I doubt I'll ever pay for an overpriced GoPro again. Neither have audio input so you'd need a separate audio recorder if you want to capture communications.
 
Warmi said:
Sure you can... just kill that stupid pop up window ( a small x on the top right corner )
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No small x in the top right corner. If the potential customer can't find information, they're not going to consider buying the product.

I repeat. Lousy website.
 
murphey said:
No small x in the top right corner. If the potential customer can't find information, they're not going to consider buying the product.

I repeat. Lousy website.
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Yeah , well ... I would say you don’t ( virtually ) get out much because, these days, pretty much the whole internet is a never ending and ever expanding orgy of JavaScript “programmers” , “responsive design” idiots and other abominations, all competing with each other and making the whole experience often seem like some kind of sick game of “can you read that paragraph quickly enough before it shifts and morphs away to accommodate yet another piece of interactive ******** trying to get out from underneath” ... bleh.
 
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