Simply Airsoft Guns

The right video camera…?

So here’s the brief – I needed a rugged, impact resistant, waterproof (for those airsoft games in the rain), self-contained, fast frame rate (for those many running moments) action camera that will give you hands free recording (i.e. mountable on airsoft guns) without the need for a separate recording unit, for under £100…phew!

Finding the camera

Finding a camera to fit the brief isn’t too difficult, but finding one under £100 leaves very few options.

Tony Hawkes Helmet Cam Price: £59.99 from MX1.co.uk Resolution: 320 x 240 Frame rate: 15 fps Sound recording: Yes Waterproof: No Mounting options other than helmet: No GoPro Digital Hero Wrist Band Camera Price: Just over budget at £114.99 from MX1.co.uk Resolution: 320 x 240 – max. clip length 10 secs Frame rate: 15 fps Sound recording: Yes Waterproof: Yes Mounting options other than helmet: No Orgeon Scientific ATC2000 Action Camera Price: £74.99 from MyMemory.co.uk Resolution: 640 x 480 Frame rate: 30 fps Sound recording: Yes Waterproof: Yes Mounting options other than helmet: Yes

Of course, my choice was the modified Oregon Scientific ATC2000 video camera, with a great fps, resolution, mounting options for airsoft guns and waterproofing – and I’ve had some great results.

ATC2000 Overview

The Oregon Scientific Action Cam sports the following impressive specifications for its small £75 price tag.

		-	Selectable resolutions of AVI recording (640×480, 320×240, 160×120)
		-	Two frame rates (15fps and 30 fps) for all three resolutions.
		-	SD card slot for memory expansion up to 2GB
		-	Multiple mounting options
		-	Rotatable mounting options both at the base and within the mount ring
		-	Rugged, impact resistant design
		-	Lightweight
		-	2 x AA battery operation
		-	Waterproof to 3 metres
		-	PAL A/V out with interface
		-	Low battery detection
		-	Power-saving management

The first thing you’ll notice about this video camera is its small, but unusual shape. The camera has a narrow front and larger back and on immediate inspection you’d assume the lens was at the larger end. It is in fact at the narrow end, with a small cover window and a pin lens behind it.

The card slot, AV out, USB port and battery slots can be accessed by removing the screw top from the larger end at the back. It takes two AA batteries and standard SD cards (Note: this camera is NOT compatible with SDHC cards – trust me, I’ve tried).

The controls can be accessed via buttons situated on the top – on/off, start/stop filming and menu. Each button has tones for different actions, e.g. when powering on the unit, it will beep once. When starting video it will beep once, when stopping, twice and so on. This is a really handy feature if you’ve rigged the video camera in such a way that you can’t see the screen (see ‘mounting’ later in this article).

On the top is the display screen. For in-depth information on the exact workings of the menus see the manual at the Oregon Scientific website.

The camera comes with a great range of high quality mounting options for airsoft guns, all of which attach to the pre-fitted mounting ring and adapter.

Amazingly the cameras waterproof too – yes that’s water proof not water resistant, so you could mount it on your goggles while completely submerged in water up to 3 metres deep.

The ATC2000 in action

Before reading this section it’s important to remember the price of the camera and the alternatives as discussed above. With that considered, let’s have a look at the cameras performance.

As previously mentioned, the ATC2000 is compatible with standard SD cards (not SDHC) up to 2GB, so from the outset I have been using 2GB cards. As with any SD based digital device, memory card write speed is an important factor in image quality – if your device cannot write fast enough to the memory card it will compress the image to a lower quality. In this vein I chose to use the incredibly fast MyMemory own brand Pro-speed 133X SD cards, at an amazingly low price of £6.99 for a 2GB card.

At the maximum resolution of 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second, a 2GB card will record 1 hour of video with sound. While decreasing the resolution or omitting the sound will give you longer recording, at £6.99 per card I couldn’t think of why you would want to – it’s better to stop the recording with a touch of a button during down time than leave it rolling and filming you standing around. For more detailed information on resolution versus film time see the manual.

On maximum resolution in good light the quality of the image is very good. Colours are true and edges are crisp. Of course, if you move the camera around, the image will blur, but with the camera at 30fps, that blur is minimised. A sample video of me sprinting to cover is shown below (note the below clip was filmed with the modified wide angle lens, more details later in this article).

As the camera records to SD cards rather than a tape or hard drive, it’ll keep recording while your airsoft electric guns are bumped, knocked, shaked, dropped and any other crazy airsoft moves you can throw at it. This is a rare feature, as many other cameras will either shut down or stop recording until the motion stops.

However, with its pin-point lens the viewing angle is very small – meaning you have keep your distance from anything that the camera isn’t looking at directly will likely not be in picture. Also, as the camera doesn’t have a viewing window or TFT screen, it’s sometimes difficult to tell exactly where that is. It’s worth noting however, that all action cameras have pin-point lenses to minimise lens exposure – i.e. for the specification required, this is an unavoidable feature.

As with any battery operated video camera, it will chew through batteries. I recommend rechargeable batteries at as high an ampage as possible. I use 2700 NiMH’s and they for last hours and hours.

The camera is poor in low light conditions and slow to adjust contrast in varying light levels. If you’re looking to film in low light conditions with no external light source this may be a not be the camera for you, but again consider this against the limited options available. For me that’s not a problem as I play airsoft games during the day anyway.

Unfortunately the sound is also poor – muffled and only sensitive enough to pick up very loud noises, and  sometimes even your airsoft electric guns aren’t picked up. So how to make a good camera into a great camera? Make some modifications!

For more information on modifying the ATC2K ActionCam, visit airsoft gun.

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