Mobius HD Camera

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brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Mobius HD Camera

Post by brewski »

Hi Guys,

I have a Mobius HD arriving soon & was interested if anyone has one & using it for FPV. From what I've read quality of recorded video is similar to GoPro but much less weight. I will be using it at first just with onboard recording but eventually for FPV..that is unless Australia follows FAA in USA & bans all FPV :(

Arakon
Posts: 196
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 2:22 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by Arakon »

You can actually record and use the live-out at the same time.. however, be aware that the live-out has a lag of approx. 100ms, so you may not want to use that camera for highspeed racing between trees.

brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by brewski »

Arakon wrote:You can actually record and use the live-out at the same time.. however, be aware that the live-out has a lag of approx. 100ms, so you may not want to use that camera for highspeed racing between trees.

Hi Arakon,

I read about the composite video lag but same as Gopro. Just have to allow for it & not overcorrect.

mike105105
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:20 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by mike105105 »

I use mine for fpv, works well, lag doesn't bother me. Just start slow and get used to it.


Mike

humblehacker
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:40 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by humblehacker »

IMHO- I would rank the Mobius right up there with the Raspberry Pi and Arduino as a true game-changer! Like the latter mentions, the Mobius is affordable enough to encourage widespread adoption and can be used in situations where one might otherwise hesitate to risk even a $300 GoPro. Another common trait is its simple, versatile firmware, which is basically a simple .txt script with editable parameters. The fact that the setup GUI is Windows/Mac only is definitely strange, but I suspect that will change soon enough as the DIY/Maker community gets a hold of it. It seems like its tailor made for Python!

All that aside, I've been looking to use it for aerial mapping and almost everything I've read so far concerns its use in FPV. The camera shape could potentially pose a problem as it would be much more stable in a front-facing configuration. Has anybody else had success using this cam for aerial photography/mapping? If so, did you use a gimbal? I'd be interested in learning about mounting options that don't require a complicated Gimbal, though I do have the tools to do it if absolutely necessary.

Arakon
Posts: 196
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 2:22 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by Arakon »

I use a 2D gimbal that basically consists of 3 3D-printed L-shaped strips, 2 cheap motors from HK and a cheap chinese controller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEUrvK ... _oSYooF8_Q
That was my very first gimbal test flight with the mobius.. starting at 1:50, I flew some turns and did some quick direction changes to see how the gimbal holds up.

There's also a setting tool for android and even a web based setting tool, although I have no idea how well those work.

brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by brewski »

Arakon wrote:I use a 2D gimbal that basically consists of 3 3D-printed L-shaped strips, 2 cheap motors from HK and a cheap chinese controller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEUrvK ... _oSYooF8_Q
That was my very first gimbal test flight with the mobius.. starting at 1:50, I flew some turns and did some quick direction changes to see how the gimbal holds up.

There's also a setting tool for android and even a web based setting tool, although I have no idea how well those work.


Arakon great video & your DIY gimbal appears to work as good as the professional ones.
Why not start a thread on how you did it & components used so that others such as myself can build one ourselves. This would be a fantastic project!

Cheers..B

PS. Looks like my Mobius I ordered 45days ago is not going to arrive :evil:
Shortly after I bought it from Chinese shop on EvilBay for$32! they notified me there had been a mistake & add was to be withdrawn. As I had paid for it they guaranteed to ship it for this price & gave me a tracking number. It actually got as far as International airline going by tracking, but never arrived in Australia. I suspect their freight account was frozen as shop no longer exists on EBay. At least I paid by Paypal so will get money back. Just have to start over again. I couldn't believe my luck when I bought a genuine Mobius 32Gb for $32 as I knew that the 32Gb MicroSD card was worth this alone. I guess this stuffup caused shop to go bankrupt.

e_lm_70
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:35 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by e_lm_70 »

Arakon wrote:You can actually record and use the live-out at the same time.. however, be aware that the live-out has a lag of approx. 100ms, so you may not want to use that camera for highspeed racing between trees.


133mSec is what I measure using 720p60fps

200mSec is what I measure using 1080p30fps

So .. Mobius is quite back as video latency used in full HD

On TOPCAM I did measure 100mSec for 1080p30fps

My measure include also the delay on the output video.

Clearly Mobius is 100mSec slower then TOPCAM ... so for FPV usage I think TOPCAM is a better choice.

humblehacker
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:40 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by humblehacker »

Arakon wrote:I use a 2D gimbal that basically consists of 3 3D-printed L-shaped strips, 2 cheap motors from HK and a cheap chinese controller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QEUrvK ... _oSYooF8_Q
That was my very first gimbal test flight with the mobius.. starting at 1:50, I flew some turns and did some quick direction changes to see how the gimbal holds up.

There's also a setting tool for android and even a web based setting tool, although I have no idea how well those work.



Looks like I made the right decision to finish upgrading my Printrbot Simple before my next MW build! Did you base your design off of this one on Thingiverse? https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:216558
If not, have you posted the .STL files? Yours looks much more like something my PrintrBot can handle.

Arakon
Posts: 196
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 2:22 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by Arakon »

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:224981 this one, actually. I used the L-arm (make sure to use the right one for your motors, I used http://www.ebay.de/itm/251583231057?_tr ... EBIDX%3AIT, for these you need to use the HK2206 L-arm) and the Mobius mount, and arm3_final from this one http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:257240 to mount the gimbal to http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__ ... 100g_.html with zip ties and servo tape. Total gimbal weight with camera and electronics is 174g.

brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by brewski »

Just received reply from PayPal that Mobius vendor is no longer trading & I will get money back.
Now I have to decide whether to get a Mobius or something else. I like the price/value for $, size & low weight of the Mobius but open to suggestions.
Want to take good quality stills & video (full HD not necessary) & possibly feed output to TX for FPV.

e_lm_70
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:35 pm

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by e_lm_70 »

brewski wrote:Just received reply from PayPal that Mobius vendor is no longer trading & I will get money back.
Now I have to decide whether to get a Mobius or something else. I like the price/value for $, size & low weight of the Mobius but open to suggestions.
Want to take good quality stills & video (full HD not necessary) & possibly feed output to TX for FPV.


For FPV ... TOPCAM is better then Mobius

Here is a comparison about quality between the two cam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXBJGjoYTIQ

TOPCAM is also 10$ cheaper

nechaus
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 12:10 am

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by nechaus »

Mobius is good, but the quality is no where near the same as my gopro's 3+

I have a gopro hero 2
gopro hero 3+ black
and gopro hero 4 black..


The mobius is similar to the hero 2..
But the hero 3 and 4 black edition just shit all over the mobius...

The hero 3 and 4 black is so sooo much more clearer, you can record on 2.7 and 4k res...
1080 60 fps+ and 720 120 fps +

I use the gopros where I can, I only use the mobius when I have to worry about weight, Like on a gutless mini quad or something.

brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Re: Mobius HD Camera

Post by brewski »

e_lm_70 wrote:
brewski wrote:Just received reply from PayPal that Mobius vendor is no longer trading & I will get money back.
Now I have to decide whether to get a Mobius or something else. I like the price/value for $, size & low weight of the Mobius but open to suggestions.
Want to take good quality stills & video (full HD not necessary) & possibly feed output to TX for FPV.


For FPV ... TOPCAM is better then Mobius

Here is a comparison about quality between the two cam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXBJGjoYTIQ

TOPCAM is also 10$ cheaper


My Topcam ($58) is on the way. I've also ordered Boscam 200Mw 5.8Ghz TX/RX & cloverleaf antennas ($45) + a 7" LCD 800x600 LCD with CF hood & TX mount ($46). Bought these at AliExpress with free shipping. Very cheap way of getting into FPV :D

PS. Here's a tip with AliExpress & possibly other online shops as well. Put an item (items) you want in your basket & wait at least 5 days. You will get an email advising you that there are items in your basket & there is a 10% discount if you purchase.

brewski
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:04 am
Location: Cleveland Qld Australia

Topcam arrived!

Post by brewski »

The Topcam I ordered finally arrived last week. I connected it to 5V & viewed image on my pro grade NDS HD monitor. Image was acceptable for only composite output @ 720 x 576 Pal.
Lag was very low (approx. 100ms) at full HD so very impressive for a cheap HD camera. Recorded full HD images were very good for a singe chip imager as used in Topcam. The AR0330 CMOS full HD imager is one of the best for this application so unexpected in a $50 camera.
The only issues I had configuring camera was that Time/Date would not set & Image overload on highlights. This is probably addressed in later firmware releases but Google failed me :twisted:
Anyone know where to find updated firmware?

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