I found this HD camera on the net today, and it seems to be the perfect alternative to the GoPro, as it is lighter and has a smaller size, which could be important in terms of micro-quads, etc..
Its smaller than the GoPro HD Hero, at 4 inches long and half inches across and weighing in at 4.5 oz, it is a truly ultralight HD videocam with the added bonus that it looks the part of "Eye in The Sky"
There are outputs for HD video, so just hook it up to a FPV transmitter and you are good to go! MicroSD cards are supported and you can record videos directly, even without an FPV setup. Beneath the bubble-shape front of the camera there is a 170-degree wide-angle lens which can capture video along with 5-megapixel HD stills.
The on-board battery is clamed to be good to upto 4 hours of 1080p recording, and it can be connected via USB to a computer to download the photos or charge the battery.
Another version, with WiFi,is also capable of steaming video to your iDevice/ Android device ,while the iPhone/Android phone,etc. acts as a controller for the camera. (Think PhoneDrone with this camera!!!)
At $230, without any accessories, I think its a pretty good deal as it is extremely light and small, with is infact a big deciding factor for me, as I design micro-quads only.
More details at their website, and be sure to check out the other models as well!!
Comments
The Ion has higher contrast and it looks like more color saturation which can be a double edged sword. And of course its being compared to the old GoPro.
Thnx for clearing the doubts mods!
Well, seems a little difficult to get into, but looks like there's a live preview for the TV/NTSC, so it might work. But $229 is not much cheaper than GoPro, and if I were to just use it for FPV the video quality needed would max out @ about 650VL, so neither GoPro nor ION is necessary anyways. Personally, I'd just go with that Super HAD CCD camera, more than adequate for $52.
Mohammed, not necessarily. It could just be for playback of recordings. That means the digital video is converted to analog on playback. FPV requires that live video from the camera is converted to analog realtime. You need a high speed DAC for that, and it's more expensive, so most camera makers don't incorporate that into their design to save money, since there usually isn't a need to see the video in low-res in realtime.
There is an " Output : A/V Composite " on the box, and it ships with an tri-colour A/V cable, so I guess that it will output to NTSC A/V connector lines
Well, seems clear that the ION has better video quality. However, has anyone confirmed that the ION will output to NTSC A/V connectors live? You will need that for FPV. Most of the time these cameras, only playback to A/V, especially the HD ones, since you need the additional circuit to do the video resolution down conversion to NTSC from 1080p. The GoPro definitely has that capability, it's a given.
On the other hand, this 600VL, Sony Super HAD CCD camera has all you need for FPV, and is only $52:
Check out this review by RCModelReviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wdqsCl...
But this is Hero, not Hero2 - this also affect the comparison. Here is Hero vs Hero2 comparison that shows that Hero2 is crisper.
I'm not saying that GoPro is better/worse than Air Pro. But there are a few years gap in the above comparison.
Gopro is, as Moroe says, smaller, Ion's fontal area is way lower. If the plan is flying, the Ion seems like a better option. The picture quality seems better too. I have a Gopro.
Here you will find a comparison of the ION air HD and the GoPro Hero HD in the way of a side by side video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0PwQC6-RM
My opinion... the video quality of the ION is much better than the GoPro.
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