Camera to provide sight for eye-less armor

bummer6

bummer6

Well-Known Member
Hello there! I'm still in the planning-phase for my next big project and I'm looking for a solution to a pretty big issue with the design I've chosen.
archie9.JPG

As you can see, there is really no easy way to see out of the armor. I've started looking for cameras that might be able to give me some vision while inside the armor, but so far the options I find are either extremely expensive or totally impractical. I've considered cameras used for quadcopters, but they're usually very expensive. The ideal setup would be a small camera that could stream video directly to my smartphone since that would eliminate the need to buy a screen that mounts on the inside. Does anyone here have experience with this kind of set up? Any advice is appreciated!
 
Try looking into aftermarket reverse cameras for vehicles. They're small enough to put anywhere!

As for linking it to your phone, you may be able to use an ardino board, but I don't have aby experience with that...

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Ez robot has a platform where you have a console with a camera and you can build an app so you can see on your phone what the camera sees
pretty easy to build it all works on wifi though it sends its own wifi signal out


Yarooon
 
As Amazon chitlin said, I'd go for something like ebay item number 281516158124. You could set up both cameras for one to show whats behind you as well as in front.
 
you could try a simpler technology free way because you dont wanna be at a con and one thing fails then your have no visibility. Im working on a box head from the evil within its just for display but might be a costume one day. i added rusty damaged areas and behind them i used a sanding mesh for air flow and so if i ever wore it i could see out of it.

20.jpg IMG_1585.jpg

I just hot glued the mesh internally, visibility is pretty good.
 
doppelganger said:
As Amazon chitlin said, I'd go for something like ebay item number 281516158124. You could set up both cameras for one to show whats behind you as well as in front.
Click to expand...

I've actually considered this, and it could definitely work. The problem is that those things don't seem to run on batteries. If I could somehow hack it to use lipo batteries, I'd be in business, but I don't know how to do that.

division 6 said:
What about using a baby monitor?
Click to expand...

A little pricey, but it does seem to do pretty much all the things I need it to do. Bookmarked the page in case I run out of cheaper options. Thanks!

gothic said:
you could try a simpler technology free way because you dont wanna be at a con and one thing fails then your have no visibility. Im working on a box head from the evil within its just for display but might be a costume one day. i added rusty damaged areas and behind them i used a sanding mesh for air flow and so if i ever wore it i could see out of it.

View attachment 704277 View attachment 704278

I just hot glued the mesh internally, visibility is pretty good.
Click to expand...

If I was making the armor more weathered, I might use this technique. I'm not going for heavy battle damage, so it would be difficult for me to hide the mesh like you did. Good idea though, and it works fantastically for your head. :)
 
When you say extremely expensive, what's your budget? Look up mini wifi camera on the bay. I picked mine up for $20 including shipping - comes with its own battery and it works with my iPhone.
 
TJack said:
When you say extremely expensive, what's your budget? Look up mini wifi camera on the bay. I picked mine up for $20 including shipping - comes with its own battery and it works with my iPhone.
Click to expand...

If I can find something like that for that price, then that is most definitely within my budget. I'd say anything less than 100 dollars is acceptable.
 
I think the racing quad (drone) market has exactly what you are looking for. You can get a 600 tvline camera for about $25 +shipping. Then about 7" screen in the helmet and cheap lipo batteries will get you there. Less than $100 for everything. One battery could last most of the day since you don't have to power the receiver too.

Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk
 
A reversing camera kit does seem the way forward if you'll forgive the pun. When I last looked into it, many of the inexpensive models found on eBay etc. were more than happy running between 9 and 12v, so powering the setup with a nice lightweight lithium battery should be no issue - aside from the usual "oh god why is it on fire" thing.
 
I've wondered if it would be possible to use an old miniDV camcorder to do this.

It has a small screen in the eyepiece that's connected to the sensor and of course has it's own dedicated battery supply.

It seems to have everything you need - if it's possible to lengthen out the connections.
 
I have been putting a lot of thought into this topic over the last few weeks, as I wanted to build a Titanfall helmet that has a closed face and still be able to see what the hell is going on around me.



You have a lot more room to work with inside the costume you're working on, so I think you could definitely get away with using your phone as a screen, so long as it's far away enough from you. Most modern phones are now designed to actually work with a variety of third-party devices adapted with what's called an OTG, or "On-The-Go" cable. These are basically dirt cheap microUSB adapters, and as I understand it, android phones can often just plug in straight with a USB webcam or other video capture device and use them.

The endoscopes that have been posted are a waste of time. I bought one off Amazon, tested it, returned it. Their focal depth is meant for up-close work, and they will not give you the field of vision you need to navigate.

Given that I have such a limited amount of room to work with inside my helmet, the idea of using my phone is a fine one, but it'd be too close to my face to actually use for vision. I've been giving some thought to trying to get the lenses from a Google Cardboard setup, which move your focal plane to 45mm from your face; this requires that the video feed be displayed in side-by-side manner on the phone screen, like it is in Google Cardboard, but there are Augmented Reality apps that can take care of that from what I've seen.

The option of last resort would probably be a wired FatShark setup from the quadcopter world, but I think the cheapest options for that start at around $200, so probably not something you want to consider.
 
FPV Drone camera setups may be right up your alley, as someone else said. They tend to be rather small, and stream pretty damn well.
 
Dogless said:
What's the field of vision like on an endoscope? I mean, they're designed to look at things a little more... close up! I find it totally incredible that we live in a world where you can buy your own endoscope for $10 - some people have some weird passtimes.
Click to expand...
The field vision depends of the endoscope, but is common you have very good quality for far views but won't be the same for close views. In my job I use an industrial endoscope, the field vision is amazing but for "far views" you don't have high definition resolution. In my opinion, for only ten dollars is a good value to do an experience.

Do the following, request the seller on eBay to send some images or video of the endoscope working on, let me say, "far views mode". This way you can evaluate if is according your expectation.

Enviado de meu XT1650 usando Tapatalk
 
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