Target camera ??

[jdk1]

Nice little unit that From what I understand (not very much) it should link to my phone ? It says something about Android and I think mine is that (Sony Z2 ?)
Or have I got it wrong again , I don't do tech

I am probably telling you wrong here mate but i think most everything thats not apple is android , that camera looks like it runs off 5 volts so it should be easy enough to use one of them small powerpack thingies.

Do you think we should wait for someone who's more up on this to pipe up, or shall I just buy it and see

You know who we really need, BRUUUUUUUUUUCE !! Where are you ?

I would hang on till bruce gives it the thumbs up or down , but if it is ok i fancy a go at one myself

[jdk1]

Could another possible use for these be as some kind of trail cam ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-720P-CCTV- ... SwdzVXiKhf

[rodp]

Could another possible use for these be as some kind of trail cam ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-720P-CCTV- ... SwdzVXiKhf

Surely though for live view it would flatten the phone battery ? Be a useful item if it could be used with a dedicated monitor, I used to use a wide angle spotter on a tripod peering over the hide / net at the feeders. it was perfect as you could sit down and drink coffee etc and just take a look at the screen now and then.

We need Bruce to tell us what and why

[jdk1]

Could another possible use for these be as some kind of trail cam ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-720P-CCTV- ... SwdzVXiKhf

Surely though for live view it would flatten the phone battery ? Be a useful item if it could be used with a dedicated monitor, I used to use a wide angle spotter on a tripod peering over the hide / net at the feeders. it was perfect as you could sit down and drink coffee etc and just take a look at the screen now and then.

We need Bruce to tell us what and why

He needs to turn up pretty smartish my finger keeps hovering over the "buy it now" button

[rodp]

Could another possible use for these be as some kind of trail cam ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-720P-CCTV- ... SwdzVXiKhf

Surely though for live view it would flatten the phone battery ? Be a useful item if it could be used with a dedicated monitor, I used to use a wide angle spotter on a tripod peering over the hide / net at the feeders. it was perfect as you could sit down and drink coffee etc and just take a look at the screen now and then.

We need Bruce to tell us what and why

He needs to turn up pretty smartish my finger keeps hovering over the "buy it now" button

Not on your own there, I've gone to press buy it now a couple of times I just like opening parcels I think, I must have a problem

[phoenix]

You called?
After a range session a couple of months ago when some smart Alec (definitely not me) was hitting a 12" gong at 1000 yards - and I was whacking a 4" gong and punching paper 300 yards, the need for a target camera became rather obvious
So, a bit of research on t'internet came up with this link https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/17634 ... tml&page=1
If you want to buy off the shelf, then these are 2 possibilities
https://www.bullseyecamera.com/
https://targetvisioncam.com/
I decided to have a go myself and this is what I came up with

Basically a plastic Bahco tool box and a camera tripod.

Inside the tool box is a 12V Deben lithium battery and a TP link wireless router. The camera and long range wifi antenna are also stored in the box
The tripod has a short length of picatinny rail fitted to it and the camera is screwed to a picatinny mount so fitting the camera to the tripod is easy.
The long range antenna is attached to a suction mount and that suction mount "sucks onto" a piece of flat aluminium screwed to the top of the tool box.

Here's the camera on the tripod

And here's the antenna suction mounted to the toolbox

What's left in the tool box when everything is set up, i.e. just the battery and the router.

This what the down range set up looks like (obviously the camera would be pointing at the target and the antenna would be pointing back to the firing point
This is the camera I used http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-1080P-ONVI ... 3f5a67d6d2
It works fine, but the software is a bit clunky.
This is the long range antenna http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181902557848? ... EBIDX%3AIT
The Router is a TP Link Archer C2.
I use a tablet computer (coz i don't have a smart phone) to check the picture at the target end so that the camera is in the right position to give a clear image of the target without being too close to the line of fire.
That tablet can also be used at the firing line to see the strikes on the target. A laptop could also be used, and might get a bit more range since it will probably have a better wi fi set up than a tablet.
Ok, that's all the mechanical and electrical bits sorted. The biggest problem for me was getting the router configured and the camera software to work so that i could actually see the image from the camera on the laptop.
That took a bit of fiddling around, but eventually i got it working.
I've tested it out to 300 yards and the picture quality is excellent, but we haven't had another range day to give it a full workout
There is always a small delay between the camera seeing something and the image appearing on the laptop, but in this case that delay is useful because you can take the shot and have time to then look at the screen and (hopefully) see the hole appear on the target

Cheers

Bruce

[rodp]

That's the sort of thing If you had problems Bruce then I may as well give up now, no point in banging my head off the wall for nothing

When you build Mk2, I'll buy Mk1 off you Unless of course you fancy building another, just think of the enjoyment it would give you ... and ... I'll even cross your palm with silver See, it just doesn't get any better I've even got my own tripod

[jdk1]

Nice set up there bruce , would it be possible to just connect one of the wireless cameras direct to an ipad ? and if so what sort of range could you expect from it ?

[rodp]

On a more serious note though, I take it the camera is wired? So .... I have several cctv cameras here that I've acquired over the years, assuming they're 12v would I then be able to just plug and play one of these into the router, then plug in a long range antennae ? i can get the son in law to get router and tablet to "see" each other, he'll like that

My thinking with the cctv camera is I can change lenses if needed, may be get a little more range that way

Edit to ask would a bigger aerial such as a whip or large external aerial give more range ?

[phoenix]

Rod,
The camera I used is wired to the router (standard ethernet connector).
You can use a wireless camera, and connect wirelessly to the router, but that was beyond my very limited IT skills.
I'm sure you could use a wireless camera and get it to work directly with an IPad, but most wireless cameras have a very short range so it might not work at longer shooting ranges
This set up uses IP camera which are designed to connect to a network, standard analog cctv cameras won't work in this set up.
Depending on the range you want, it might be possible to use an analog camera with a video booster device and a simple LCD screen at the firing line
A lot of the RC helicopter/drone guys use video boosters to send signals from the analog cameras on their drones back to a screen so that they can see where the drone is going and what it is looking at.
Maybe something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/32Ch-5-8G-600 ... SwA3dYLFIb
The working range depends on distance between transmitter and receiver and the gain of the antenna at each end of the system, so having a humungous transmitter antenna and the dinky litte antenna in an IPad, tablet, laptop or smart phone won't really give you much more range.
I have a wifi dongle with a high gain antenna that plugs into my laptop and now, since both ends have high gain antennas, the range does improve significantly and I can get a good image on the laptop at much longer ranges than using the tablet computer without any high gain antenna.

Cheers

Bruce