So how can most people convert the Oregon Scientific ATC2K Actioncam coming from a good camera into a superb camera? The answer is to add some modifications, also it wasn't until I'd bought it that I realised just how customisable it was.
Be aware: Make sure you browse this entire section just before making any modifications.
The initial step was to improve for the narrow viewing window by adding a wide angle standard zoom lens, a modification provided with the Utah Trikes crew.
The 2nd was to replace the microphone which has a 2. 5mm mic jack, to improve the sound and enable the addition of any mic you want.
Modification 1 - adding a broad angle lens
I'd love to start by saying a major thank you to Ut Trikes for providing typically the mod, without which I would not have even commenced to strip this camera down.
Their mod are available on their website right.
In this mod they utilize a Sunpak wide angle lens provided with a variety of adapter rings. Unfortunately that lens isn't available in the united kingdom and is difficult to find in the united states as the article was written assistance programs were 2007. While I did eventually manage to find one, the company did not ship to the BRITISH.
Instead I sourced a 37mm wide angle webpage on Ebay. co. uk from the Hong Kong based seller. Any wide angle lens will perform and plugging in "37mm wide angle lens" provides you with a range of methods. But before you order, remember three things:
Don't pay an excessive amount of for the lens - remember this lens are going to be being shot at (we'll look into lens protection later). Do not spend? 0 on the lens and double your budget - a? lens from Hong Kong is going to do.
Wide angle lenses come in a variety of magnifications, from 0. 7x in order to 0. 45x. The lower the number the more you will notice - whichever you chose is up to you but as we're working on a small viewing window A totally free strongly recommend 0. 45x magnification.
Don't purchase a wide angle with a giant lens. Remember, the lens is going to be being added to your camera - you don't want a massive lens for the small camera that will make the camera unwieldy and negates why you bought it.
As noted within the Utah Trikes modification tips, the exposed camera end requires a 30. 5mm ring, if you can find one which has a 30. 5mm step up adapter ring then even better, although after much searching I was not able to.
Some of you may be thinking "can't I just possess a 30. 5mm lens without needing an adapter engagement ring? ". Tried and failed I'm afraid - without an adapter ring the bond clearance wasn't long enough to hold the lens on completely.
The lens I settled for was a "37mm 0. 45X Wide-Angle Lens pertaining to CANON HF10 HF100 BK" from eBay - only?. 99 plus? shipping.
So now I needed a step-up ring from 30. 5mm in order to 37mm. Some of you might be thinking "don't you have to have a step down ring? ". To be honest that truly depends on where most people source your lens. Nevertheless, it's highly likely that the new lens will have a very 37mm 'male' screw bond, meaning you'll need a step up ring with a 37mm female thread - i. at the. a step up engagement ring. You'll also need a new filter ring (with no filter) to provide additional clearance for your lens to adjust to tightly.
simply airsoft guns - actioncam with vast angle
As you are able to see from the image over, I've used a step-up ring to convert the 37mm lens to a 30. 5mm ring and two filter rings to include even more clearance on the lens fitting.
While you can source these from a few places, the shipping costs are often greater than the actual ring. The least expensive and fastest I noticed was from
www. vintagecameras. co. uk. These guys are great, they have a tremendous range of rings and they are UK based. My ring cost? plus? delivery.
When you've received that lens and ring return to the Utah Trikes mod and put it together.
Note: If you are planning to perform modification two (below) to improve the sound, do not attach your wide angle lens at this time or replace the guts of the camera - you will need them out to create the modification.
If this is actually the only modification you will be doing, I recommend adding some superglue under the ring before installing with the extra strong fitting.
As possible see from the videos for the Utah Trikes mod web site, the results are wonderful - a much wider field of view that could pick up more in the battle when filming.
Customization 2 - removing your rubber
Note: In this section I will look at two modifications to improve the sound quality for the camera. The first is often a temporary change and will be reversible. The second is just not, and will permanently remove the waterproofing on your camera and prevent it from being submersible in water. However, the camera will still be water resistant and well suited for airsoft, even in the rain.
As you could possibly have noticed from the Utah Trikes page, their modification for improving the sound is to unscrew the plate at the end of the camera and remove the rubber covering the microphone. See the Utah Trikes article here for more details.
Note: while the camera does not have the rubber while watching microphone it will certainly not be waterproof. Make sure you replace the plastic before submerging the cameras in water.
While it was an incredibly simple take care of, I found it way too effective. The microphone about the camera is so fragile that any sound taped was either too loud on the extent that it lead out or was fully muffled by wind movement in the now exposed microphone. Unfortunately this could not be suitable for airsofting as whatever you would hear would be topped out gun does seem.
Note: In this section I will look at two modifications to improve the sound quality for the camera. The first is often a temporary change and will be reversible. The second is just not, and will permanently remove the waterproofing on your camera and prevent it from being submersible in water. However, the camera will still be water resistant and well suited for airsoft, even in the rain.
As you could possibly have noticed from the Utah Trikes page, thier modification for improving the sound is to unscrew the plate at the end of the camera and remove the rubber covering the mike. See the Utah Trikes article here for more details.
Note: while the camera does not have the rubber while watching microphone it will certainly not be waterproof. Make sure you replace the plastic before submerging the cameras in water.
While it was an incredibly simple take care of, I found it way too effective. The microphone about the camera is so fragile that any sound taped was either too loud on the extent that it lead out or was fully muffled by wind movement in the now exposed microphone. Unfortunately this could not be suitable for airsofting as whatever you would hear would be topped out gun does seem.
Modification 3 - Introducing a 2. 5mm microphone jack
This is a little fiddly but can be done. As noted earlier, this modification will permanently remove the waterproofing on your camera preventing it from being submersible in water. However, the camera will still be water resistant and well suited for airsoft, even in the rain.
First find yourself a mono 2. 5mm headphone socket (note a 3. 5mm won't fit) with a enthusiast and thread for increasing. These can be found for less than? from Maplins. Most will come with two contacts at the end and a wire retaining hoop - remove it hoop leaving just both the contacts.
Remove the guts of the camera as per your Utah Trikes page right here. If you're having a tough time, try pulling on the battery cover rather than the casing, it's deceptive which in turn part actually pulls apart.
Remove the mic plate and you will probably see the clear plastic material housing that sits while watching microphone, with a square space containing a bit of rubber covering the mic. If you have possibly not already removed this, remove it now.
Ensure the guts from the camera have been extracted, get a drill and additionally drill the hole who holds the rubber to the diameter of your microphone stand jack. This is where your mic jack could sit.
The mic plate may have left a square space which will now become the space for ones mic jack mounting area. Cut a piece with hard plastic/metal to the length and width of the original microphone stand plate and drill through a mic jack gap plus two screw holes lining up when using the screwholes used for original mic cover. Note: if you would like the plate to end up black, now's the time to spray it.
Now make use of the nut/thread on the headphone jack to solve it to the new plate; you'll probably need a few sets of pliers to find the nut tight.
Now here's the harder part. You've two options - work with the mic wire furnished or extend it.
In case your good at soldering, remove the built in mic as a result of its wires, put the camera guts in and thread the wires through your new drill hole in a casing. Then solder the wires to the jack contacts - to my knowledge it does not matter which way round these are.
Of course, these wires are not much to utilize, so you'll probably need some pliers to halt the wires from scrunching up when you put the guts back in and will have to be careful when soldering to assure you don't burn throughout them.
If you're less than good at soldering, extend the mic wires then do step one. I got my wire off a small buzzer for circuits -- 69p at Maplins. Unfortunately since the wires are now longer it will be even harder to stop the wires from scrunching. I suggest tweezers, pliers, or even string to guide the wires.
Note: When you are putting the guts back in they should go through smoothly. If they're not you're just from the correct orientation. Remove and try again, it may take a few attempts to get the alignment right.
Now stuff the jack to the hole and screw your plate down. Presto, now you've got a mic jack on a fabulous tidy plate.
As you've used a 2. 5mm jack you'll likely need a patch connection to convert it to your 3. 5mm socket or fix a 2. 5mm end for your mic. I recommend a right angle jack fixing for the camera end to prevent an big adapter sticking out the camera.
Finding a new microphone
The choice of microphone is your decision, but it makes impression to use one as small as possible. My recommendation is really a tie-clip microphone, found for?. 99 at Maplins here.
The sound's fantastic, forget about wind muffling the sound, voices are actually understandable and the guns sound great.
Nevertheless, it's still very fragile so don't get near to the mic - and by that i mean if you are talking into it you should have it no closer as opposed to your waist line.
Keep in mind the camera isn't re-sampling and treating the sound in any way. It'll only be so good but now at least you'll stay away from the original set up at which any wind makes all the sound useless or the rubber removed build where the mic is overly sensitive.
simply airsoft guns - microphone
Of study course, the large phono adapter that accompany the microphone isn't called for.
Bullet-proofing
After all the modifications it seems sensible to add a little bullet proofing for the new lens. The first thing I just tried was cutting your lens-sized circle out of a pair of safety goggles from B&Q and supergluing it with the front of the video camera. Unfortunately after a couple of attempts the superglue kept misting in the lens and the safety glass is not clear enough to utilize.
The solution came on a visit to Newavon biceps. I was looking for the scope cover and they presented me by having a huge box of spares that is bought for only? every. I found one suitable for the wide angle contact lens and went home to adjust to it. While it was somewhat big, I used ultra-adhesive 'No more nails' pads from B&Q to make sure you pad out the difference and it's worked great since.
Mounting choices for airsoft
The Camera
A few range of options just for mounting the camera. The best option is on your face or preferably a biker helmet using (of course) the helmet fitting. However it can be a quite heavy and or else wearing a helmet it can squeeze your head uncomfortably. The camera will also bounce because you run although this is often minimised using the supplied pads placed under the helmet fitting.
If you do not wear the camera on your head you'll have to make a compromise - either onto your non-firing shoulder or upon your gun, both of which have positives and negatives. You may be asking yourself 'did he try increasing it on... ', the solution is yes, I tried the waist, legs, hands, firing shoulder (your are up against obscures the lens when you go to fire) and anywhere else I can think of.
On your non-firing shoulder: Great for first guy shooter style videos and always looks toward play.
On the gun: Great for those 'I gotten you! ' shots not to mention if the cameras attached to your gun it'll always point at your target.
On the non-firing shoulder
After trying a few options I ran across this to be the easiest method to shoulder mount the digicam. As you can discover, the camera sits within the handlebar grip which might be attached via it's screw thread to your hole a made inside shoulder of my tac jacket.
The camera angle can be then fine tuned with cable ties with the scope cover holes, tugging the lens flat along with almost completely removing just about any bounce while running.
This can be a very easy mount, completely hands free, light and gives that you simply nice 'Predator' style cannon on your shoulder. It's also incredibly stable and the results are impressive even when in a full run, as per the clip earlier in the following paragraphs.
However, if you fire any gun you'll pull your shoulder across and you will probably only get footage of your gun, rather than the target. You can counteract this specific slightly by pointing your camera outwards, but lacking having it facing sideways all through non-firing moments it's likely you won't see who you ended up being shooting at.
On your gun
Simply mount the camera while using provided velcro strap tied around the gun body.
This is great except that the actual time spent shooting at targets is incredibly little and the slumber of your footage would be the camera looking at the garden soil. Also the camera does increase the weight of the firearm; not a problem for me but some may discover it an issue.
Which mounting you use is your decision. If you were filming during the day you could quite easily change it out round and have a terrific days worth of different angles to publish edit.
The microphone
Mentionened above previously, the microphone is very sensitive so should be mounted as far away from sound sources as potential. Mine is threaded along my tac vest and clipped on at my lower back, with talking and gun sound volumes well-balanced.
The Finished Product
Here's some pictures from the finished product, fully installed on my non-firing shoulder.
Be aware: For those eagle-eyed players you'll notice the camera is on my own right shoulder as I'm left handed.
Post editing
I use a technique called Canopus Edius pertaining to my post editing, an easy to use but highly advanced specialized video editing suite, suggested by Utah Trikes. It may be downloaded as a trial or in full via a torrent with an engine such as BitTyrant.
Utah Trikes recommend de-interlacing the footage to lessen video warble, decreasing the contrast, increasing the brightness and adding a tiny bit of the sharpness filter. Personally none of the videos I have produced have been treated so as I've been happy with them from any outset but it's up to you.
Sample videos
I have to say that the first time I tried out a camera the footage is fantastic. In fact, the whole Defenders of the Earth video was created from one days worth of footage!
To see the camera in action, visit the Shooting Gallery and watch our Defenders in the Earth videos, all taken using the modified ATC2000 camera.
I hope this piece of writing has provided you with the information you need to do not delay - modify your camera!
Subject: Modifying The Actioncam Atc2k 
Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:53 pm