My favorite purveyors of cheap stuff have finally added a sub-$15 PAL video camera (NTSC version) to their inventory. 25FPSers rejoice!
This seems to be the same or very similar model to the cameras I’ve been using for my various Vixid experiments, and as the core of the Herovision setup.
The quality of these can be a bit varied. They have a tendency to change colour temperature as they “warm up”, and of the 16 I bought (from a different supplier), 2-3 had problems with colour, exposure or contrast. We managed to kill another couple over the course of putting Herovision together, but those which made it through have been very robust, and survived being bashed in transit and swung around the place by drunk punters.
The quality and sensitivity isn’t amazing, but this is a $15 camera! Think of it as the Lomo of video, without the hipster-fuelled price hike. Drop in a fisheye lens, put them up close to your subject, add some effects: Hey! Are you some kind of video artist?
Cowper – Berlin Four Two (Live) from Jaymis on Vimeo.
(More details of this performance on Vixid.Noisepages)
Other interesting things which have recently hit the DealExtreme catalogue:
CMOS Dome Cameras (PAL and NTSC)
Various rechargeable wireless cameras.
Wireless AV Transmitters and receivers.
BNC Video and Power extension cables.
Now we just need an inexpensive Mac-compatible capture device to bring all this stuff in to visualist software world. Any suggestions?