For a while now, I've been looking for a cheap video camera to use during paintball games that fell under one of two categories:
A. Hardy enough to withstand a hit from a paintball right to the lens
B. Cheap enough that I don't care what happens to it.
The decision was made for me when I realized I really didn't want to spend much money in the first place, so "B" it was then!
I came across the MD80 on Ebay, and I immediately snatched it up due to the price, which shall be revealed in a moment.
A. Hardy enough to withstand a hit from a paintball right to the lens
B. Cheap enough that I don't care what happens to it.
The decision was made for me when I realized I really didn't want to spend much money in the first place, so "B" it was then!
I came across the MD80 on Ebay, and I immediately snatched it up due to the price, which shall be revealed in a moment.
Product: DVR MD80 (sold under different brands, and by several names)
Price: Including shipping and taxes, just under $15 USD!
Options: I believe it comes in different colours, and there is a similar product that is instead shaped like a car remote starter.
Shown with a standard sized card for scale.
Specs:
- Manual or sound activation
- Different mounting options
- Ability to act as a webcam
- Accepts any micro SD card
- Records at 720 by 480 pixels at roughly 25 fps
- Built-in rechargeable battery
Pros: It's dirt cheap and works, if it stopped there, I feel like it would be worth it. The expandable memory, sound activation, nice resolution, internal battery and various mounting options are just icing on the cake. All the features work nicely, and because of its ridiculously small size, it would be very easy to mount just about anywhere.
Cons: It's from China and is cheap, along with all the associated headaches. The manual is crap, it often has trouble syncing with my Mac (fixed by simply getting the Mac to read the micro SD card with an adaptor), and mine broke soon after I got it. Broke is a bit of a strong word, as I proceeded to open it up with a set of jeweler's screwdrivers and just reconnected the pieces that had become detached inside (seems to have fixed it permanently). I can't get rid of the stupid time and date tags in every video it takes, which annoys me to no end.
Some totally uninteresting footage shot with
the video camera. I had the camera on my vest.
Pay no attention to my messed up thumbs.
Pay no attention to my messed up thumbs.
Here's a link to some ebay auctions.
