DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Fri Aug 12, 2016 10:11 am

Yes, its a live video stream that is displayed in real time on my Garmin 7610 sounder. Im recording the video on my phone using another Garmin app that lets my phone mirror what ever is on the sounder screen in real time over the Garmin wifi network - Garmin Helm.

So those images you see in the video are what I am seeing on my sounder screen as we are fishing. I can display the video just like any other screen on the sounder - it can be one of several smaller screens or I can expand it to full screen when I want.

Its pretty cool seeing what the bottom actually looks like while your watching the sonar screens at the same time. Its also a hoot watching a fish - even a small one - take the baitright in front of the camera. Even though I know other fish will follow one you have hooked, I was still surprised to see how the fish crowd around the bait. These little rock bass didnt seem to be shy of anything either.

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Fri Aug 12, 2016 10:14 am

Forgot to mention - Ive been playing with a new app and an adapter I just got that also allows me to use the camera with my phone all by itself - no sounder needed. That adds anther $18 to the cost, but its still pretty cheap over all compared to any other underwater cameras out there.

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Wed Aug 17, 2016 11:15 pm

Finally got a call from the Lakewood Police dept about the 'gun'. It took several days for my report to filter through the system I guess.

I told the Sgt I talked to that I was pretty certain it was a flair gun and offered to send him pics, GPS coordinates and a link to the video. He told me they would most likely check it out anyway. He said they had their own underwater camera so I guess thats how they will do it.

I plan to email him back in a week or two and see if they found it.

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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Sideburns » Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:00 pm

any update on the gun sighting?

also thinking of building a camera... I have a short 3 meter version of what they sell on ebay as an endoscope. some are up to 20 m usb cables. they are are also sellin them with micro usb connections now. I use mine through a pc, to inspect engines etc.. through the spark plug hole. Very small camera. They all have ir leds around the lens, and many are advertised as waterproof! also seeing wifi versions now, where the wifi part would be on the usb side of the 20m cable. Allowing some sort of spring loaded reel to let out and respool cable with out having a twisted cable.

Still in the brainstorming faze. I hope to post something as informative as you have, if I actually ever try this out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6LED-Wireless-W ... bIckkxHS3A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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"If it still works, take it apart and find out why!"

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Wed Nov 23, 2016 6:46 pm

Sorry! I missed your reply somehow.

The smaller the camera lens, the more 'fish eye' it tends to be. The lenses on those endo cameras tend to be pretty wide angle and narrow aperture.

To see how it might work out, you can test it by just looking around the room you are in. Maybe take some paper and cut out a 12" long fish sized pattern and see how big it looks a few feet from the camera. That will give you a good idea of the effective range when looking for fish. Then turn out the lights and see how well it works in the dark or outside on a starlit or moonlit night. It gets dark really fast as you go deep.

The camera I got does fairly well with no lights unless the water is muddy or stained. Then, even bright lights dont help. We were on Silver Lake down south a few weeks ago and the camera was useless. I could only see about 6" away in 6ft of water without the light. With the light ON it was even worse. Pure whiteout due to the crap in the water. With the lens I have on mine, I can still see a 12" long fish about 20 ft away but its pretty darn tiny on the screen. Unfortunately, thats what available in the budget $ range and small sizes.

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Wed Nov 23, 2016 6:52 pm

Oh - no word from the cops on the "gun". I keep forgetting to call them.

I have some fairly boring video from our trip to Priest Rapids on the Columbia several weeks ago that I havent had time or energy to edit. Its mostly just rocky bottom with the camera swinging around randomly. I missed recording one large fish as it swam by. No idea what it was. I did capture one fish swimming up stream just at the edge of visibility on the screen, but again it was too faint to tell what it was or how big.

The camera worked fairly well though. Based on the size of one lure that I saw, the visibility was maybe 10-15 ft with no lights in 30-40 ft of water on a bright day.

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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by TrackerPro16 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:00 am

Bringing back an older thread!
The more I read your posts the more I think we are related! Our interests and hobbies seem to mirror... I am getting to where I weigh building something as opposed to just buying it so I can just get to the 'using' part but I applaud your efforts. It does work well!

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Larry3215
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Re: DIY under water fish cam - on a budget

Post by Larry3215 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:52 pm

LOL Thanks! I build stuff when I can partly to save money but mostly because I like tinkering with gizmos :)

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