Over the years we have seen many products come and go, and we've seen the hype and anticipation before some special products become widely available. The latest product to fit here is the Oregon Scientific Action Camera ATC2000. Before the camera was even available people have been contacting us about it. The typical questions are: How's the quality? Is it really rugged? How long do the batteries last? Well, until now, we have been unable to answer these questions other than rattling off specifications from Oregon Scientific's website. While originally announced in September, with the manufacturer’s promise of arriving before Christmas, Oregon Scientific was just not able to deliver in time. And now, nearly three months later, we finally got our first big shipment in and were able to ship out about half our backorders. We decided to keep one of the cameras and run it through the paces.
Ease of use
My experience with the helmet/bullet type cameras has been mostly with my racing recumbent trike. My current camera installation consists of a VioSport Camera and the Archos AV500 video recorder. You can find notes on my setup here. A typical camera setup will consist of:
1. Mounting the Camera 2. Mounting and securing the recording device 3. Connecting cables and power supplies
The ATC2K makes easy work of these entire steps by including the camera, recorder and mounting mechanism all into unit that is only about twice the size of a standard bullet cam.
Mounting the camera is super easy and the camera comes with enough mounting accessories to allow you to hook the camera almost anywhere. I successfully mounted the camera to my bike, car, dog and remote control buggy. Besides having the camera twist a little on the dog, I had no problems using the included mounting straps. The mounting mechanism is built so that the camera itself can simply click into the strap mount or handlebar clip and is easily removable. Please note that both the rubber strap and the more conventional Velcro strap use the same mounting plate, and in switching the straps back and forth we managed to break the rubber strap. There is no method of getting a live view from the camera, so to check out the image you have to record and then connect the camera up to a computer or monitor. After you've shot a few videos on the ATC2K you get a good idea of where it needs pointed.
The ATC2K is very easy to use. There are only three buttons on the top of the camera.
• Power Button • Record button • Menu
Using the ATC2K with a computer
The ATC2K has a built-in 32MB of memory and can use SD cards up to 2GB (maybe larger). It connects to a computer via a standard USB mini port that hides behind the waterproof back case. There are no drivers to install as the camera is seen by the computer as only a removable USB drive. With the SD card in the camera the built-in memory cannot be accessed. Since the camera itself cannot be accessed via USB (only its storage component) it cannot be used as a web camera. When the camera is plugged into a USB port all other functions are disabled on the camera.
Using the ATC2K with a TV
The camera comes with an AV cable that plugs into the back of the camera. When you plug the cable into the port it instantly turns on the ATC2K's AV mode (represented by AU on the LCD screen). To get audio and video out just plug the white and yellow RCA plugs to your TV or VCR. Simple enough. The video display has basic controls on the bottom of the screen to navigate around clips on the camera. You use the menu button to move around the controls and the power/enter button to select. Besides playing back captured videos you can also use this mode to delete clips.
Is it rugged?
My favorite aspect of the ATC2K is how rugged the camera is. Besides being very lightweight and self-contained, the unit has a good amount of rubber on the front and flexible plastic on the back and mounts to prevent damage should the unit be occasionally dropped. With the back cover in place the electrical components (batteries, USB, AV port, and SD Card) are totally protected. Oregon scientific includes two rubber O-rings and a small vial of petroleum jelly that can be used to make the unit completely waterproof. In our testing we did submit it to a variety of bumps and drops and it did not seem to be affected.
Video Quality
This is, of course, the biggest question that most people have. How good is the video? It is hard to not be biased here because I have used many great cameras over the years. Comparing it with sub-$200 cameras, I would say that it performs very well. Outside, with good lighting the color and image quality look good. Inside with poor lighting produces a fairly grainy image. Overall, I would put the quality using its highest setting as comparable with a very good web camera. Overall, the color is decent. The resolution is 640x480. The image most likely suffers due to the high compression used. The video viewed on a television looks much better than on a computer monitor but you can view a sample using the links at the top of the page.
You would not want to use the ATC2K as the main camera when shooting a documentary, but it could be used very well to augment action shots. It will easily allow recording from situations where a standard camcorder would not work. For Xtreme youth that want to film crazy stunts for their blogs, this camera would work great.
Audio Quality
Some sacrifices had to be made, I suppose, when adding a waterproof microphone to this camera. The microphone is built onto the bottom of the camera and is probably the worst sound capturing device I have ever used. Test captures ranged from not hearing anything to only hearing loud rumbles and road noise. The audio may add some impact to your crash scene, but won't be sufficient if you need vocals.
Conclusion
I like this camera a lot. While it would not replace my standard bullet cam setup on my trike, I won't hesitate to strap one on my helmet to get different viewpoints. Especially due to its extremely low price. Since it's far less expensive than any comparable product, picking up even a few would be an easy task. I especially liked being able to attach this camera to my RC car, which is something that would be much harder to do with any other camera. The quality is good enough that I can use it for many different situations and delivery methods. The poor audio is the main detractor for me, but there are many types of shots that this camera will be good for that having audio would be unnecessary. During the spring, when things thaw out around here, we will be attaching the camera to all sorts of things like RC Airplanes and Model Rockets. I would also like to fully explore the ATC2K's underwater capabilities.
