ATC-1000 Review
Last week I bought another bullet camera. This one is ideally suited for the types of extreme sports that I do throughout the year. It's a bit different from the one I use for my road trips. Read on to find out what I think of the ATC-1000 from Oregon Scientific.
It boasts the following features:
-Wireless, compact design
- TV cable for instant replay on the big screen and USB for easy uploads
- Three resolutions at 15 fps: 640 x 480 (default), 320 x 240 or 160 x 120
- SD card expansion up to 1GB – standard memory is 32MB
- 35mm in diameter and 140mm in length.
Currently when playing paintball or driving my car, I use a bullet camera that is very small that has 480 lines of resolution. It records remotely onto a mini DVD-R disc. The pluses of my current setup include DVD resolution and 30fps shooting. The minus is the bundle of wires all over the place to hook the bullet camera up to my recording rig! I looked around, and found this other camera setup (the ATC-1000), and thought I'd give it a try. I assumed that 15fps would be ok for recording extreme sports, but unfortunately it's not as nice as I hoped it would be. 15fps just doesn't cut it for persistence of vision. 24fps would be ideal.
I like detail in my footage, and with the ATC-1000, I don't get that. The images that I do get, even in 640x480, don't come out as cleanly as shooting with my smaller, wired, bullet camera. This is due to the limitations and target audience of the ATC-1000. It's classified in the Youth Electronics in Oregon Scientifics' catalog, and it's priced appropriately. I bought it for $126 total with shipping, while my 'professional' grade bullet camera was $225 just for the head!
I'll be taking the ATC-1000 out to the field next month, to give it an actual workout and see exactly where it will fail. The great plus of the ATC-1000 is the onboard memory and the ability to record onto a SD card! Up to 1GB is possible. My wish list for an Adult Electronics version would be at least 24/30fps (interlaced or progressive) at 640x480, a better and larger CCD, stereo recording, and ability to use any SD card size (1GB, 2GB, and up). It probably won't meet the $120 pricepoint, but if it's all enclosed and the same size, I'm sure there would be more adult buyers. The other option that I have is the Samsung SCX105L, which is just a MPEG4 camcorder that comes with a bullet camera!
Leave a comment