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Drones: Features,
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One of the most important components in an FPV build Bloggers who use Drones
is arguably the FPV camera you choose to fly with. It’s
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the one connection you have to your craft, and the
Quadcopter Drift? The
quality of the camera(and the transmitter of course) will
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directly impact how well you can fly.
Why is My Drone Not
Flying? Detailed Solutions
Some things to consider when choosing a camera:
& Explanations

Latency: The lower the latency, the less lag there Drones That Can Be
is between the feed and real-time. Ideally, you Controlled with A
want the lowest possible latency for the best Smartphone
control. Banggood Coupons &
Lens size: A lower number lens size means a Promo codes for FPV stuff
wider field of view. The more you can see, the How to Choose the Best
better you can line up your approaches Quad Kit?
WDR: Wide Dynamic Range is a technology that

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improves the light handling of cameras. Most good Eachine Tyro99 Review:
FPV cameras have some degree of WDR, and A Great Racing Drone
cameras like the Runcam Eagle do an exceptional under $100
job Best Selfie Drones: A
Size: There are standard 27x27mm footprints, as New Perspective on Selfies
well as micro cameras that fit in tighter, smaller
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racing builds
You

Here is a quick rundown of the best FPV cameras on

the market right now. There are plenty of options, from
cheap to mid-range to expensive, and I feel that mid-
range is solid, and expensive is great, if you have the
budget for it.

Runcam has released a game-changing FPV

camera especially for micro builds, the Runcam
Split – check out our Runcam Split review for
details.

When you are buying an FPV camera, you’ll have a

choice of lens sizes, such as 2.9, 2.5, and 2.1. A 2.9

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mm lens has a field of view of about 127 degrees, which

GET STARTED
is the same as a natural human eye. For fast FPV
flying, though, 2.9mm may be a little small of an FOV,
so consider getting a 2.5mm lens(147 degrees) or
2.1mm(158 degrees).

Personally, I prefer a larger FOV(2.5 or 2.1) because

you can see a lot more and that makes it easier to
center an airgate or gap in the middle of your view to fly
straight through it. You can also tilt your quad further(go
faster) and still see a lot more without having to
physically tilt the camera as much.

If you are going to mainly fly during the day, stick to IR

Block, which gives a vivid and bright picture in the
daytime, but the image quality at night will be severely
compromised.

IR Sensitive lenses will not have as vivid a picture in the

daytime(you may not even notice), but it fares better in
low light situations. However, for serious night time
flying, go for the Runcam Owl Plus(see below).

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The HS1177 has been the gold standard for FPV

cameras for quite a while now. It’s a mid-range camera,
priced at around $35-40 depending on where you buy it
from. It’s small, comparatively lightweight, and most
frames are built around its form factor so you have no
issues fitting it in. The two screw holes on the side
mount directly into the frame and let you set it at
whatever angle you want to.

This camera is a CCD camera, which handles changes

in light very well. This is important because you’ll be
going in and out of the sun very quickly so you need
something that adjusts the image smoothly and quickly.
Plus, the camera is highly customizable so you can
tweak the settings to get the best image possible when
flying.

The stock settings are not too great, but 5 minutes of

tweaking will get you an awesome picture. There are a
lot of videos on YouTube of pro pilots describing their
favorite settings. The ones I use are the ones
BulbufetFPV shows in his video here:

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The Runcam Swift is almost the same as an HS1177,

but with a wider variety of mounting options, making it

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much more flexible for a large range of frames. The

Runcam Swift 2 is a marked improvement over the
earlier Runcam Swift, and I can now say without a
shadow of doubt that the Swift 2 outperforms the
HS1177 in almost every aspect.

The picture quality is better, the text is sharper, the

colors are more vivid, and it has an included OSD which
will show you battery voltage. If you’re running a Swift 2,
you don’t need any other more complicated OSDs and it
certainly shines as a camera. It’s also just $5-10 more
expensive than an HS1177, which you’d end up paying
more than for an OSD.

The Swift is also available as a micro version for smaller,

tighter builds.

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The Arrow is an upgrade from the HS1177. The main

reason you’d want this camera over the regular HS1177
is that this camera has a built in OSD(on screen
display) which shows you custom text(such as a name),
a timer, and battery voltage. As far as FPV racers are
concerned, the only data you really need on an OSD is
time and voltage.

The Arrow is a little bigger than the HS1177, but most

Arrows ship out with a second casing which is the same
size as the HS1177, so you can switch out the casing
and mount it as you would any other camera, which is a
nice touch.

It also has a built in microphone so you can connect

headphones to your goggles and listen to the motors as
you fly, too.

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The Runcam Eagle is another offering from Runcam

which has the same form factor as the HS1177, but with
a magnesium-alloy housing which is much more
durable and should survive impacts much better.

The Eagle uses a CMOS sensor instead of a CCD, but

Runcam says that the picture quality is excellent as
there have been many improvements to CMOS
technology.

The Eagle is available in a 16:9 version(for goggles that

have stretched FOVs like the Dominator V3s) and a 4:3
version(for goggles that have a square FOV).

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If you are into night flying, the RunCam Owl 2 gives

superb performance even in extreme low light
conditions. Other cameras will usually switch to black
and white in low light, but the Owl stays color for a very
long time and even in very dark conditions, will continue
to give a very clear picture. The stock Owl 2 has a huge
150 degree FOV, and comes with all the bells and
whistles of most other good FPV cameras such as
customizable settings and mounting options. The Owl
Plus is the same form factor as the HS1177, so it will fit
in any build.

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The Caddx Turbo is a new camera from a company just

making an entry on the FPV scene. Their cameras are
advertised to have superior latency(some of the lowest
possible for FPV cameras) and great WDR and low light
image handling. They certainly do very well in front of
the sun, as the image returns to normal very quickly
even after being bombarded by so much light.

They’re almost the same price as Runcams – a little

cheaper in fact – so they may be worth a shot if you
want to try something other than Runcam. Otherwise,
they’ve got all the features you love in Runcam – an
OSD, wide voltage range, and great form factor. Read
full review here

For really tiny micros, you want to get a camera that

combines the video transmitter with it into one
lightweight unit, since you don’t have the weight
allowance or space to fly something heavier.

There are plenty of options here, and most of them have

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similar performance.

You won’t need anything more than 25 mW for a micro.

There are 200 mW transmitters too, but they get really
hot, and you really don’t want to fly a micro that far out.
Remember, if you crash, you have to go look for it!

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COMMENTS

Lucas says
November 6, 2016 at 6:37 pm

awesome tips, how should i proceed to mount

HS1177 or even one of the others cams here
suggested on a ZMR250 frame, looks to me
they are quite small O.o …. do they actually

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fit?

Gulzaar says
November 7, 2016 at 5:02 am

Small is not an issue – you’ll have

problems mounting if it’s too big

Just fill up the extra space with some

foam, or find a 3D printed mount on
Thingiverse.

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