Video MaruCam! [All 3 Finished Videos in First Post]

Last night I attached a FlipCam to the sterndeck of my Maru. Today it sailed in 3 sorties and sank 3 times. I obtained usable video out of all 3 sorties.
This is the rough cut of the first sortie - there is very little audio, mostly only when guns fire nearby - this is primarily due to a problem with the flipcam's onboard audio processing (part of the reason im willing to attach it to a ship I know will be sunk). Only 2 ships are trying to sink the Maru here as it attempts to run its course, so it isn't constant action, but there are some definite warship appearances.
Edit: All 3 finished videos:

 

RE: MaruCam!
Thanks. I'm working on the other two. The 3rd one isnt much action at all, the pump screen clogged up with debris and she went down relatively quickly, but the 2nd sortie is the best of them all - a newbie captain who handled her well and didnt sink until the completion of his convoy run. A sink in every video makes me very happy!
If anyone is wondering 'just how silly does a FlipCam on the back of a Mehoshi Maru look?'- it looks like this:

 

RE: MaruCam! Nope.

The flip was free, scrap from work because its audio processing is screwy. Buying a case for it would have made it a non-free experiment, as well as adding weight and bulk and eliminating the ability to use the flip's tripod mount point that I used to bolt it to the Maru.

I did tear the flip apart and skotchkote pretty much everything I could. I broke the power switch out, removed the speaker assembly and coated the screen in dielectric grease to cut down on water intrusion. That it still works after 3 good immersions pleases me.

 

RE: MaruCam!
The one I'm using right now is one of the non-HD flips, I don't have a HD one that I'm willing to sacrifice to the pond gods right now, but I have taken one of the HDs apart in the past.
The flips are all pretty straightforward internally, and I'm hoping in the future to actually separate the camera itself from the main board and wire it back to the controls in a watertight box within the ship. (this would actually require cutting the main pcb and bridging the cut traces as the camera's sensor is mounted on it, so it may be less than reasonable to do).

 

RE: MaruCam! It is indeed. He dusted it off this year, he's really enjoying hunting the convoys with it. The age is showing in a few spots but he's been working on fixing them as he can.

 

RE: MaruCam!
Edit: Content moved to first post.

 

Please do post how they keychain camera works out, I've been thinking about trying one myself.

I've finished all 3 videos and they are embedded in the first post. Also on our club's page: http://www.nwnavalcombat.com/oct-2nd-marucam/300

 

Who?

 

Nikki, read this thread again. The ship is the Mehoshi Maru. Google and Wikipedia will be able to get you all the details you need from there.

 

The Maru is the most famous ship. Well known for frequently being sunk and having more patches than balsa and more dope and sigment than paint at this point.

The Maru, my maru, lacks a proper name and is thus merely called 'The Maru'. Seeing as The Maru is a unique ship in our fleet the lack of a conventional name is a nonissue. Since last year The Maru has sailed in almost every battle and been sunk in about 50% of them. This is good because the Maru enjoys recreational diving and servo-moisture-repulsion testing.

The Maru enjoys short sails on the pond with willing victims, er, guest captains and likes to attract shiny baubles.

That is who The Maru is. And now you can view the life of The Maru through the cyclopian eye of the MaruCam!

 

Viva la frenchies! (And the frenchies didn't sink/scuttle/surrender)
We're mulling over trying to rig up some keychain cameras to the big Richelieu's dual sidemounts for gun-cam footage. The intersection of MaruCam and dual-sidemount guncams could be fun video time.