Potential Analytical Golf Swing Camera

[k14]

mchepp - thanks for that.

My next task is to work out, or find out, exactly how much recording time is required per practice session.  My golf ignorance suggests that it would average out at about two hours and as the GOLFCAMERA-01 need not be switched to RECORD ( by remote RF control ) until a few seconds before the actual club swing takes place then perhaps one hour of actual recording time is all that is needed.

The current conception of the GOLFCAM-01 is raw 12 -b per pixel at 640 X 512 @ 300 IPS -  7.28 seconds/GB  - this gives us 15.5 minutes of stored raw data on a proposed 128 GB of storage media.  To obtain a longer recording time we then add H.264 algorithm compression.  The ratio of the H.264 now depends on how much recording time we want and how much reduction in quality we can accept due to compression.  A H.264 ratio of 4:1 would give us the one hour.

Any advice from anybody?

Lee Tracey

For me, even for a long practice session I may only have 3-5 mins of recording (maximum). In a usual session I may only come away with 10-20s of recording. I may take 10-15 different clips (up to 30 seconds in length) but will usually delete these after watching and only keep 1 or 2 pairs of clips (by pair I mean a face on and down the line view of the swing) to download to my PC for post analysis. When I have a lesson my instructor usually only takes between 1 and 4 clips (all being less than 10 seconds) and then we will go and copy to his computer to analyse. So IMO you don't need to worry if you only have 10-20 mins of recording ability on a 32gb or 64gb SD card, that is ample.

[Lee Tracey]

Hi K14:

Very encouraging news.  Based on 640 X 512 @ 300IPS in colo ur then the rate is 7.28 seconds per GB.  I now discover that SSD memory has come down in price and 240GB is available for about $120 so that means the GOLFCAM-01 could offer ( by owner selection in firmware ) to record in RAW video and that would give 29.12 minutes - that is nearly 30 minutes of fantastic quality raw. For those who wanted longer then they could switch to H.264 compressed and a compression ratio of only 4:1 that would provide almost two hours.  However H.264 can compress without serious loss at 60:1.

The longer recording time might also serve a different application I learned today from a young Belgian golfer.  While I have been assured by many that they would not bother with a camera once they were playing for real, the young Belgian golfer told that the club she belongs to often have practice sessions which are beyond the practice area and use the whole course.  For those sessions she said they would provide the time to set up and use cameras.

On the price front.   News of what I am up to has filtered out a bit and I have been offered a new sensor - this new sensor is 640 X 480 and 480 IPS and global shutter.  The key factor however is that in MOQ lots of 1000 it is only $20.  The PB-01 is $200 - though I have been told that in large quantity it could be lower - let us say even $100.   When you consider the mark up can be as high as 600% from manufacturing cost to end user price then a component cost of $20 is attractive.

GoPro have introduced a Hero 3 camera in white at $299 but GoPro are powerful and do not have middle company distributors so they can work on a much smaller percentage - about 400%.  $48 to $200..  With that ratio and the vast numbers they sell it is no wonder that their founder and CEO ( Nicholas Woodman ) is a multi millionaire, and then some.

Lee Tracey

[Lee Tracey]

With the advice from you guys I think I am on the right track to understand the necessary infrastructure of a practice area GOLFCAM..  Information has now come to me from a UK University of their success in tracking tennis balls - see JPEG above.  The suggestion is that the technology can be applied to golf balls, and at a fraction of the cost of Trackman.

[iacas]

With the advice from you guys I think I am on the right track to understand the necessary infrastructure of a practice area GOLFCAM..  Information has now come to me from a UK University of their success in tracking tennis balls - see JPEG above.  The suggestion is that the technology can be applied to golf balls, and at a fraction of the cost of Trackman.

None of this has anything to do with a camera for filming the golf swing.

[Lee Tracey]

ICAS

Correct!.  But I have received many enquiries as to the potential of being able to produce a camera for the flight of the golfball, so I though I would be polite and try to make an answer.