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Estes Oracle

I got the Estes Oracle last week. I've been waiting for this a long time. I had a Cineroc in my teen age years in the 70's and gotten some good films from that. I wish I had those films now. Anyway the Oracle is not bad. Actually the E2X rocket is quite good & well made and flies great. I had a perfectly stright flight with no roll, on a D12-5 motor. I fixed the chute so the camera would point down during recovery. However with the slow frame rate (only 9 fps) and with the small chute and the rocket also dangling down, it cause the camera to spin so my ground shots were blurry. I've also scratched built a Astron Omega ( the 2 stage rocket that carried the Cineroc). I'll fly with a D12-0 to a E9-8. Should be cool. I'm going to fire up my old website again and have a section for the Oracle. Hopefully there will be some exchange of ideas. And some mods and improvment ideas. I hope this will be successful for Estes and maybe that will spur them on to come up with a better model down the road. And maybe there will be an electronic wiz kid that can maybe do modifications to replace the oricle circuitry. I hope this will start some positive discussions.

Reply to
Dave Reynolds
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the slow frame

Dave,

did you try using a fishing snap-swivel to attach your 'cute? This will let the chute rotate as much as it wants, whilst minimising sping on the rocket - in HPR, SkyAngle chutes have a swivel as standard at the end of the shroudlines. I've used snap-swivels on a lot of my modrocs, as it saves an inordiante amount of time in turnaround that would have been spent untangling chute shroudlines.

HTH

G.

Reply to
Graham

I also bought an Oracle last week, and I also badly wanted a Cineroc when I was a kid. Cut a few lawns to get the money, then cut some more and ended up with enough money to buy a (cheap, used) 35mm SLR instead. Still wish I had gotten the Cineroc though.

The Oracle flight I made Saturday was decent, but like you I'm building an Omega clone. I also ordered a Multipod 5-in-1 pen camera,

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and
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which has stats much better than the Oracle (higher frame rate, better res, sound).

There's an Oracle discussion group that has just started up at

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Reply to
Roy Green

Wow! That's more expensive than the Oracle! I picked up a Pencam SD, and hope to toss it up at NARAM in 2 weeks...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L >>> To reply, there's no internet on Mars (yet)!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

well, I bought it not from Octave but a Yahoo store that sells it for $99. I should have it in time to put it in something this Saturday at our launch, and I'll bring it up to NARAM if I get to go.

Roy nar12605

Reply to
Roy Green

Reply to
Dave Reynolds

Roy:

Could you post a link to the store you bought your 5-in-1 at?

Thanks, Denis

Reply to
Denis Boudreau

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Reply to
Roy Green

Those are blowout prices.... The retail is $119.99, and a store gets its discount based on this. Which would also mean 50% off would be $60.00, to be honest if someplace is selling for that little don't expect them to be around very long. I cant blame somebody for wanting a good deal, I sell them for 91.99 (thats about 25% off) and that cuts into my margin a lot. I get good prices too. Hey buy from whever you want but if somebody is selling at a loss... that just doesnt make sense and be careful what you get yourself into, could eb used or something???

selling something below cost in the long run hurts the rocketry business and will have an ill effect on a product. The oracle didnt sell anywhere near as well as it could have becuase off all the people trying to undercut everyone. Its really quite disapointing.

__________

Bruce Jones Coutndown Hobbies

Reply to
Countdown Hobbies

I think the Oracle didn't sell as well as expected because some people thought it was a great idea a year ago when it was announced but just got tired of waiting for it to be released. I decided to go with a camera setup that I can move from Rocket to Rocket.

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Not too different in price, better stats (9fps for 30 seconds???) and I can put it on my 4 inch PML AMRAAM as well as a 2 stage Quest Navaho.

Just my $0.02

-Aaron

Reply to
Aaron

At $120 for a "toy" that the average consumer might use a couple times, can you blame them. A $30 pencam from Wally and just about any BT60 rocket and you've got the same thing for less than half the price.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L >>> To reply, there's no internet on Mars (yet)!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

I saw the sample Oracle video on the A2ZHobbies site. Was not terribly impressed with the video quality. Was daunted by the lack of flash memory. Most of all, disappointed by the lack of sound, which IMHO is 40% of the sought-after experience.

As a result, I have also ordered an Octave Multipod. The company itself has a back-to-school sale on them for $99.00. Am now contemplating the installation into a rocket. Would think the required setup isn't much different from still camera installations.

Any good websites to show camera/mirror installations?

Is a front-surface mirror required?

Can a purely side-looking arrangement work?

Any tips or warnings from experience?

(Note: Didn't writ this to knock Estes.The Oracle appears to be a great turn-key product, and they have a business to run. I'm simply not under the same constraints.)

Thanks and Regards,

-Larry Curcio

Reply to
Larry Curcio

20 minute record time at 30fps AND has sound for 30 bones;
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Hope to have mine airbourne via F/G motors next month.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

Let me know when you see ANY video camera at above 640x480.

How about a 5 megapixel video?

GC?

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

I think I *might* have a hack for the CVS cam to 640*480 but nothing above it.

I'm not a digicam expert but I do believe that some of these higher end megapix cameras can record video higher than 640*480.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Reply to
the notorious t-e-d

The software(Nero) I use with my boostercam allows me to record at

720x480@30fps (29.97 actually) Transmitting at 2.4Ghz and a good antenna, I get about 1 mile reception.

BoosterCam:

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-Aaron

Reply to
Aaron

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