Cameras for the Mevo+?

[mlacher87]

I used to be a member at a golf simulator place and they have a camera behind and a camera to the side on their trackman. Anytime you swung, it allowed you to replay both swings. I'm trying to find something like this for the mevo with no luck. Anyone have suggestions and is there a software that works with this?

[Love2Golf]

I use Kinovea along with 2 USB cameras. See the link below for some info. There are several threads about Kinovea in this forum too -just search Kinovea.

My setup doesn’t freeze the club but I get automatic playback after each shot, clear enough for me to see important elements of my swing. It’s been great so far and will be even better when paired up with club data from the Pro Package (haven’t upgraded yet….waiting for things to settle down).

Kinovea was a bit tricky to get my custom options dialed in but, once you do, it’s solid. The owner/developer, Joan, was helpful and interested in making the product better too.

I’m not sure if Mevo’s dual camera integration will replace my need for Kinovea, but since it’s free and functioning well I’m OK if it doesn’t.

[mlacher87]

Thank you. Do you have any recommendations on cameras?

[Love2Golf]

I bought 2 of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and found they work well. You can swap out lenses, which you may need to do depending on how much room you have in your Sim for Face On and DTL cameras. I used the original lens on my FO camera but replaced the lens on my DTL camera with this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I had to set the DTL back further so most of the club stayed in the screen when swinging.



I tried several cameras off Amazon but they didn't work.

[Bubba22]

Which camera did you get? It works well?

[mlacher87]

Looks like both links are camera lenses, can you share the camera you purchased? Thank you!

[Love2Golf]

oops, something got mixed up when pasting links. here's the camera (I bought the 2.1mm) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32956551452.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef1802 1ub8cv.

Here are links to the tripods I use
Face On - https://amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y1T...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
DTL - https://amazon.com/gp/product/B073BD...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[MyEaglePutt]

These look like nice cameras with high fps.. I just git the Mevo plus and looking at the pro upgrade. Have a couple of questions if you don't mind. With both cameras running do the video feeds integrate with the mevo as the camera source? Or is the totally a separate app, do you need a separate app? Can you please explain your setup? Last, how long of a USB cable are you running to your PC?

Thanks!

[Love2Golf]

I’ve been using these cameras for about 8 months so not running them through the Mevo. I use a separate free app on my PC called Kinovea to capture and display the video. See the link I put in my first post above about Kinovea for more info.

Attached is an old picture of my setup from when I was still putting it together. The rack holds my PC, TV and the face on camera is on the 2nd shelf. If you zoom you can see an extension cord running to the DTL camera off the right side of the photo. I purchased a 25 foot USB A male to A female extension cord for that camera.

My cord is no longer available but this is similar and what I’d buy now -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081H4N3KQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_F9ZRVC8EYZQ3KRPYBEJS

[MyEaglePutt]

Thanks, this is very helpful. I like the idea of integrating with mevo, but not so much with having to use my phone for video.

[Love2Golf]

A couple words on usability.....

These cameras do require some light to work well. My setup is in the garage and I replaced the overhead lights with LED tube lights to eliminate Mevo interference. When I'm using cameras I need to leave the lights on. I have 3 light fixtures and took a few of the light tubes out so it's somewhat dimmer and doesn't overpower the screen. If I'm playing with lights off, using a ceiling mounted spotlight to light the impact area, the cameras won't capture the swing. So there's a tradeoff. I mostly play with the lights on.

I'm interested to see how the camera integration with Mevo will work but will most likely just stay with what I've got. I did some research into Swing Catalyst, but the price to get up and running was just too much for a recreational golfer who wants to improve their swing. If I were an instructor I don't think I'd use my current setup, but for gameplay and personal game improvement, it can't be beat. I used to take lessons at GolfTec so am used to auto capture and playback of swing and this has pretty much replicated that in my garage.

[preludesam]

What camera are you using?

[MyEaglePutt]

I do have plenty of lights, 4 recessed 13 watt leds above hitting area on dimmers, so would be able to easily adjust lighting. Plan to only use vide when on fs golf range or other range. When on TGC course, lights off 😁.

What fps rate are you using? Are you able to go 120+ and get crisp slow motion swings? Darren mentioned poor fps with kinovea. I would think that would be a product of the camera capability, not the kinovea software. Are there limitations on what kinovea can handle in regards to fps?

Have you tried the 1280x720 100 fps, if so how were the results?

Thanks!

[preludesam]

There are no limitations from Kinovea. Club blurring comes from a high shutter speed or a rolling shutter. The FPS only defines how many frames are captured in a given time period and does not correlate to how clear the capture is. To get a more still capture we need to make sure the exposure(shutter speed) is as low as possible given your available amount of light. If you can find the driver or SDK that is offered by the manufacturer, you may be able to adjust the exposure, gain, FPS, and other settings. Adjusting these parameter for your setup could yield a much better result on captures.

[preludesam]

I would not purchase the OV4689 sensor. You guys needs to find something with a global shutter instead of a rolling shutter.

I also doubt the mevo is going to accept anything except a camera phone. I think it was designed for iOS usage instead of machine vision cameras.

[DecisiveFox]

FS have confirmed that FSGolf is coming to Windows naively and will support multi cam, including USB input devices

[preludesam]

Do you have a link? I would like to research their USB communication protocol or read into what other USB cameras are supported.

[MyEaglePutt]

That great news, is there an official posting on this or a rimeline?

[jkat]

I recently purchased a Mevo+ and just upgraded to the pro package. I'm also looking for a better camera setup. I'm not terribly happy with the video I'm getting on my iPhone. I called FS support today and asked if the new FS golf update that incorporates multicam will also allow the use of non-phone cameras, and the reply was that no, FS Multicam is just an ios/android app and so camera choice will be limited to phone cameras. He wasn't aware of any plans for a native PC version of the software. I may just wait for the dust to settle a bit on all of these updates and see where things land, as I would hate to invest a lot of money in a camera/software system to capture video and then FS comes out with a PC solution in the near future.

[preludesam]

Yeah, that makes sense. It would be nice to know if Flighscope is going to allow machine vision USB cameras and if Flightscope is going to control the trigger. I would wait but like I said above it does not appear that they will offer anything other than mobile devices with a camera.

Although another user posted above that a Windows version was coming with USB connectivity, I have not seen any documentation to support that claim. I would wait as well.

[DecisiveFox]

Edit: if you go to the Flightscope Instagram, the Q&A pinned story has the clip where they confirm USB camera capability on the PC version of FS golf!

https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxp...dium=copy_link