Rethinking Construction cameras for a more Connected and Sharable Future from IFA 2013

Legend Construction camera

Using DSLR as the Construction camera —Pretty old school now

And what really hurts is when you are done with your construction project after coupled months:

Rethinking the  construction camera…..

Minds for your next construction camera

The spot light of the IFA 2013 is so far the Sony revolutionized  QX10 &QX100–“smartphone attachable lens styles camera“. What does this to do with the construction camera? Well. Sony just broke the barrier between the Point of Shoot and the Point of View camera.

From now on you can cruise For the 1st time , You can even Self Portrait your back

The combination with Sony Action cam’s “remote controller” around the wrist

Personally I believe it is very promising approach to “remote control” your lens style camera from your wrist. It is actually better to do this on the Sony existing smartwatch 2.

The only question is this Sony smartwatch 2 has never been a hot watch for many years.

One of the most  breaking new is the Qualcomm watch in IFA 2013

But it’s also sort of “back to the future” wild guesses, No one know who will be the dominant player on smartwatch in next five years ( Qualcomm vs Samsung vs Sony) ( via this article )

Let’s go back to the ground of the jobsite.

Wanna something rugged, operable with gloves on and sharable on the spot?

Never miss the “wide angle” for your construction camera

The view angle of Wingscapes 8.0M vs the Brinno f1.2

Brinno Construction camera is super long lasting ( 78 days with standard AA alkaline batteries/ 230 days with Energizer Li batteries) or DC IN with Eye Fi card

Energizer Li Battery

The sweetest spot is the “Instant Video“

What is “Instant Video”?–Brinno Construction camera captures and
converts thousands of photos into a Time Lapse video instantly and automatically on the camera, No Laptop required

Benefits?

(1) Post Free ( No convertion, No stitching, No Post effects ( Deflickr…..)

(2) Instant Playback ( thin file)

(3) Sharable on site ( Facebook or Twitter right away)

(4) Quick Search by Brinno Player’s “motion search”

We’d like to see what we can expect from the CES 2014 now

What do you want from Construction Cameras ?

ADVANTAGES OF USING CONSTRUCTION CAMERAS WITHIN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT:

The project can most efficiently and economically achieve their building program goals through the use of  DIY setup Construction cameras IN DIFFERENT PERIODS AND PLACES.

In general, adequate deployment of Construction Cameras will be able to:

 -Ensure project success (Performance)

 -Accelerate the physical construction (Schedule)

– Reduce the cost of the project (Cost)

 -Compare the conceptual design with the actual physical construction ( Virtual vs Physical , Plan vs Real)

– Decrease the overall time required for planning and design ( Project life cycle management)

 Left: Virtual Construction Planning

 -Frame the framework for the overall material resource plan ( MRP )

– Provide continuity and improve project coordination throughout both the design and construction phases.

– Provide you more continuous control of the project; you are an active team member and approve all critical decisions affecting cost and schedule.

The must documentary areas and activities for the construction cameras: What do you want from Construction cameras ?

(1 )foundation Grouting

(2) Piling 

(3) Diaphragm wall

These construction camera videos are basically for:

1. Government inspections—Compliances ( Labors (human rights) + Fire (industrial safety)+ Construction regulations + Envieonment )

2. Internal use ( workers+gears+ mass equipment) utilization and efficienecy

3. Multi players: Employer(land owners) &Subcontractors (acceptance terms, performance review or even the Construction contract management )

4. Law or Legal issues ( Liabilities)

5. Insurance and Properties Restoration

4. Sales presentations or Media coverage for Corporate overview

Typical Brinno construction cameras can be set up like the following:

(1) Install the Overlook cams at 4 corners of jobsite: Setting: time interval: 1 min, with Eye Fi card setup and DC IN, water proof case,Q’ty:4

(2) Portable or Specific target recording for ( grouting, piling,): time interval 1-2 sec, Battery powered.  Water proof case, q’ty: 4

(3) Portable Security cam: For any places. Trigger mode: PIR motion sensor added on (ATM 100), water proof cases (optional), Battery powered Qty: 4

 ATM100&TLC200

ATM 100 ( Motion sensor for TLC200)

The Key to successful Construction Management is DIY setup Construction camera

Why Construction management ?

–High turnover ( $$$)

–Industrial safety ( Safety is  No.1)

–Recovery and Insurance ( disaster recovery , property restoration, Insurance claims)

–Multi players (  owner/ employer/ subcontractors , employer, government, industrial safety committee)

–Rich Data  ( plan, templates, sheets, photos, videos)

There are plenty of construction project management systems or templates available. The paper sheets or electronic text data can be created, published and stored easily by current PC or Laptop. Photos were no longer a issue since the wide spread of the digital point-and-shoot cameras.

Videos are turning to be the real pains here. why ?

• Power supply. Let’s face it – digital cameras are infamous for draining battery life.  From snapshooters to professionals, everyone dreads that little flashing red light. Sometimes there is no stable power at jobsite and you are required to move these cameras around.
• Camera setup and frame. You need to hire the cameramen or outside company to do these. You workers with gloves on are your last choice.
• Video editing. This is the biggest nightmare. File transfer takes HOURS everyday. let alone those video editing and post processing.
• Video playback. It’s never ending story. Fast forward could be too slow(takes forever or too fast( miss your target). Once you find your target. The pause button may just “blur”the still image from the video(H.264 problems)
• Video storage : too fat to store unless subcontracting a cloud service

Video storage:10 years ago

Video storage: now:

It’s no difference. All FAT files and hard to store, share and manage.

Eco Friendly videos files

Quiz: How to reduce the trash in the planet?

It’s simple––Reduce the garage in the INPUT ! ( TLC from Discovery channel)

If you create the videos in the input. You are definitively suffering from the output and everything associated with

Anything other than Videos? Too big, fat and expensive to deal with? —— YES!   time lapse videos!

Brinno TLC 200  construction camera:

Brinno camera is powered by the proprietary “Instant video“,benefits are

• Once your video is shot, it’s actually a video and not a series of JPEGs. No stitching, no converting!
• No more Fat video files created in the input, File management(file storage, file sharing and playback) is nice and easy
• What you see is what you get:  No more H.264 compression “blur” on single frame
• Play LESS while playback with motion search on Brinno’s player, Saving playback time

Some people may insist that Video is inevitable in special occasions. That’s Correct for that 1% cases. Our experience shows almost all the events at jobsite can be just recorded at no faster than 1 photo per second.

You can also add on one the accessories of the Brinno TLC200 to make it from a fixed time interval time lapse camera to a Motion activated camera to handle different situations.

i.e.  anything with movement will be picked up by the motion sensor. This can be a good fit for surveillance camera which you’d like to move from place to place (Portable)

Bonus: Can I playback the “Instant video” instantly at the jobsite? Yes, go get the Brinno ABR100 Android phone SD card player.

Time lapse video is essentially the eco-friendly way in creating, publishing and managing your construction camera videos

Eye Fi SD card and Brinno TLC200 to be your DIY Construction Web camera

It’s been everywhere to hire a Construction camera service company to set up DSLR cameras, WiFi and record the construction job site daily images, perhaps a remote monitoring and Cloud storage if affordable.

I’m personally preferring a much more “less luxury “way in documenting related construction site videos and images.

We summarizes key issues to explain why we think DSLR is not necessarily the best solution for the On site Construction cameras.

The #1 thinking is “Is it really necessary to record the construction site by DSLR”?

The purchase cost or rental cost is one thing. What really matters is the DSLR complicated camera setup, settings for time lapse video and it also difficult to ask the job site works to take over. So you may foot the service company bills monthly or try to train your job site people to operate the DSLR.

Learned about the limited Shutter life of DSLR? It seems that the average statistic shutter life is around 100,000 shots. 100k shots is probably a big number for ordinary photo shots but it can be “toasted” so easily by the time lapse mode. Here is a good example: taking photos every 1 min then 1×60 min x24 hrs=1,440 shots per Day, Your DSLR will just burst in 69.44 days (100,000 divided by 1,440) which is only TWO Months!

My advice is

DO NOT use DSLR for Construction camera recording. It’s too expensive to pay the service companies , too hard for the job site workers to use and can on;y work for Two months.

Lesson learned: Will you drive your Ferrari from NYC to LA?

2nd thinking: Is there any other in expensive and easy to use solutions for the Construction job site workers?

There are some rugged and Point of View cameras like GoPro or Brinno to be a smarter choices for the construction sites. These POVs are all features like

• Rugged with water proof cases
• Wide angel lens (>120 degrees, Field of View)
• Default external DC power input ( ensure long term shooting)
• Time lapse video Photography ( you can set up the camera by different Time intervals, say taking one photo every 1 minute )

GoPro is, however, little constrained by not be able to DC IN if wearing the water proof case. I can fix this by many DIY water proof box.

What GoPro consistently bothers me is the Night shots capabilities.

The Brinno camera is much better at low light photography. ( which is essential at the construction sites: Moonless Night Shots)

Here is the Quick comparison in night shots ( GoPro Hero 3 Black vs Brinno)

Lessons learned: Dark Knight makes the difference to protect your properties

WiFi?

Brinno Construction camera for not providing WiFi for Construction job site remote monitoring was a big blemish.

But It’s cool now by using the WiFi Eye Fi card Pro X2 ( only Pro X2, not Mobi)

3 steps DIY Wifi construction camera here if using Eye Fi card + Brinno TLC200:

step 0: Ttake out the original SD card from the Brinno TLC200

Step 0.5: insert the Eye Fi SD cardS

3 steps to be WiFi:

1. DC IN thru Micro USB on Brinno TLC200 ( The Brinno Camea is said to live up to 78 days by batteries but insert your DC IN if using with Eye Fi card)
2. Download and Upgrade the latest Firmware from Brinno web site ( 1.02.3 or later for TLC200 and TLC200 f1.2 including BCC 100) (  version 1.01.4 or later for TLC200 Pro)
3. Set up the “timer” to specify your transmission period

More  info

Enjoy your Job site workers DIY Wi Fi Construction cameras!

Construction time lapse video:

Fore more info: Construction camera at B&H photos

   The Professional’s Source  800.952.1815 / 212.444.6708