Anyone purchased the Volleycam?

[HunterST]

I really want to be able to tape my matches so I can review my mistakes. The volleycam package is awesome because it has EVERYTHING, but it's around 250 dollars. Just wondering if anyone has bought it and how they feel about it.

I'm also thinking about their cell phone mount. The only problem with that is the video would take up a massive amount of space on my phone. (iphone 4s).

[mightyrick]

250 bucks for a refurbished HD camera and a weird contraption mount.

I'd rather buy a better camera, get a 15 dollar step stand, and a 20 dollar bag of static camera mount adapters.

[HunterST]

The camera really is the most questionable part. The mount looks like a pretty nice tool that would make it really easy to film. The nice part is the package includes everything you need. It really should be more in the 150 dollar range, though.

[Stergios]

Hi HunterST,

I have never used this Kodak cam that the "Volleycam" uses so I can't comment on that one.

But I could tell you that I use a Gopro Hero 2 HD attached to a Gorilla pod and it works wonders. It has also the option for a Wide, Medium and Narrow field of view option which is nice.

A great little camera.

Cheers,

Stergios

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by HunterST

I really want to be able to tape my matches so I can review my mistakes. The volleycam package is awesome because it has EVERYTHING, but it's around 250 dollars. Just wondering if anyone has bought it and how they feel about it.

I'm also thinking about their cell phone mount. The only problem with that is the video would take up a massive amount of space on my phone. (iphone 4s).

I bought a Swann "SportCam", it's super small, about 1"X2", but comes with about 15 accessories, that is you can put it on your head, the fence, and the quality is good.

I'm having trouble with play on my computer, but that's something wrong here, not the camera. It's $100.00 at Radio Shack and I recommend it.

[millardus]

Yep, I got it 3 months back.

I am very impressed with it, the construction time (If you can call it that) and the time to get your first very good quality, non-shaky capture of a 3 hr match is probably 5 minutes.

You could source the component parts cheaper I have no doubt, but at this stage of my life I value the few hours it might take to make a decent decison on the component parts to buy, so the 250 dollars was ok for me.

Pretty sure it may not be the most shrewd financial purchase, but for what I get and the minutes it took to order, setup and film, it gets a thumbs up from me.

[HunterST]

Originally Posted by Stergios

Hi HunterST,

I have never used this Kodak cam that the "Volleycam" uses so I can't comment on that one.

But I could tell you that I use a Gopro Hero 2 HD attached to a Gorilla pod and it works wonders. It has also the option for a Wide, Medium and Narrow field of view option which is nice.

A great little camera.

Cheers,

Stergios

Thanks for the input! That camera does look awesome. A little more than I'm wanting to spend, though. I like the idea of using a gorilla pod. That could make it just a matter of finding a good camera.

Originally Posted by Mick3391

I bought a Swann "SportCam", it's super small, about 1"X2", but comes with about 15 accessories, that is you can put it on your head, the fence, and the quality is good.

I'm having trouble with play on my computer, but that's something wrong here, not the camera. It's $100.00 at Radio Shack and I recommend it.

This sounds like a good deal. 100 is right around what I was thinking I'd like to spend. I looked at the camera online, but I'm still not quite sure how you hook it up to the fence. What accessory do you use?

Originally Posted by millardus

Yep, I got it 3 months back.

I am very impressed with it, the construction time (If you can call it that) and the time to get your first very good quality, non-shaky capture of a 3 hr match is probably 5 minutes.

You could source the component parts cheaper I have no doubt, but at this stage of my life I value the few hours it might take to make a decent decison on the component parts to buy, so the 250 dollars was ok for me.

Pretty sure it may not be the most shrewd financial purchase, but for what I get and the minutes it took to order, setup and film, it gets a thumbs up from me.

Thanks! It's nice to hear from someone who owns the product. Like you said, the item is pricey, but it seems like it's a very complete and easy to use kit.

[mntlblok]

Dang, that little thing looks interesting - and *cheap*! I'm sure it can be attached to all the various contraptions just like the GoPro. I'm thinking that the three little legs of a Gorilla Pod could be looped through the back fence to easily angle the view any way you wanted.

Read here that the GoPro allows the wide angle option. Wonder if this SportCam does.

As far as a match taking up too much space on a phone, don't you get that space back as soon as you download it onto the puter and erase it from the phone?

[lendl1986]

I invented the VolleyCam.

In developing the VolleyCam, I did test using a $15 "gorilla grip" to hang a camcorder high above the court.



The gorilla grip wasn't useful, for 2 reasons:

1. Set up took too much time, as I had to place a chair near the fence to stand on.
2. The video was not useful.. I could only "guess" what the camera was looking at, and the videos were ultimately too "off center" to be useful.

If you can think of a cheaper, simpler way to hang a camera high above the court, I'll buy the idea from you.

I invested 500 hours into the VolleyCam and lost $3000 on the thing last year.

It will never make me wealthy, but if makes tennis more enjoyable for 1000s of people worldwide, that's good enough.

[mntlblok]

So, if I read it right at the VolleyCam page, all the gadgetry that holds the cell phone "cam" goes for $125 and all you have to do is tie yer cell phone to it?

Will standard cell phone video yield a wide enough field of view hanging from a typical back fence to catch most all of the action? TIA

Sure looks handy. . .

[Govnor]

Congrats on inventing and developing something!!! That is better than most, certainly better than me!!

[luvforty]

can't you just use iphone to shoot a few games, then upload to youtube and then delete from iphone.

mistakes should show in a few games, no need for entire match.

[lendl1986]

Originally Posted by mntlblok

So, if I read it right at the VolleyCam page, all the gadgetry that holds the cell phone "cam" goes for $125 and all you have to do is tie yer cell phone to it?

Will standard cell phone video yield a wide enough field of view hanging from a typical back fence to catch most all of the action? TIA

Sure looks handy. . .

A broom stick and a rubber band are enough to get your cell phone 10 feet in the air.

The VolleyMount takes the hassle and "guess and check" out of the task:

• secures to outdoor fences
• secures to all indoor curtains
• allows the user to make very fine adjustments to the camera's angle, so the tennis court is framed perfectly
• includes the wide angle lens that allows a small cell phone lens to capture the entire tennis court
• includes videos that show you how to make filming your tennis quick and easy

Per TTW rules, I can't get really promotional here.

I can only encourage you all to record your tennis with the resources you have available.

Many players have made huge improvements, for free, by sharing their videos in the Tennis Tips/Instruction here.

[HunterST]

Originally Posted by lendl1986

A broom stick and a rubber band are enough to get your cell phone 10 feet in the air.

The VolleyMount takes the hassle and "guess and check" out of the task:

• secures to outdoor fences
• secures to all indoor curtains
• allows the user to make very fine adjustments to the camera's angle, so the tennis court is framed perfectly
• includes the wide angle lens that allows a small cell phone lens to capture the entire tennis court
• includes videos that show you how to make filming your tennis quick and easy

Per TTW rules, I can't get really promotional here.

I can only encourage you all to record your tennis with the resources you have available.

Many players have made huge improvements, for free, by sharing their videos in the Tennis Tips/Instruction here.

I went ahead and purchased the kit! It is a bit pricey but everything is just ready to go. Also, the mirror to help position the camera angle was crucial. Other monopods designed for tennis didn't have that and required you to guess and check. With how simple the volleycam is, I think I'll be more likely to use it frequently and, even though I paid a bit more, get more for my money.

[mntlblok]

Originally Posted by lendl1986

A broom stick and a rubber band are enough to get your cell phone 10 feet in the air.

The VolleyMount takes the hassle and "guess and check" out of the task:

• secures to outdoor fences
• secures to all indoor curtains
• allows the user to make very fine adjustments to the camera's angle, so the tennis court is framed perfectly
• includes the wide angle lens that allows a small cell phone lens to capture the entire tennis court
• includes videos that show you how to make filming your tennis quick and easy

Per TTW rules, I can't get really promotional here.

I can only encourage you all to record your tennis with the resources you have available.

Many players have made huge improvements, for free, by sharing their videos in the Tennis Tips/Instruction here.

Sounds more like excellent, logical information than promotion to me. I just did some videos last week (that I've bored folks with in another thread ), and had to go through some aggravation that yer rig would've prevented.

I already owned a tripod, but recently did a bunch of research on line and found me one that I can crank up to 72 inches in height so as to be able to look over the top of our "side" fences.

I used my regular old Digital Rebel (my third different version of same), the T2i or 550D, that came with video capabilities - poor though they may be. It basically can't autofocus during video. And, when I got cranked up to it's full six feet of height, I couldn't really see whether I had the camera angled properly or not.

I've recently been exposed to the capabilities of the iPhone's video. Was most impressed with what a dive buddy was able to get even under water with a pretty inexpensive waterproof case.

As convinced as I am of the value of video for game improvement, I still don't do it as much as I "intend" to, even though it *has* greatly contributed to my improvement.

[rufus_smith]

From web research I'm pretty sure that the Swann SportCam shoots at 30 frames per second (fps)
while Volleycam shoots at 60 fps which can be useful for things like estimating a more precise serve speed.

I like Bob's video from a tourney where he shows where he was wrongly called for a centerline foot fault. Though I'm not sure why a USTA official was watching the match so
closely in the first place.

(BTW I'm not affiliated with him or the business and I don't own the volleycam.)

[sureshs]

lendl, I hope you have taken patents on this, especially the mirror system. I suppose it works on the principle posted on truck behinds - if you cannot see my mirror, I cannot see you

[Torres]

Looks like a great device. I've tried the Gorillapod with my phone but its impossible to position it high enough AND get the position of the camera right without a ladder. And its not like there's often any ladders hanging around the side of a tennis court...

Also like the 60fps feature of the camera. I haven't actually the Volleycam but I'm not sure I like the way it bows the near baseline so much with that lens? Still tempted to give it a go though.

[HunterST]

I got the volley cam. Works great and is very easy to set up.

[MarinaHighTennis]

or buy a camcorder and gorillapod like me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjBU...88FD4&index=13

gorillapod: $30