The RunCam Thumb. A low cost HD camera that works with Gyroflow. Supplied by Banggood

The big buzz right now seems to be the concept of capturing the gyro data of a flight and then using it with the Open Source Gyroflow software to stabilize your footage. Whilst this can be done using your flight controller's black box logging, it is of course much easier to have a camera that has it's own gyro and writes the data out at the same time as recording HD footage. This is exactly what the RunCam Thumb can do, and is super cheap as well. But is it any good? Let's find out.
This camera was kindly supplied by Banggood for review, so if you want to check it out in more detail please use the following affiliate link to do so: www.banggood.c...
Banggood is having a Hobby Say sales during June. Check out this link for a schedule of days with discounts - which include loads of cool RC gear www.banggood.c...
If you liked this video and want to show your support please feel free to join my Patreon supporters here / currykitten or if you decide to shop at Banggood, here's a general affiliate link which helps me out if you use it www.banggood.c...
If you want to look at other ways of supporting my channel, then check out all the ways you could help out here www.currykitten...

[@gregtay67]

Set your auto sync to 10 points. Then change low pass filtering to 0.10hz. or 1.0hz. you will get a 25% more smoothness. But it wont fix your jello problem.

[@pelvinsjamz]

Thanks as always Wayne , I’m lucky enough to own a insta 360 go2. But my friend just purchased a runcam thumb. I think soft mounts are the secret with these small cameras . And correct ND filters . Iam still looking at soft mount options for my go 2 to fit on to 3” quads . He also had a few issues working out the correct plug sizes to order as there are a few on the market and only one that fits . (. . somthing of a mm difference). The idea being put all the leads on his quads and just swap the thumb out each time .

[@CurryKitten]

There are so so many types of jst connector. It makes them a massive pain to source and I get the feeling that every manufacturer just buys in the sockets/connectors that are cheap at the time, so no standard exists in FPV. Plan is to use the TPU mount next and then see if that needs additional softmounting to make useable.

[@pelvinsjamz]

@@CurryKitten good luck with that and be interesting to see the results 👍🏻

[@TailSpinRCSpain]

Thanks Wayne, I'll wait for v2, LOL. #nostab.

[@bhargav2105]

Can you please tell me the wire connection? I have e88 drone....how i powerup this camera ?

[@CurryKitten]

You need to feed it a 5v and a GND connection. You can maybe find one in your E88 if you open it up and go looking with a mutlimeter

[@bhargav2105]

@@CurryKitten what happens if i will give direct Power from 5v battery?

[@bhargav2105]

@@CurryKitten reply plz.....

[@CurryKitten]

Well, I can't think of a battery that runs on a consistent 5v, so you'ld need to connect it to a regulated 5v output. What will happen? Well, give it 5v and a ground and it'll power up... that's kind of the point of supply power

[@robertbobgriffith5292]

Wayne, this was an excellent review. very well done and kindly put as to the Run Cam Thumb's poor abilities. I couldn't be that gracious but you certainly said it most proper. As I had mentioned to you awhile ago, to me personally it's just a bottom of the barrel dime-store very flimsy cheap item (crap) which has not much of anything going for it. Obviously I truly regret I purchased one and its now in its box in a drawer not anytime soon to see light again. The first one I received was DOA and after several weeks of waiting for new stock, Get FPV kindly replaced it. But with that said, there is not much between a DOA Run Cam Thumb camera and the functioning one I now have. I apologize for being so critical to those who may think differently. But I sincerely fail to understand why Run Cam would have ever at any time whatsoever thought this item was worth the effort to sell as it currently stands. It makes me suspicious to jumping in and buying another Run Cam Product until there has been a considerable amount of reviews posted. All the Best.

[@FPV420.]

I got this camera recently and I plan to test it today. Honestly, I've never been able to get a jello-free video on a racing drone. However, for RC planes I bet the video will be good.

[@rcpete7055]

Hello, been a long time since I've been to your channel used to watch every day👍👍

[@CurryKitten]

Welcome back! I'd never quite create enough content to do something for every day though

[@RCinginSC]

I've used gyroflow with great success, but....using the runcam orange 5 , gyro flow was unable to smooth out the micro vibrations. I've not seen any rave reviews on the thumb. I predicted that you would experience the results I've seen in other reviews. Hope you can sort it out.

[@CurryKitten]

Nice that GyroFlow cleaned up the vibrations on the orange. Was the non-stabliased footage as bad as the Thumb's was? I ask because I'm interested if it's the case of there's only a certain amount Gyroflow can do, or was it perhaps that the Orange just got better gyro data and the software could work better with it

[@onclefly8450]

Hi Curry, I have I use with the small quad and I very happy to this. the transparent mount is bad jello, print 3d better and if you print one 3d is good .

[@CurryKitten]

I'm glad you have this working well - sadly, my 8 year old self built 3d printer can't do TPU, so I'll have to try that other mount in the box first off.

[@KaizerTest]

Amazing how fast this hobby evolves! I had a laugh when you said "back in the day....8 years ago..." hahaha.🤣 FPV from 8 years ago almost seems ancient now. Even just in 1 or 2 years this hobby will leave you in the dust. Like a year ago Crossfire was it, and now ExpressLrs seems to be taking over. Anyways... great video as always bro. Cheers. 🍺🍺

[@RizaGunturPrakoso]

because ELRS is cheaper 😆

[@CurryKitten]

This month marks 10 years since my first FPV flight. I'd like to go back and show everyone what quads looked like back then and how they performed. Spoiler alert: The rose tinted spectacles told us they flew nice - but we were just happy getting in the air. In reality they flew like a bag of bricks

[@KaizerTest]

@@CurryKitten Hahaha. Yeah that would make a very interesting video. A retrospective look back at FPV and how its evolved. I can't imagine FPV 10 years ago ago. 2012 seems like yesterday to me, but for FPV it might as well be 1912. You were flying model T's back then.

[@daisyduck8593]

It's really cool that a 10 g cheap action cam exist on market. You hardly don't lose any freestyle performance and you can still record relatively good video with analogue FPV.

[@JohnCuppi]

My experience is similar to yours with the runcam thumb -- the footage is bad without an ND filter, it takes every single vibration quite significantly. The ND16 filter is the only thing that makes the footage 'passable' in my experience. I have not used that plastic mount at all, though, it seems particularly horrible with that mount vs. a plastic mount. I have flown mine on the DarwinFPV tinyAPE and the cinerace20 with TPU mounts, and N16 filter, for the most part the footage is ok. I'm struggling with power delivery issues to this camera I think one FC now. I wish the thumb had a better way of handling power in general to it, rather than needing to tap the 5v reg.

[@CurryKitten]

It would have been nice if they'd put a power regulator in the thumb and given you a range of voltage input. Then could could happily run off a battery tap, or balance lead and not have to solder something into your FC.

[@paulrogers8365]

I unfortunately purchased one and I completely agree with you on your review. I definitely would not recommend anyone purchasing this even with how cheap it is. Besides the bad video stabilization issue it has, I also wouldn't recommend it because of it housing. The little door that holds in the SD card comes off way too easy and I ended up putting tape on mine to keep it from coming off during flights. The lens cover also comes off very easily (just a very slight turn and its off!) so I ended up putting a dab of hot glue on it to keep it from coming off. Over all, RunCam did not put enough thought into this one!

[@CurryKitten]

I was chatting to AndyRC about it and the first thing he said was "tape up that door" :D It's hard to believe that RunCam put any effort in to properly testing this as it was designed to be flown. More of a rush job to get something out that supports Gyroflow

[@Whistlindiesel1500]

I had those problems before on my 5“ but I just changed the mount on the quad and the camera mount to Tpu and I don’t have any problems no more looks really good for 50$

[@TheLostSquadron]

The black mount works much better than the clear one. I'm flying it on two small quads (GEPrc Crocodile Baby and Darwin Baby Ape) and just try to concentrate on flying smoother. 1080 is just too low of a res to crop for gyro data, and the sensor isn't great on top of that so you see lots of pixilation in dense areas like grass. This is a great camera for quads that can't carry a better one. For the size you tested wtih, I'd use a Runcam Orange or something.

[@CurryKitten]

Glad to hear you are having decent results on the black mount. I stuck it on a 5" as I thought about people starting out and wanting to share their flights without risking a more expensive camera - also it's less fiddly for me to easily stick stuff on an existing 5" quad :) I feel the 1080p footage, although not great, would be acceptable enough given the price - but obviously not it's it's just full of the shakes

[@ZeroFPV]

Haven't seen the video yet. My experience with the Thumb is pretty dissapointing so far. The Field of View is very narrow and the bitrate is way too low. I'm getting way better results with the Caddx Baby Turtle (wider FoV and double the bitrate). Gyroflow doesn't impress me that much, too. I'm only using it for the lens correction. The stabilization is fast but deshaker V3.1 (which is also free) gives me much better results. I'm hoping for a Thumb V2. Looking into the SJCAM C100 Plus at the moment which is able to do 2k/30.

[@CurryKitten]

It's certainly not something you'd use if you wanted "quality" video. I saw it as a budget friendly camera for beginners which would give acceptable HD for sharing.... but that's not good if it just generates jello. I'll have a looksie at deshaker though - cheers

[@WindjumbieFPV]

Cool camera but For the price I think it should be 4k capable compared to the RC orange.

[@CurryKitten]

It kind of needs to be 4k just for being able to zoom and crop like gyroflow wants to, but it is cheap. I think if the footage wasn't horrible, then the price isn't bad

[@thompaulson5152]

Gyroflow is weird not really a fan just play with the settings folder

[@therealmikief1]

Great review. I've been catching up, watching your vids after not touching my quads for well over a year. Getting the bug back I think but they are all in various states of repair so it will need a lot of work to get back in the air! Question: what's the cheapest HD camera you would recommend for personal use and maybe sharing footing with mates? I'm still using dvr footage!

[@CurryKitten]

Oooh, that's a tricky question - it always depends on what sort of quality you are looking for. 2nd hand GoPro for a cheap(ish)/best result. The Pro version of the RunCam Thumb (videos up on my channel) does a nice job if you are on a cinewhoop and don't mind a bit of post processing - although check my videos out and see what you think. Beyond that's I honestly have a difficult time coming up with something. I show a lot fo DVR in my videos because I want to show what I'm seeing much of the time. If I need to though I use a GoPro 7 with Hypersmooth and that's got great footage from a variety of quads, so I've not looked personally beyond that. The cheaper ones so far (like this) aren't quite coming up to scratch so far - but I live in hope that they will catch up. Another one should be on it's way to me so hopefully more tests to come to find a cheap and decent HD camera

[@benjihutch24]

I'm very keen to see how you get on with this as i've been eyeing a runcam thumb as a first camera for my 3inch!

[@Sonic_BoomFPV]

Just bought it last night from RDQ for the Baby Naz 73. You're gonna get vibrations on a cam designed for micros if you put it on a 5"... have you tested it on a micro?

[@CurryKitten]

Yes - watch the follow up videos. Here's the thing - RunCam don't say "here's a camera for whoops" they market it as a wonderful all round camera that can attach to your quads. People are looking for nice cheap camera for 5" quads more than micros as they don't want to have to spend money on GoPros they might smash up.

[@FlyingFun.]

Besides the poor results vibration wise I dont think the picture looks very good either. Definitely thumbs down on this one.

[@CurryKitten]

No - it's no GoPro for sure. I think the picture quality would be acceptable for the price though - is it wasn't full of the shakes

[@Fly_High_FPV]

Dvr has better color, better dynamic range 🤷‍♂️

[@CurryKitten]

... and less shaky shaky

[@DaveNorthWest]

Both the lense and the sd lid including the sd falls off briefly after take off unless your properly encased with a TPU jacket

[@CurryKitten]

Many people have mentioned these. I didn't have an issue, but I'll be using a bit of gaffer tape and hot glue to make sure everything stays where it should when I fly it next

[@testpilotian3188]

Had the same issue, stock mount, their mount and a mount I printed myself. I’m curious as to how this would work on a wing, which was more of my reason for buying it. Gone back to using the Hero 7 Black on the quad. Look forward to your results.

[@CurryKitten]

I think better on a wing - I saw Andrew Newton tried his on fixed wing and it was pretty stable. I find on my fixed wings there's a particular RPM that causes a vibration frequency, but it can be alleviated to an extent by moving the rotation of the prop as it's tightened. I might give this a go on fixed wing time permitting.

[@jesspatel1828]

Interested in trying this as a discreet body camera.. Does it have time and date stamps??

[@CurryKitten]

It doesn't , no

[@bobg1443]

I have the exact same problem. Horrible vibration using Gyroflow. Very disappointing with all the positive hype about it.

[@CurryKitten]

Clearly we need another piece of software called "JelloFlow" which sorts out all the horrible vibrations before we put it into GyroFlow. Do you ever feel that life is just too short to jump through this many hoops?

[@bobg1443]

@@CurryKitten Yes, which is why I’ve pretty much given up on dealing with processing most of my videos. Even with a GoPro, it’s too much of a pain to edit and publish. I just like to fly. 😃

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic flying and review, Wayne! Thanks! 😃 I would love to see you reviewing the Hawkeye Firefly X Lite II! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@CurryKitten]

Cheers MC. If I can get one, I'll definitely look at it!

[@imager09tube]

Seems that gyro flow did not help much!

[@CurryKitten]

Made it worse as far as I could see!

[@skybug3]

Great review! I've had pretty much the same experience with the more expensive Insta360 GO2. Lots of different mounts, versions and settings of GyroFlow, ND filter to achieve barely acceptable results. A second hand GoPro 7 Black gives far superior results without any additional processing. However, looking forward to eventually finding a tiny stabilized video camera for my small drones.

[@CurryKitten]

I love the no fuss sticking a GoPro on and having it's Hypersmooth do it's magic. It would be nice for a cheap and lightweight camera do do something similar, but we're way off right now

[@timmytson1]

need a tpu mount

[@CurryKitten]

See pt 2

[@fossil98]

My clear plastic mount broke in a fairly tame crash, so just bought the black tpu mount. Whilst waiting for that.. the lens cap came off and disappeared. So now im running ND filter or no cap at all. Tape/hot glue or something to hold the thing together is 100% necessary. The footage so far is full of jello when hovering. Hopefully the tpu works better for me.

[@CurryKitten]

Several people have talked about the little door that covers the SD card coming off and that lens cover was a little light on the twist needed - so I could see how it might come off. Do you think RunCam tested this out on an actual quad?

[@StefanNaewe]

Very good review, Wayne. I mounted the Thumb on a fixed wing using a TPU mount and only got one well stabilized video out of gyroflow. All others (same wing, same day) look worse after stabilization. Weird! It seems gyroflow looses sync with the gyro data somehow.

[@CurryKitten]

I did check my sync points and the optical data seemed to mesh up with the gyro data ok - but it's hard to tell for sure. I imagined you be in a far better position on fixed wing having a lot less vibration

[@dc-fpv1801]

Wayne, feels like this cam needs a suspension / soft mount, the jello was terrible. Thank you for the honest review. I have messed around with Gyroflow, and really got some good results when using a Runcam 5 Orange. RC5O would have to be one of the best non-gopro options for light weight and in-expensive HD cams (IMO). FYI - if you're interested in trying Gryoflow more, you can stabilise gopro footage. It gets a very similar result to Real Steady Go. Gyroflow is good, but seems fixing the thumbs issues is beyond it.

[@CurryKitten]

My GoPro7 is the weird outlier in GoPros where GyroFlow doesn't know what to do with it :) Anything 8 and up is good, but I don't use my 10 in the air yet as it's too new and shiny to risk :) I think we'll be trying the black TPU mount next and then seeing if that mount needs to be soft mounted. It's a long road ahead!

[@dc-fpv1801]

@@CurryKitten apologies. I have tried with go pro 6 and go pro 8. From what I understand gyro in GoPro 7 is over sensitive, so that might be more challenging for gyroflow.

[@ched999uk]

It is nice and cheap but as you have shown the supplied mount doesn't work on quads. Hopefully the tpu mount might be better. It will be very interesting to see how you get on as I too have seen some great footage it has produced. I value your vids as you are not scared of saying something didn't work well for you, thanks.

[@CurryKitten]

I would just love for things to work without any effort... but it seems this one isn't one of them. I'd hate people to be led astray and spend their hard-earned cash on something that didn't work for them

[@msky33]

The black mount has a groove cut out on the inside of it. It gives a little space to bypass the jst connector. It still fits tight but may help avoiding damage to the connector.

[@CurryKitten]

The black mount is now in place on that quad ready for retesting!

[@MrLootshoot]

Top content Wayne👍 barley squeeze in flying these days defo no time to waste faffing with video.

[@CurryKitten]

Yes - time is valuable, you don't need to waste it trying various mounts and spending hours in Gyroflow :D

[@t-burce]

Thanks for the review ! I'd like to point that your gyroflow is not setted an optimal way, this is why it is worse than original footagr, it is correcting but not in sync... You need more sync point and be sure your XYZ are correct :) I had the same trouble with a GoPro2 and Blackbox data... Around 5 sync points was starting to look great. If you want, you can send me both files, i'll be glad to give it a try !

[@CurryKitten]

I did mess around with up to 10 sync points in all my messing around - to no avail, but I didn't learn about how to check the optical is in line with the gyro until later. I've got the black TPU mount ready to try, so rather than send you the data from this first flight (of which everyone thinks that clear mount is horrible) let's see how the other mount goes. I'd be more than happy to send you over those files if I can't make them look nice!