Eagle 2 is the new improved version of Runcam Eagle FPV camera. Many thanks to Runcam for sending the Eagle 2 in for testing. Release date is in around a month’s time.

The silver camera in the photos is the prototype I received. The final product will be in red colour metal housing. Learn about how to choose FPV camera.

Eagle2 Camera Product Page: http://bit.ly/eagle2-camera

What’s New in the Runcam Eagle 2?

I love the Runcam Eagle, many reviewers including RCModelReview and Joshua Bardwell agreed that it’s probably one of the best FPV cameras out there in terms of image quality and WDR capability. I was so excited to find out that Runcam has been making the Eagle2.

So Here are the improvements I’ve found so far:

• Lower latency, now it’s similar to the CCD cameras such as Arrow and Swift – test results are here: FPV Camera Latency
• Cheaper than the Eagle (in the $40-$50 range)
• Over-sharpening and noise issue has been resolved in the default settings
• Single PCB rather than double
• Using a 2-wire OSD controller like other FPV cameras, rather than the previous 6-wire one

Spec

• Input Voltage: 5V-36V (2S – 8S)
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3 or 16:9 (select at purchase)
• FOV: 4:3 – 140°, 16:9 – 130° (same as previous version)
• Latency: 33ms
• IR Block Lens
• NTSC/PAL switchable
• Weight: 18.9g
• Dimension: 28mm x 26mm x 28mm

Included items in the box:

I really want to see them put the OSD feature in the Eagle to display battery voltage (VBAT monitoring). Unfortunately it’s not in this new version.

Previous Eagle camera has a double PCB design.

New Eagle 2 is redesigned on a single PCB (I couldn’t take the sensor out unfortunately)

Initial Testing

So in this upgrade, the biggest change seems to be the improved latency. The challenge lies in optimizing the algorithm while maintaining that excellent wide dynamic range capability. In our tests we are going to check if there is any reduction in image quality over the previous version.

** Please bear in mind that the camera I have is a prototype, there might be changes in the production version (I will test again when it comes out). So what you see here might not be exactly how it would look like in the final product.

All cameras are in their default settings.

• First of all, I notice a drop in brightness in the Eagle 2
• Eagle 2 has a much softer image, and there is no more over-sharpening or noise compared to the Eagle 1
• Eagle 1 seems to be better with WDR, or maybe that’s caused by the lack of brightness
• Low light performance is actually comparable to the Owl Plus 2 in colour mode, better than Owl Plus in day and night :)

Fine Tuned and Flight Test

So here is my recommended/favorite setting:

• Sharpness, manual, +5 (reduce if you have aliasing)
• Edge, auto
• Saturation, manual, 15
• Brightness, 48 for better WDR, 36-40 for better colour

Here is an example of lowered brightness to achieve higher saturation (when the setting is maxed out). Brightness is down to 36.