Aomway 1/3 camera review: CCD, 650TVL, OSD and Mic

With the Aomway 1/3 CCD 650TVL, you get more than a simple camera. Its OSD allows you to monitor the elapsed flight time and battery voltage. Frankly, in the case of FPV flights, these two are the most important telemetry information. It is critical to know if you have enough craft to return and land.

Aomway was founded in 2011 and, as their slogan says “Easy FPV solutions“, are focused on FPV products from cameras, transmitters, receivers, 5.8G antennas to FPV monitors and FPV goggles. Checking their website, I found out that, besides this Aomway 1/3, they have six other FPV camera models. Indeed, the most interesting is the one with 10x optical zoom.

Aomway 1/3 CCD 650TVL features and spec

• 1/3″ SONY SUPER HAD II CCD image sensor;
• 650 TVL horizontal resolution;
• 2.8mm, 3MP HD lens with 100-degree FOV;
• Wide input voltage range, DC 4.8V to 36V (suitable for 2s – 9s LI-POs);
• OSD menu and telemetry;
• Nice light sensitivity, 0.01Lux@1.2F min. illumination;
• The electronic shutter speed for PAL video standard is 1/50 ~ 100,000sec;
• Digital Wide Dynamic Range (D-WDR);
• Digital Noise Reduction (2DNR);
• User-selectable Auto, Color, and B&W Day/Night modes;
• Automatic gain control (AGC);
• Backlight compensation (BLC);
• CVBS video output for real-time image transmission;
• Built-in microphone;
• Compact design, 22.3 mm x 22 mm x 27 mm;
• 12 g net weight.

Aomway 1/3 CCD 650TVL FPV camera review

Disclosure: I received this Aomway FPV camera as part of a product review collaboration with Banggood. Thanks again for their continuous support with free samples.

Among all the FPV cameras I reviewed, this Aomway 1/3 comes in the smallest box (6.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 cm).

My first impression, peeking inside the box, was that the Aomway 1/3 package includes everything you need to use on your racing drone. Besides the black camera and its lens cap I found inside the box the following: mounting bracket, OSD cable, extension cord, 4 wire FPV cable.

The camera measures about 22 x 22 x 27 mm and weighs 12 g (without accessories). While the camera case is made from plastic, the mounting bracket with angle adjustment is made of metal.

Unlike the Foxeer HS1177, were the lens is glued, the Aomway 1/3’s lens can be rotated allowing to manually adjust the best focus point.

A tiny hole on the left side of the 2.8 mm IR 1/2.7″ 3MP lens is the only clue that it has a built-in microphone.

On the backside of the camera, there are two small connectors. Through the two-pin plug (OSD and GND) can be connected the included 5D-OSD cable, which allows configuring and fine tune the Aomway 1/3 CCD camera. You can play with the settings without any worry because you can revert to the factory default at any time. The second 4-pin plug (VCC, GND, VID, and AUD) serves to power the camera and connect a TX module or DVR.

Testing the Aomway 1/3 CCD 650TVL camera

To test the Aomway 1/3″ FPV camera, firstly I opted to connect it directly to my LCD5802S FPV monitor via AV-in. I had to improvise a bit and wire everything together (camera, display, and battery).

The camera performed pretty well. Latency is about zero. The image quality is nice but, of course, not as crispy as it would have come out from a 4K camera. Anyway, in my opinion, the most important requirements of a good FPV camera are low latency and fast response time on light level changes.

Through the OSD settings menu, you can adjust many parameters (like: Exposure, Shutter, Image orientation, White balance, and Day&Light mode). There you can also give a name for the camera/aircraft and turn it on/off to display OSD values.

Note: To monitor the flight battery’s voltage, the camera needs to be connected directly to it.

When the time allows me, I plan to do some outdoor tests, installing the camera on one of my racing drones, so stay tuned.

For proximity park flying you can opt for a 25 mW VTX , but if you need a longer range you should look for something with 250 ~ 1000 mW broadcast power (of course in compliance with your local RC regulations!).

Pricing and availability

For those who are interested in this Aomway FPV camera, it can be ordered from here with free shipping. You can opt for the NTSC or PAL version.