In-car cameras - Help!

[dhdev (Oli)]

I started a thread a few years back asking a similar question, but the game has moved on since then, so lets go again...
What's the best way of recording some in-car track footage. Am I best off buying a dedicated in-car camera kit from the likes of dogcam e.g.
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/mini-dvr-2-helmet-camera.html
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/images/Ahighslides/minidvr2/minidvr2-with-bullet-camera.jpg
Benefits - Waterproof, remotely mounted bullet camera.
- Small compact recording unit.
Negatives - Relative low quality of video (720x528)

Or do I get a HD camcorder and fit it to a mount on the cage, e.g. Toshiba Camileo H30 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002NVC4SK/ref=asc_df_B002NVC4SK677233?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=7974&creativeASIN=B002NVC4SK)
http://www.letsgomobile.org/images/news/toshiba/toshiba-camileo-h30-camcorder.jpg
Benefits - Full HD quality
- Easy to use when out of the car
Negatives - Vibration and issue? (says it has stabilisation but how good is it?)
- More cumbersome to mount, fewer mounting positions.

Discuss!

[Morton]

i Would say buy the toshiba all the rally cars i see have somthing like this vibration doest seem to be a problem atal get a mount to mount it to the cage job done then after your track day use it for any other purpose.

[craig green]

Lee303 uses some sort of remote DVR thing with a bullet cam iirc.

[dhdev (Oli)]

Just looked at the reviews of that Toshiba and they're horrific lol
A mate of mine bought a super fancy HD Camcorder and the footage was shakey and it shutdown eventually, I'm guessing that he was trying to use an HDD camera, instead of flash memory though.

[Dar]

Go for a bullet cam and external recorder. What one you get is up to you, but you mostly get what you pay for. i.e. cheapo one will be ok but the more expensive ones will be better.

[Jack]

Get one of those £8 keyring cameras from ebay lol

[a1bob]

i bought a decent set up last week from ebay

dogcam hq1 camera and a dv500 recorder all suplyed from dogcam and on paper you would expect it to be very good but the quality was TERIBLE i was not in the slightest bit impressed, so started looking into it more and found a contour hd

and its the best bit of kit i have bought in a long time

i have the 1080p version and its brilliant video quality is just outstanding and surpasses any bullet camera set up i have seen, mine can even record 720p at 60fps !!

they have a button at the rear to turn it on and then a large ''slider'' to put it to record, incar charger allowes you to record and charge at the same time

dont fall into the mistake i made of thinking that the resolution is what makes the camera its not, its got alot more to do with the encoding it records on the contour hd records in h264 which is one of the best codes to record avalible atm which is miles better than the camera your showing above.

dont just take my word for it thou get onto youtube search (i did include links but would not let me post them)

contour hd
dogcam mini dvr

and see the difference for yourself

the difference is just unbelivable considering the contour hd is cheaper NEW its just crazy

dont make the same mistake i did lol

[dhdev (Oli)]

Those Contour HD's are very impressive! £300 for the motorsport package with mounts, spare batteries, memory cards, 12v cig lighter charger etc etc
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/contourhd-helmet-camera.htm

and sample videos here

http://www.vholdr.com/videolist

I'm tempted...

How much did you pay a1bob? Also there is no screen, so how do you know when it's pointing in the right direction?

[Stuart]

I'd get a couple of those keyfob cameras to stick to the front bumper and rear bumper, just to do some groovy PiP touringcar style shots when you edit it all up with the main footage lol

I have the archos camera kit and its just turd... mind you its made by the french so thats explains nearly everything.

[dhdev (Oli)]

I gave the keyfob cameras a go at the first race, the damn thing didn't work :mad: Hence wanting a more reliable method of filming!

[dhdev (Oli)]

Contour HD ordered. Will try it out on the road in my 328 with the window mount and install it in the race Golf with the rollcage mount for Saturday's test at Mallory :thumb:

[Nova_Tek]

Don't wanna sound like a cheap-skate mate but these little things have had a good review and the quality looks amazing if you consider it's cost.

All the info is in this thread, quite a few people on PNG had invested in one or two. I'm considering buying one too once the project is completed.

http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142008&highlight=Camera

[dhdev (Oli)]

Don't wanna sound like a cheap-skate mate but these little things have had a good review and the quality looks amazing if you consider it's cost.

All the info is in this thread, quite a few people on PNG had invested in one or two. I'm considering buying one too once the project is completed.

http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142008&highlight=Camera

I tried one of these, see my post two above yours ;)

[Nova_Tek]

Right, did see that post. Surpiresd it didn't work. Only drawback with the keyfob ones are no remote on/off and lmited to 8GB IIRC. Still anough for 80 mins of driving though

[dhdev (Oli)]

Right, did see that post. Surpiresd it didn't work. Only drawback with the keyfob ones are no remote on/off and lmited to 8GB IIRC. Still anough for 80 mins of driving though Also limited battery life, don't know where you are pointing it until removed and footage checked, picture quality isn't great, fps is fairly poor, only charge via usb, unreliable....
Still for £7 you can't expect the world and they are a bargain :thumb:

[Nova_Tek]

I guess you've done enough homework about it. But it's deffo good for just using every now and again and some unplanned footage.

[a1bob]

Contour HD ordered. Will try it out on the road in my 328 with the window mount and install it in the race Golf with the rollcage mount for Saturday's test at Mallory :thumb:


You won't be disapointed I have mine mounted on a drop down bracket off the cage upside down using the universal mount that comes with te mount( if you got the mount from dogcam) and it works perfect

Do you run any form of data logger ?

[dhdev (Oli)]

You won't be disapointed I have mine mounted on a drop down bracket off the cage upside down using the universal mount that comes with te mount( if you got the mount from dogcam) and it works perfect

Do you run any form of data logger ?

No, the race car is a fairly basic (low budget) Golf GTI, so not much need for data logging. We may install a lap timer to help with analysis of set-up changes though.

The package I ordered is the motorsport package that includes:-
ContourHD 720p Camera
2gb MicroSD Card
16gb MicroSD Card
Flat surface helmet mount
Goggle Mount
Panavise Suction Mount
Universal Mount Adapter
Cig Lighter Power
3 x Li-ion Batteries
USB Cable

Plus I already own one of their Manfrotto superclamp and Cullman ball and socket mounts, so will use that to mount to the cage as most scrutineers don't like suction mounts.

[a1bob]

There is a race technoigies (sp) data logger finishing on eBay tonight, that's what I use and it's a brilliant bit of kit.

I've been playing around with some software called tsx overdrive that let's you overlay the data from the logger onto the videos, mine is just a track day toy but it's all good fun lol

[dhdev (Oli)]

Placed the order for the Contour HD motorsport package with dogcamsport.co.uk yesterday at 12.32pm and it arrived superbly packaged at 8.30am this morning.

I've charged the battery and done a quick test run and I'm a very happy bunny. The window suction mount is very easy to use and very stable. The camera itself is well made and comes in some super fancy packaging! (I have real issues with poorly designed packaging lol) The lasers for alignment of the camera are pretty funky! It also comes with a couple of other mounts, one for attaching to the strap of a pair of goggles (skiing etc) and one for attaching to flat surface/helmet.

The software for the camera allows all sorts of settings to be adjusted (exposure, metering, sharpness, bit rate etc etc) and provides editing functionality (haven't tried this yet)

The footage i got is really clear however it is incriminating so I won't post it PMSL, I'll get some decent footage on Saturday from a test session at Mallory park.

Also found out that the camera uses Nokia BL-5C batteries, so spare batteries and external chargers (DT-14) can be had from ebay/amazon for much cheaper than the 'official' gear :thumb:

[dhdev (Oli)]

My internet connection is sheeeite at my parents house, so this is the most I can upload at the moment (been trying for HOURS).
Its only one lap of Mallory, its not the fastest lap, its not the most exciting lap and this is with the camera in SD mode rather than HD. Enjoy.

http://vholdr.com/node/92445

Ps I'll upload more complete HD vids to my Project thread soon.

[MK1_Ben]

Just to say, regular video cameras work fine.

We had a rally-car at work roll recently, and was having in-car footage filmed with a regular camera mounted to the cage. No distortion, loss of focus/sound or anything during the stage or when it was rolling.