Camcorder for Track Day.
Discussion
I've been thinking about buying a camcorder to mount on my car windscreen for an upcoming trackday that I'm doing. My question is will any camcorder be able to cope with this or do I need an expensive one? as the car will be moving obviously and the track is stationary.
Will the camera be able to focus properly at speeds?
As you can see I know nothing about them. If anybody has any recommendations please feel free to enter them here, I'm not a cheapscate
but obviously do not want to spend more than I have to.
Cheers.
Will the camera be able to focus properly at speeds?
As you can see I know nothing about them. If anybody has any recommendations please feel free to enter them here, I'm not a cheapscate
but obviously do not want to spend more than I have to. Cheers.
You don't need an expensive system. Any small DV camcorder will do. £300 should get you one. I have a Canon MV550 - which is old but fine.
The important thing is that you get a mount that will hold the camcorder firmly in place.
www.b-hague.co.uk
and
www.b-hague.co.uk/camera_suction_pads_vacuum_mounts.htm
The above people will sell you a kit. You either need somewhere firm to bolt it (e.g. roll cage) or you need the suction cup device. The suction cup jobbie is hell to get to stick to a curved windscreen but will do so with some swearing.
Whatever you do you want to make sure there isn't the slightest chance of the damn thing getting loose - very distracting on track, and portentially dangerous if you come off!
You've a Griff IIRC. Nowhere to bolt it to in a Griff - you'll prabably need the suction cup.
The important thing is that you get a mount that will hold the camcorder firmly in place.
www.b-hague.co.uk
and
www.b-hague.co.uk/camera_suction_pads_vacuum_mounts.htm
The above people will sell you a kit. You either need somewhere firm to bolt it (e.g. roll cage) or you need the suction cup device. The suction cup jobbie is hell to get to stick to a curved windscreen but will do so with some swearing.
Whatever you do you want to make sure there isn't the slightest chance of the damn thing getting loose - very distracting on track, and portentially dangerous if you come off!
You've a Griff IIRC. Nowhere to bolt it to in a Griff - you'll prabably need the suction cup.
Looks fine to me...
What do you intend to do with the footage? It changes what features you need to look for.
If you intend to just watch it back, time laps, examine consistency of lines and so forth then that one will do just great.
If you intend to capture the video and post it on websites or even burn it to DVD it should be great as well.
If you intend to edit the material and record it back onto a tape you need to check that it has "DV IN" - apparently this then classes the device as a video recorder and it attracts a higher duty so they cost more.
Personally I NEVER record back to tape. Its either burned to DVD or captured for web use.
Don't forget that if you wish to use the footage on your computer you will need:
1) A Firewire card in the PC
2) a Firewire cable from camera to PC
3) Video Capture software like Windows Movie Maker
and if you wish to burn a DVD...
4) DVD authoring software willing to take the output of (3) above as its input (WMM doesn't burn DVDs by itself)
Costs:
A firewire card costs about £10
Cable about £10
Software - WMM is free with XP.
DVD authoring software £30 to £300 depending on capability and level of customisation of the DVDs that you can do.
What do you intend to do with the footage? It changes what features you need to look for.
If you intend to just watch it back, time laps, examine consistency of lines and so forth then that one will do just great.
If you intend to capture the video and post it on websites or even burn it to DVD it should be great as well.
If you intend to edit the material and record it back onto a tape you need to check that it has "DV IN" - apparently this then classes the device as a video recorder and it attracts a higher duty so they cost more.
Personally I NEVER record back to tape. Its either burned to DVD or captured for web use.
Don't forget that if you wish to use the footage on your computer you will need:
1) A Firewire card in the PC
2) a Firewire cable from camera to PC
3) Video Capture software like Windows Movie Maker
and if you wish to burn a DVD...
4) DVD authoring software willing to take the output of (3) above as its input (WMM doesn't burn DVDs by itself)
Costs:
A firewire card costs about £10
Cable about £10
Software - WMM is free with XP.
DVD authoring software £30 to £300 depending on capability and level of customisation of the DVDs that you can do.
groucho said:
What about this one, any good?
I just bought a 700i from John Lewis. It's the same as the 700, except it has an analogue input for remote cameras and so on. It *doesn't* have a remote control, which is a pain and an oversight by myself - it mounts on the roll bar in the Chim (using a Hague universal ball mount) and it's hard to reach to switch it on.
(I mount it upside down and invert the video in MM) Wherever you do mount it, rig a safety cable, so if it comes adrift in an enthusiastic corner, you don't have a wayward camera to deal with as well as the huge skid....
The quality is fine (I used it to videotape a friends wedding last weekend) and the video imports into Windows XP Movie Maker virtually seamlessly.
Don't pay more than a fiver for the firewire cable (I got one from Amazon for £4.something) - JL wanted £15 and Dixons £20.
(Oh, and £199 is a brilliant price. I paid ~£240 for the 700i. The JL proce tag said £355. Cheaky gits.)
Don said:
Looks fine to me...
What do you intend to do with the footage? It changes what features you need to look for.
If you intend to just watch it back, time laps, examine consistency of lines and so forth then that one will do just great.
Yes, that sounds about it.
Don said:
If you intend to capture the video and post it on websites or even burn it to DVD it should be great as well.
Could do at some point.
Don said:
If you intend to edit the material and record it back onto a tape you need to check that it has "DV IN" - apparently this then classes the device as a video recorder and it attracts a higher duty so they cost more.
No, I don't think so.
Don said:
Don't forget that if you wish to use the footage on your computer you will need:
1) A Firewire card in the PC
2) a Firewire cable from camera to PC
3) Video Capture software like Windows Movie Maker
So, if I just want to copy the footage onto my PC, I need the above? but I could I just plug in in to the TV?
Don said:
and if you wish to burn a DVD...
4) DVD authoring software willing to take the output of (3) above as its input (WMM doesn't burn DVDs by itself)
Then I'll need this WMM, I have Windows 2000 BTW.
Cheers Don, can get confusing can't it?
Yep - you can just watch it on your TV straight from the camera. But the tapes are expensive and you'll want to re-use 'em. Hence capturing the video onto one's PC and burning it onto something (DVD or CD) so it can be watched at leisure.
The camera you found should be fine. Start off with getting that and a decent mount. The Hague ones are pretty damn good.
The camera you found should be fine. Start off with getting that and a decent mount. The Hague ones are pretty damn good.
Just another vote for the hague mounts, not cheap but very definitely worth it. Solid as a rock, and don't forget if you've got normal car headrest they'll just clamp onto those with no problems (it clamps onto the headrest bars, just needs raising slightly).
Oh, and if you're planning on editing it on pc or similar afterwards, consider as well pointing the camera in different directions while you're driving. Then you can edit in other bits and make more interest
Oh, and if you're planning on editing it on pc or similar afterwards, consider as well pointing the camera in different directions while you're driving. Then you can edit in other bits and make more interest
nick young said:
Oh, and if you're planning on editing it on pc or similar afterwards, consider as well pointing the camera in different directions while you're driving. Then you can edit in other bits and make more interest
But not whilst circulating the track obviously!
Actually - borrow a mate's system and hook up two cameras and mounts...then edit together...cool...
Jeeez, I've been looking at different specs of different cameras for the last couple of hours, I'm right confused now. With the camera above, would anybody like to guess how many minutes of video the camera will hold? Has it got an in-built memory card that can't be changed, and if not what kind of size would you need for 6 hours of video?
Do they all come with a battery charger?
Do they all come with some kind of software for the PC like when you buy a still digital camera?
I see that not all of them have USB out, is this easier than this firewire? I've not heard of that.
Sorry to be a pain with all these questions. I shouldn't study them on the net as it just begs more questions.
I'm sure I've forgotten other questions I wanted to ask. I'll save it for another post when I remember.
Cheers...
>> Edited by groucho on Wednesday 27th April 16:22
Do they all come with a battery charger?
Do they all come with some kind of software for the PC like when you buy a still digital camera?
I see that not all of them have USB out, is this easier than this firewire? I've not heard of that.
Sorry to be a pain with all these questions. I shouldn't study them on the net as it just begs more questions.
I'm sure I've forgotten other questions I wanted to ask. I'll save it for another post when I remember.
Cheers...
>> Edited by groucho on Wednesday 27th April 16:22
Records as much video as you like (runs off mini dv tapes which are an hour each (or 90 minutes on long play usually)
Usually come with a charger, yes.
"Do they all come with some kind of software for the PC like when you buy a still digital camera?"
Mine did
"I see that not all of them have USB out, is this easier than this firewire? I've not heard of that."
firewire is faster generally. USB (1.1 at least) wouldn't be fast enough to output video in real-time.
Hope that helps answer a few of those questions
Usually come with a charger, yes.
"Do they all come with some kind of software for the PC like when you buy a still digital camera?"
Mine did
"I see that not all of them have USB out, is this easier than this firewire? I've not heard of that."
firewire is faster generally. USB (1.1 at least) wouldn't be fast enough to output video in real-time.
Hope that helps answer a few of those questions
Cheers Nick it certainly helps, I suppose you just get one of these tapes with it when you buy it then, after you have to buy more.
I thought the idea of digital devices was to store the data digitally on a memory card or something, but these tapes sound like old media type thingies, or am I wrong? (probably).
>> Edited by groucho on Wednesday 27th April 16:47
I thought the idea of digital devices was to store the data digitally on a memory card or something, but these tapes sound like old media type thingies, or am I wrong? (probably).
>> Edited by groucho on Wednesday 27th April 16:47
You don't even get *one* tape with 'em. But you can get miniDV tapes in any supermarket.
USB is too slow for video. Sometimes video cameras have a USB connection - but only for still pictures - yes many video cameras take digital still pics onto an SD card (the Canon does).
Firewire is very like USB - but many, many times faster - quick enough to transfer streaming video data in real time.
All video goes onto tape. The reason is that to store video takes a lot of storage. Much more than you can currently fit on a card. 60 minutes of video in full quality is many, many gigabytes of data - so that's why the tape is still used.
Eventually video cameras will go totally solid state (my wife's "still" digital camera can take short videos onto the card) but today the quality is still too low and the rate the card fills up too quick for it to be viable.
USB is too slow for video. Sometimes video cameras have a USB connection - but only for still pictures - yes many video cameras take digital still pics onto an SD card (the Canon does).
Firewire is very like USB - but many, many times faster - quick enough to transfer streaming video data in real time.
All video goes onto tape. The reason is that to store video takes a lot of storage. Much more than you can currently fit on a card. 60 minutes of video in full quality is many, many gigabytes of data - so that's why the tape is still used.
Eventually video cameras will go totally solid state (my wife's "still" digital camera can take short videos onto the card) but today the quality is still too low and the rate the card fills up too quick for it to be viable.
Don said:
All video goes onto tape. The reason is that to store video takes a lot of storage. Much more than you can currently fit on a card. 60 minutes of video in full quality is many, many gigabytes of data - so that's why the tape is still used.
Eventually video cameras will go totally solid state (my wife's "still" digital camera can take short videos onto the card) but today the quality is still too low and the rate the card fills up too quick for it to be viable.
Ahhhh I see, I was wondering this when I was just looking at a camcorder with a 8mb stick, I thought, crikey that can't hold much video, I can only hold a few stills with a 16mb card on my digi-camera. You can get those ones that record onto DVD as well, but quite a bit dearer, I've noticed.
Cheers guys, you've cleared a lot up for me.
>> Edited by groucho on Wednesday 27th April 17:11
groucho said:
What about this one, any good?
They ran out of that one it was a Canon MV700, so I got This one I also bought an extra battery and tapes. Crikey it's been an expensive afternoon.
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