Race Car DV Camcorder

[chassis 33]

I have absolutely no experience with video cameras so please be gentle!!!

Can anyone suggest a digital camcorder that can stand the abuse of being mounted to the roll cage of a race car, (obviously using one of those shock absorber mount jobbies).

The budget is whatever it take to get the job done, I want one that lasts not one at half the price but breaks the first time I ride over a curb.

Regards
Iain

[ehasler]

Why not go for a bullet cam, which means you can hide the video recorder away somewhere safe? I've run a Sony camcorder on my Westfield a few times, but I'm going to try running my bullet cam into an Archos AV500 hard disk recorder which should hopefully give better results.

>> Edited by ehasler on Tuesday 7th February 16:21

[m12_nathan]

I ran a sony camcorder in my clio mounted on the cage via the shock absorbing mount demon tweeks sell, it was fine, lens got thrown out of focus when i hit a barrier hard enough to write the car off but other than that it was fine.

make sure image stabilisation is turned off, it makes you look slower

[chassis 33]

How does the Archos AV500/bullet cam work with sound, presumably I'd need an external microphone acting like the bullet cam for audio?

Just going a quick search around its looking about £300 for the Archos AV500 and £100 for the bullet cam does that sound about right?

Regards
Iain

[Gruffy]

You should budget a little more for the bullet cam. Have a chat with Dave at Fast Films. They've got some very hi-res cameras for the same price as the ones at RF. You can also pick up a Superclamp there. Perfect for rollbars etc. If you're looking for something a bit more permanent then I think he does installs as well.

Gruffy

Edit to add: External mics come as part of the Bullet Cam Kits.

>> Edited by Gruffy on Tuesday 7th February 17:03

[ehasler]

chassis 33 said:

How does the Archos AV500/bullet cam work with sound, presumably I'd need an external microphone acting like the bullet cam for audio? Just going a quick search around its looking about £300 for the Archos AV500 and £100 for the bullet cam does that sound about right? Regards Iain

The bullet cam I have comes with a small external microphone, so you can attach this to wherever you want. Those prices look about right, although I think I paid a bit more for the cam from RF Concepts, plus I bought a few different lenses/glass protectors.

[Gruffy]

Good tip! Definitely invest in a handful of spare glass covers. They're about £1 each, but if you want to put the camera in vulnerable places then you will occasionally pic up chips etc.

Gruffy

[theboyfold]

I'd personally save some money on the recording device and pick up a Canon MV700i, which IMHO gives better results, especially when you mount the bullet camera low as the Archos compresses the footage it can loose a little bit of quality.

have a look at www.cloud34.com/splitscreen.wmv for an example of this, the bullet cam is the smaller screen. It does burn out when the sun hits it, but that's as it was in the evening. The quality on the clip is not the best, as it's highly compressed, but you get the idea.

Here is a still frame from my bullet cam





>> Edited by theboyfold on Thursday 9th February 00:16

[Fishy Dave]

I agree

Go for a cheaper mini dv camcorder with AV in, and go for a decent bullet cam. That's what I have found gives a good result.

Dave

[skr]

Any ideas on mounting a bullet cam to the roll cage? I have seen the one on Fast Films web site and it looks a little bulky.

What other options are there?

[theboyfold]

skr said:

Any ideas on mounting a bullet cam to the roll cage? I have seen the one on Fast Films web site and it looks a little bulky. What other options are there?

Gaffer tape?

[falcemob]

Here's mine



As it's an open top car, I need to sort out something a little more aerodynamic

>> Edited by falcemob on Saturday 25th February 12:33

[Bobbus]

I would definitely go along with what everyone else has said, a camcorder with AV in and a bullet camera is the way ahead (until digital recorders get better at least). I run a bullet cam with a Canon MV600i which produces excellent results, so there's definitely no need to spend much on the camcorder but it is worthwhile getting a decent bullet cam.

If you want to see the type of results have a look at the video below: (obviously reduced quality for the net, but you should get a pretty good idea)

www.bobbus.com/bdn/snetterton.wmv (21mb)


As for mounting a bullet cam on a rollbar, a simple and lightweight solution is to use a strip of aluminum around the camera (with a bit of padding) to form a clamp, then attach that to the rollbar with a jubilee clip.

Rob.