In car camers / bullet cams

[Flying Peach]

What have you got and what would you avoid?

[fastfreddy]

I'd avoid anything too cheap (unless you want crap picture quality, of course)

Here's some useful info:

http://www.drivedata.com/cameraguide.html

[Jubal]

If you can live with the hassle of tapes then I recommend a standard bullet cam (resolution/quality is budget dependent) and a standard mini DV camcorder with AV in. Pretty robust and excellent quality. I picked up a bullet cam kit from fastfilms last year to work with my existing camcorder and it has been pretty good. The guy there was very helpful and the kit had all the accessories needed.

[gtdc]

Once you've got your laps to watch how many times do you actually watch them?

Melindi
www.goldtrack.co.uk

[JimboCam]

My current favourite is the Samsung VP-HMX10. It's High-Def 50Hz Progressive scan with digital image stabilisation that works way better in-car than optical. It's got a microphone input and isn't much bigger than the larger bullet cameras.
It records to SDHC cards - you can get an 8GB one for about 16 quid which will hold over an hour at the highest data rate.
You can pick one up for under 400 quid - a bargain IMHO.



http://www.dixons.co.uk/product.php?sku=009391&amp...

As regards footage - mostly it never gets watched again - but there are plenty of moments that get watched again and again and again....
such as this...
http://www.jimbocam.com/elvington/vA/elvA-j5goon1-...
or this...
http://www.jimbocam.com/donington/vD/DVw-donD-ferr...

[AL001]

Jimbo, looks good, does it have an AV in to attach a bullet cam?

Any bullet cams particulary recommended?

[rdjohn]

Has anyone any experience of using this kit from 4Cam?

http://www.4kam.com/action_ready_package.htm

[JimboCam]

AL001 said:

Jimbo, looks good, does it have an AV in to attach a bullet cam?

Any bullet cams particulary recommended?

No, but there's really no point! If you use a bullet cam then it won't be high-def. The camera is so small and light you can use it pretty much anywhere you can use a bullet cam. It's also progressive scan so there's no interlace issue.

This is some footage from the camera encoded to mpeg-2 - I've never seen bullet cam footage as good. You will need a reasonably good PC to cope with the MPEG4 files though.

http://www.jimbocam.com/donington/20080227/2008022...

If you're not bothered about high-def there's an SD version for about £140.

I only use bullet cams when I really have to - like for karting I use a micro camera taped to my crash helmet running into a Canon MV250i. Something like this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=98256...
Footage:
http://www.jimbocam.com/karting/v7/phkart3.mpg
There's a lot of extra hassle with powering the bullet cam and getting line-level audio. [-]

[Monty_M100]

Did a search for the SD version, looks good for the money

Samsung VP-MX10 SD Camcorder
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/275876...

Jimbo, do you know if this will take the 8GB card?




I`ve got ATC2000 action cam and converted one of the brackets so i can fit a suction mount, the video is good enough for what i use it for but the sound is Absolutley crap.

[JimboCam]

Monty_M100 said:

Jimbo, do you know if this will take the 8GB card?

Dunno. The HMX10 needs class 4 or quicker. I use these:

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?c...

[AL001]

Thanks for info Jimbo.

Do you use a standard Hague type clamp with it?

[Toltec]

I have kit bought from http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/  and am very happy with it and them.

Brands Hatch do not like you to use vacuum or sucker mounts anymore though, not sure about other tracks.

[JimboCam]

AL001 said:

Thanks for info Jimbo.

Do you use a standard Hague type clamp with it?

I use Manfrotto Superclamps, a Cullmann Universal Clamp, Cullmann ball & socket heads and one of these things:

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?c...

I attach it to my wing support - no way would I attach it to glass.

Piccies here:

http://bookatrack.com/-pg?620

note mounting the camera upside down below the clamp helps reduce vibration.

Edited by JimboCam on Wednesday 5th March 20:39

[AL001]

Great, thanks for the links Jim.

[G7 Rye]

also try, http://www.cameragrip.co.uk/acatalog/Mounting_Brac...

Got my gear there and had no problems