Video Camera Questions, considering installing an in-car cam Options

[John]

Any advice/suggestions for mounting a video camera in our track only car? There is virtually no interior left and a bracket would be fabricated and welded into place for mounting.

Any brand/model recommendations? Any brands/models to avoid?

The car is a DE only vehicle.

What I THINK I want is a small, lightweight camera that stores video on Digital Tape, and can be powered from the car 12v system. I want something that will be easy to transfer video to a PC and then burn DVD's to be played in stand-alone players.

I want enough resolution that it will look decent full screen on a television.

It will need to be hard wired as there is no lighter plug (or dash for that matter).

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[John]

Here is a link to my first attempt:


3 laps at Heartland Park

It did suffer from compression, but it does work.

[ChrisFoley]

That looks good John.
Your camera mount appears to flex a lot though.

[John]

That looks good John.
Your camera mount appears to flex a lot though.

Are you referring to the vibrations? The mount is currently welded to the firewall (which does flex quite a bit). I am considering bracing it a bit to reduce the bouncing if I can make it light enough. There isn't too much there to mount to. I looked at your in-car footage on your site. Yours does not vibrate at all.... How did you do that?



Thanks for the feedback.

I think it went well for the first attempt. I was a little disappointed with the resolution, but after seeing the prices for High Definition cameras, I think I will stick to what I already own.

Do you have any pictures of how you mounted your cam? I'm always looking for ideas.

[ChrisFoley]

Are you referring to the vibrations? The mount is currently welded to the firewall (which does flex quite a bit). I am considering bracing it a bit to reduce the bouncing if I can make it light enough. There isn't too much there to mount to. I looked at your in-car footage on your site. Yours does not vibrate at all.... How did you do that?

The vibrations are something I expect. The flex is visible by watching the position of the turn signal hump move around on the screen. Any triangulated bracing should diminish this substantially.
Actually I think mine vibrates a lot but not continuously, mostly just from hitting bumps and curbing. I use an IO port mount that mounts on the roll cage. It offers a wide adjustment range to position the camera.
As far as resolution goes, you have to make a trade off between file size and picture quality. I save the highest resolutions for very short clips.

[John]

The vibrations are something I expect. The flex is visible by watching the position of the turn signal hump move around on the screen. Any triangulated bracing should diminish this substantially.
Actually I think mine vibrates a lot but not continuously, mostly just from hitting bumps and curbing. I use an IO port mount that mounts on the roll cage. It offers a wide adjustment range to position the camera.
As far as resolution goes, you have to make a trade off between file size and picture quality. I save the highest resolutions for very short clips.

I'm finding that out about the resolution. Short clips seem to be small enough to upload.

I made my mount. It is welded to the firewall (which flexes). I have a plan to add an angle iron brace to stiffen up the firewall in the location of the camera mount. It should reduce the movement considerably.

I still wonder if some of the movement could be inherent in the camera stabilization mechanism....