On board camera

[BRADS II]

I have a Caterham and was looking into buying an on board camera. The problem is I do not know which is the best option?? Any advice please!

[davidball]

The MD80 mini DV camara is an amazing little thing. With a 8 Gbyte memory card it costs about 25 UK pounds from ebay (comes from China). The rechargable battery lasts about 90 minutes. An number of people on this forum have bought it and there are some videos on Youtube.

Edited by davidball on Friday 19th March 01:24

[MXM]

For an even cheaper (unbelievably!) solution, ebay is now full of so called keychain cameras, like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Now, there are a dozen different versions, I believe for the "best" quality you have to look for one which promises 720x480 video and 1280x1024 JPEG, at the moment.

It's so cheap, you can put 5 of them all around the car and record the action from every possible angle

But for anything serious, you might want to look into GoPro HD Motorsport Hero or Contour HD.

http://vimeo.com/6829127

These are the kind of "action" cameras that don't have a screen, designed for be fitted to a helmet or a car. Both use the same sensor as far as I know, and are about £300 each. The result is stunning though. It can do HD at 60 fps with wide angle! Also rugged enough to be fitted externally.

[pistolp]

the video vbox is awesome - it gives lap times via satellite as well so no beacons on display track days (timing invalidates insurance for track day organisers so is banned).

it is expensive but so worth it, allow about 1k. Other than that there is tha chasecam which i used for the last two seasons. that is good too but no comparison.

[BRADS II]

Thank you all for your advice. The MD80 is probably the one I will go for as it is highly recommended.

Thanks again.

[Nicodema]

Unless you are operating on a shoestring, and I appreciate that many are, I'd make sure that if you go CMOS, make sure you get one that will do 60fps. This helps reduce the "wobblevision" effect that plagues this type of camera.

PAL video cameras, e.g. bullet cams that drive solid state recorders like the Video VBOX or most of the stuff that dogcam sell are fine as they shoot all of each frame at the same time. CMOS cams have a rolling shutter, which means that each line of each frame is recorded at a different time. Now if the camera is vibrating, which most car mounted cams will do to some extent, you get an effect which makes the car and sometimes the world look like it's made of jelly.

If you do get a 25/30fps tiny CMOS camcorder like the MD80 or Muvi, make sure its totally rigid to the car. Many of the supplied mounts or Heath Robinson diy solutions don't do this. Once it is rigidly secured to either the car or a helmet, that will provide the stability required to lessen the effect, like mounting it on a Steadicam.

Enjoy

[y2blade]

+1 for MD80 very impressed with mine (so much so I bought two)

[Scotty996T]

My MD80 mini DV arrived this morning and i had a quick run with it on the grille before one of our customers took the SV out for the day - amazing quality and £25.

Will put it on youtube and post a link. Ta

Scott

[y2blade]

Scotty996T said:

My MD80 mini DV arrived this morning and i had a quick run with it on the grille before one of our customers took the SV out for the day - amazing quality and £25.

Will put it on youtube and post a link. Ta

Scott

did you get a class 6 MicroSD card or a std one? class 6 will give you the best frame rate


I used a std card in mine at first and it was pretty "jumpy/jerky" ...I bought a 8gb Class 6 MicroSD and it is bloody superb

[Scotty996T]

Before the DV camera arrived I managed this calssic dumb ass moment - it's Ok to laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv8bLCuG094

[mickrick]

Thanks for sharing that! You're a top bloke!

[Scotty996T]

It's astonishing I'm still here Mick. Three electrocutions a year is the norm and last year I hit a Pheasant at 40mph on a (cycling) bike. Thought I'd killed it but only stunned it, then it attacked me - WTF!

Should have good fun with the Mini DV camera - god knows what I'll capture.

[Scotty996T]

Shot with bog standard Samsung £150 camcorder and a £25 suction mount:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLCqqOuYBz8&fea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI2Se3cWRRk

[Nicodema]

Scotty996T said:

Will put it on youtube and post a link. Ta

Come on Scott, post your MD80 footage. We want to see how it came out.

[rqy99g]

Here is some footage using a MD80

Here

[Scotty996T]

Footage was Ok but need to make movie at highest quality on editing packages. Will try again, and can't get rid of stupid date thingy!

Has potential though. Seems to work best on numberplate or grille.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mcfie121?feature=mhw4#...

[sjmmarsh]

Scotty

How did you mount the camera on the front of the car - attached to the grille or numberplate - in that video? Also, how is it secured. I have found that the clip it comes with falls apart under vibrations, so not secure!

Steve

[Scotty996T]

Hi Steve

A very sophisticated and technical solution - electrical tape

Used the clip to put it on the grille then taped it up.

On the rollbar, just taped it in place.

Cheers

Scott

[tony wright]

Have you done anything extra to the camera for the sound? I put mine on the cage but the sound is just wind rush and nothing else once over 20mph.

[Scotty996T]

Hi Tony

No idea why it didn't work on the roll bar but was excellent of the grille.

I have another one coming. Will keep yu posted.

Cheers

Scott