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Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:47 pm
by Pedro
Not sure where to post this...I am wondering what is the best/affordable video equipment for recording trackdays..? Something easy, & discreet, to mount on the car, ability to move the camera position around for different angles, views, etc...would be ideal. I would also prefer solid state, (SD memory), or similar for the recording device.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers,
Pedro :thumbsup

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:19 pm
by ~ ~ Cal ~ ~
In my opinion, avoid solid state as traditional DV handycams see far more shock resistant and offer waaaaay better resolution

I use :-

* Sony Handcam TRV 22E which you could pick up on Ebay for circa £50 -£75
* and a camera mount from B-Hague ( circa £80 with a variety of mountings available - the ideal is a suction mount though if you want to move it round the car ) http://www.b-hague.co.uk/camera_suction ... mounts.htm

Here are some results best viewed in the the High Def. mode from Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyiMA9cnZ1w

Big_D runs a similiar set up but hooks his DV camcorder up to a bullet cam I believe

I think next months evo Magazine will run an article on this sort of thing

Cheers
Cal

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:39 pm
by ~ ~ Cal ~ ~

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:35 pm
by Pedro
Thanks Cal,

Certainly takes good quality video, and I really appreciate your input. Only problem I can see, is the size, I am really looking for something very small & light, since I will be mounting in an Elise, and hopefully externally on the body of the car as well, I'll checkout EVO as you suggest and do a bit more researching before buying.

Cheers,
Pedro :thumbsup

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:02 pm
by Shug
A year ago and I'd have been able to sell you an Archos/bullet cam combo with the ability to store up to 20GB in DivX on flash memory - but Archos have dabbled with solid state and now dumped it to concentrate on massive hard drives and lots of bells & whistles on the players.

Some solid state stuff out there designed around extreme sports, but I don't have any links.

http://www.vimeo.com/3405293 - taken with the Archos recently.

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:03 pm
by philthy
Im trying to source a Archos Cam for 704 series, any lying around the stock room shug?!

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:05 pm
by Shug
Nope - long gone for the Gen 4 mate... Gen 5 is now sold out as well IIRC. Last time I checked, they hadn't got round to releasing a Gen 6 one.

Fleabay I'm afraid mate - or call Archos direct and see if they can track you down any stock-holders, but I'd be very surprised.

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:35 pm
by philthy
thought as much, the last one sold on ebay for more than they were new.

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:06 pm
by ~ ~ Cal ~ ~
Pedro wrote:Thanks Cal,

and hopefully externally on the body of the car as well, I'll checkout EVO as you suggest and do a bit more researching before buying.

Cheers,
Pedro :thumbsup
External mounting easy ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiqTt_1P ... annel_page

I just forgot to plug in the external micrphone which I ran into the cabin

I can never really dig the bullet cams in terms of perspective and clarity but horses for courses !

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:14 pm
by mckeann
philthy wrote:Im trying to source a Archos Cam for 704 series, any lying around the stock room shug?!


bullet cam thingymabob??

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:37 pm
by philthy
mckeann wrote:bullet cam thingymabob??
yeap, like this

Image

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:50 pm
by Mike Scib
I used a Archos player and bullet cam from amp3.....worked excellently :thumbsup

http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... =9&t=19466

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:03 pm
by mckeann
Had a look as i have an archos AV500 lying around, and thought i had the bullet cam to go with it, but on searching for it, i remembered that the reason i dont use it any more is i gave the bullet cam back to AndyG :oops:

Sorry to get your hopes up.

On the plus side, i found some old videos of me from Spa in 2006 that were pretty cool to watch. 8)

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 10:17 pm
by Sanjøy
I use a relatively cheap DV camera so that I will not sob like a baby if it ends up smacking on the tarmac.
I use a Samsung VP-D361 connects to my puter using firewire, 10gb per hour.

Footage samples here http://vimeo.com/album/34837l

Been meaning to buy a mount from here but found a sweet way of mounting on the 340s rear light cluster.

Prob going to buy another cheap camera so I have one facing both directions so I can play Director.

Re: Trackday Video Kit

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:05 am
by alicrozier
Sanjoy wrote: Prob going to buy another cheap camera so I have one facing both directions so I can play Director.
First the cars appear in the rear facing camera, then the front... :wink: :damnfunny

(or can still show direction of travel whether it was forwards or backwards you entered the gravel) :lol: