Jump to content
Click here to contact our helpful office staff ×

Car mounted camera for track days


bluespeed

Recommended Posts

Hi Blatchat members,

 

Wifey is very kindly offering to buy me (us) a camera system & mount to record our escapades on track days for my Christmas pressi. We are not looking for super high quality machine but something that records and can be played back via appropriate leads on the TV afterwards to see where we both went wrong at the track(s).

 

There seems a huge array of bullet cameras etc and roll cadge mounts available, we would appreciate your experiences and recomendations........ budget up to £350.

Cheers Bernie & Simon

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can give you my opinion on the two cameras I've been using this year - Contour 720p and Exeros 1080p.

 

The Contour is good because it's compact and has a nice wide angle lens, but is a pain because the battery doesn't last that long in the higher quality shooting modes (and it can't easily be powered by the car electrics), and there's no view finder which makes setting it up a serious hassle. There is also no facility for an external mic so you are stuck with wind noise, or slightly muffled wind noise when using the water-proof case. Speaking of which, it does at least mean you can use it in the rain.

 

The Exeros is good because it has very nice picture quality, can be powered by the car, takes cheaper SD cards rather than micro SD and is waterproof (mostly). It also has an internal and external mic and remote control, spare battery, variety of cables, and nice carry case. However, I've had quite a bit of trouble with the supplied external mic which has been disappointing. Also, because the standard unit has a substantial fixed cable connecting the main unit with the camera it can be a bit of a hassle fitting it to the car and then taking it off again. But that's not a major gripe really.

 

There are newer Contour models that offer higher picture quality and the ability to use a mobile phone as the viewfinder. Whether or not that helps I'll leave up to you *wink* The Exeros is a little pricey now and it's a shame the lens angle is not wider, but on the whole it's an excellent piece of kit.

 

However - if I was buying one today I would buy this. It's cheaper than the Exeros, has a wired remote which I think is a bit more practical than a wireless one, has a variety of useful mounts AND comes with the backing an experience of Dog Cam Sport, who have been doing this kind of thing for a long time (and was even founded by a club member, if I'm not mistaken).

 

Hope that helps. Have a look on my YouTube channel for some clips from both the cameras I've used *thumbup*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peter thanks for your post, picture quality looks fine on your U tube clip, so does sunshine on your trip! DogCam Web Site shows the full price with card and remote of about £300 -5% of course as Lotus & club member

 

What size SD car does everyone recomend I was thinking of a 16Gb?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Mike,

Swinging towards MiniDVR HD Bullet Camera System as it has a remote and looks very simple. The GoPro is also a fab piece of kit, your link takes me to a US site, I have seen sellers on eBay of these but is there a main UK distrubutor to talk to or where did you purchase yours from if I may ask?

 

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are thinking Go Pro then make sure it is the new GoPro2 HD version which will take an external mic for decent sound. Sample footage here from my first time using mine in November

 

I use the eyeofmine motorsport mount as it is more stable and easier to set up than the GoPro motorsport mount.

 

Edited by - Croc on 10 Dec 2011 22:10:49

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Untill now I was using a POV VIO 1.5.

Very happy with it (see

) but I was temped to move to "HD".

 

I had bad feedback of the pov HD riliability when fitted on cars.

A company involved in data logger and emeded video systems I know is discounting the pov HD to clear their small stock and will then stop to sell it.

 

I looked at the market quite deeply.

Personnaly I don't like to GoPro because of its design.

 

I was about to buy the news Drift HD wich seems to be cool, and very good in the tests I read compared to the Contour HD or GoPro HD.

 

And finally I just bought the CamSport HD Max.

Full HD

60 im/sec in 720p for cool replay

Hdmi output

1 external mic

1 remote control (cable) with a led informing when you are recording.

...

 

I ordered an optinal remote control (cable) that will be fitted under my dash.

There are 2 plugs on it : 1 for the external mic and 1 to wire it to the car battery.

 

Another root to explore is the Contour +, HD and GPS embeded.

A friend of mine has one of them and images are really fine but the GPS datas are not very accurate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...