In car video-again

[andy oliver]

Has anyone used a Sony PC-1 type digital video camera for this?.I have one mounted on the rollbar which works well apart from the sound.I have a remote mike (borrowed from a minidisc) plugged into it and clipped to the passenger side seatbelt.It's covered in foam but cuts out at a noise level over 30mph.Would foam over the integral mike be adequate or do I need to buy a Sony remote mike?

[Tony Martyr]

Andy,

I had exactly the same problem with the intergral mike on my PC100E digicam.

Baffles foam etc did not work to stop the roaring.

I have spend a horrible amount of money getting a Sony remote mike. It fits onto the hot-shoe but has a pull out cord with a clip on mike. It works very well - is it worth the 99 pounds? well it works and you can speak into the mike and have the engine noise as heard in the cock-pit

[Violet Elizabeth]

I have used one of those cheapo tie-clip microphones that you get with PC's with my PC100E. Works OK wedged between passenger seat and side panel. Not aware of any way to reduce the input gain into a Sony digicam.

[captain chaos]

I've just bought a Sony PC5 for which among other things...(home movieswink.gif)...I intend to use for recording my laps at the Ring. Where did you buy you're mounting brackets? How did you cope with vibration? What are you transfering the recording to?

 

thanks

 

Edited by - captain chaos on 13 Jun 2001 21:46:21

[Tony Martyr]

I made the bracket from aluminium plate and used a cheap tripod mount fitting from Jessops. I use a cable tie as security. The base is hard mounted but the side of the bracket is padded by using chamois leather under duct tape!

The bracket uses the large brace fixing hole in my FIA roll bar. Works well.

The units you can buy, in my expereince, shake loose which is the last thing you want as you enter the karasel.

[Violet Elizabeth]

As previously discussed on this forum, Manfrotto make a "SuperClamp" and various head to attatch to it. It is very secure on surrey back roads (rather bumpy !) but I couldn't comment on it's 'Ring suitability. The advantage of this system is that you get many more mounting possibilities. DV tape gets transferred to PC for editing, then back to DV tape.

[andy oliver]

A friend made my mounting from an aluminium block

with a rollbar sized hole turned thru' it,split and bolted.The picture quality is fine with the electronics in the camera dealing with the vibration perfectly.The sound problem is worth sorting out tho' as it rather spoils the end result.I will look into the sony remote mike if I can't find a cheaper solution

[pfreeman]

The magical 'Manfrotto Super Clamp' is the device holding the camera in place whilst Richard Ince was recording his recent laps around the Ring.

 

I've also used it on many track and road sessions - highly recommended.

[Edzup Ezzer]

I am interested in trying to get some video footage in my 7. Has anyone got any photos drawings etc of their solution 'available' on the web to give me an idea how they did it?

[rjc]

Step 1 Get a manfrotto 'junior' tripod head.

 

Step 2 Get a caterham head rest, the one that bolts together onto the rollcage for racing purposes.

 

Step 3 Attach tripod head to head rest by drilling a hole and using the appropriate bolt with spacer washers into the square plate.

 

Step 4 Attach assembly to car, you may need to remove the passenger seat headrest (if fitted). Use as much padding as possible to reduce camera shake. The assembly works for standard and FIA roll bars but the FIA does take some fiddling.

 

Step 5 Attach camera - remember to turn it on.

 

Step 6 Experiment until you get the best camera angle least vibration etc.

 

 

EEEEEasy !!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

[Marius]

Concerning the mike: I also bought an external mike which can easily plugged into the SONY-cams and just lenghtend the cable.

Then we put it below the dashboard, fixed with cable-ties. Worked very well, no wind-noises, just induction/exhaust-noise and the gearbox-sound.

The poor noise-quality on Richards laps was due to a lack of time to fit the mike properly.

 

Cheers,

Marius

[Violet Elizabeth]

An alternative without the drilling is :-

a) Buy a Manfrotto SuperClamp (035)

b) Buy a Manfrotto double-ball head (155RC)

c) Clamp clamp to roll bar. Attach head and camera.

d) Tie it all on for safety .

e) You need a mike !

 

I am not very mechanicaly minded, hence the lack of drills, but it works well for me, and is very solid.

[Red SLR]

I have just aquired a sony recording Hi 8 unit , this is basicaly a hi 8 camcorder but with no camera.

 

I am going to mount this in the boot and I have ordered a colour bullet cam and hope to mount this in the grill, will be able to be mounted anywhere, I hope to get some good shots from the suspension and maybe even from underneath the car.

 

Now where did I put those cable ties........

 

X777CAT

[Marius]

Simon, make sure that you get a digital Hi8 recording unit, the standard ones suffer under the high g-forces and the bumps, poor picture-qualtiy. With a digital unit you get fantastic results, worth the extra-money.

 

Marius

[Red SLR]

Dont worry it is a proper preffesional bit of kit. It is solid as a rock, you can shake it like mad and it still records fine.

 

It also has a 4 inch LCD screen on the top for instant playback.

 

As I have not payed anything for it I dont think I will be spending te best part of £1000 on a digital camcorder, just yet anyway! teeth.gif

 

X777CAT