Last year I bought a digital camcorder for filming car rallies . Done some research and finally went for a Panasonic NV-DS 15B . It gives you all the features that are on the dear models at a cheaper price . There is both input and output sockets , audio dubbing , nightvision , loads of digital effects which you can us at the time or add in afterwards ( mirror effect is great fun ) and also a digital stills facility which means you can use it as a digital camera .
You can also get a kit which allows you to connect the camcorder to a PC and you can take a still picture from any part of the recording and save it . All this and professional picture quality for around £600 . But shop around - my local dealer was quoting me £730 . Ended up getting it from RGB . Get a copy of What Camcorder? as it gives you a good buyers guide and loads of advertisers to choose from . I have some footage that I recorded on sweet lamb on the RAC last year . It was dark , raining and I could hardly see the cars but the camcorder got everything perfectly in focus - you can even see the brake discs glowing .
I would post some of my stills but I don't know how .

 

Just going back to the problem of mounting the camera, I have used a simple tripod with two of the legs on the back seat and the other on the central 'lump' by the rear ashtray. Using two bits of bungee I hook one round the central stalk of the tripod and attach it to the loops where the rear seat is bolted down in the rear footwell and the other bungee again round the central stalk and attached to the rear seatbelt catch using the belt loops.
This takes a minute to install and gives excellent results, plus you get to hear any screams frm your passenger and you can get the speedo and rev counter in the shot too.
Costs about £25 depending on the tripod.

[This message has been edited by RichB (edited 02 February 2001).]

 

The best in-car footage I get is also from a tripod.
I put two legs down behind the front seats and cable tie them to the rear seat bolts, and the third leg pushed through the middle of the back seats. This is then extended to push the whole set-up aginst the front seats and gives a very firm base.
All footage I have is taken this way.

Stef.

 

I may have saved myself £1500 this weekend, as the only problem with my old JVC Digi cam was power supply due to crap batteries. I went to Maplin today and bought a 12V stepdown transformer that plugs into the Cig Lighter hence giving the camera power all the time

Also my new Suction Clamp for the camera is aweseome and I can't wait to try it properly at Dono

So for those track days with Camera's and low power batteries get one of these stepdowns, they are a little pricey @ £120 though.

 

Erm Harj for £100 you could have bought an AC Inverter from Maplin and had 150 Watts of mains electricity in the car (plugs into cigarette lighter).

You could have used this to power anything that has a 240V AC supply (camcorder, camera, telly, computer etc)

 

Could you use a window sucker thingy on the back window but with the camera facing through the cabin to the front?

Martin

 

12V stepdown transformer? From DC? Some mistake surely

Am I the only one around here wot knows owt about electrickery??

Chris
(BEng(Hons) AMIEE)

 

...err, not exactly. I think I understand these volts, amps, thingy's a bit too... (as long as its <=14.2V and <=5A )

Martin
(BSc, C.Eng, MIEE) )

 

Thank god I don't beleive in hiring people with degrees as they all have big heads

Martin the sucktion can go anywhere mate, rear screen is where im having it for In-Car footage and on the front windscreen, then the outside of the car

Harj...(PHD)

 

What you can buy PHD's now then ?

Gary - Shoddy Bsc. (Hons)

 

Gary.
That's what Harj has bought. He just can't read the box properly!

Stef.

 

Calm down Steffany, I only looked at it yesterday.

 

Harj,

What have you bought for your £120? If the camera requires anything less <=12V dc then all you need is a £2.50 regulator to give a nice clean 6V, 9V or what ever supply.

My degree in electronics maybe pretty worthless but it's saved me a few quid over the years.

Rob C

 

oi noos a few tings 'boot electronickys..

sounds like what you have harj is a DC-DC convertor - not a transformer, per se, and it's far more complicated than a couple of coils around a former..

on this same subject - can digicorders output
to the PC serial port a la most Digi cameras, or you you need always need a video capture card ? (I'm looking into getting one too)