steve40th

Well for Christmas my parents bought me a great gift for me and the family. A DVD-R Camera. Its Hitachis new one, http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachico.../forhome/ubcg/
DZGX5020A.
I know MIni DV is the best for in car camera, but I am willing to give this a try. Family first, car second.
I am going to work with a friend to make a mount, with soft durometer rubber as a vibration damper. I am a submariner, so I can hopefully figure out a way to do this where metal to metal is not a factor.
Any suggestions etc would be appreciated.

Last C5

If you have a harness bar installed, try a Bogen/Manfrotto pan tilt head #3035 ($30) and a Bogen/Manfrotto Super Clamp #2909 (I think about $25) from B&H Photo on the web and you're good to go.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._3_D_Head.html

Good luck with the Mini DVD though.

steve40th

Thanks. I know the DVD will be tough, but my parents bought it for the family, and well, I am very happy.
It does have a feature to deal with shock so I will see if it works.

steve40th

I could a/v the signal out to a stable platform and record video onto there vice the DVD-R?
Or try one of these suction mounts, mounted to a plate support on my roll bar?
http://chasecam.com/mounts-suction.htm

Last C5

The new generation cameras are getting better all the time. Maybe the anti shock feature will keep you running. All my experience with DVD cameras has been with cameras that were at least a year or two old.

steve40th

I am going to get a quick mount and do some testing with it. I did shake the hell out of the camera as I was walking and it didnt skip.

Last C5

Well, that a good sign to start with. Heck, you've got the camera and you'll need a mount no matter where you end up so you might as well buy a mount, bolt up the camera you have, and give it a try. Make sure to post the results, especially if they're positive.

C66 Racing

Steve,
My recorder is a Sony mini-DV which has always worked well for me, but I'm interested in the relatively new HD recorders now that their price has fallen to the reasonable level. Very interested to see how your recorder handles the vibrations and g-loading in-car.

As for a mount, mine was easy with a full cage in the car. I bought an I/O Port camera mount, attached it to the cage years ago and haven't thought about it since.

steve40th

Once my relatives leave here soon, I will go shopping locally for a mount. There are many photog shops here.
A friend I work with used to fab race cars for Shelby in Vegas, and he said get him a design and we can mount and isolate this camera from the vibrations as best as we can.
I have a R-D Racing S/T frame so i have a center mount.
<a href="http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d80/Steve40th/?action=view&current=Interior12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d80/Steve40th/Interior12.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

AU N EGL

Same here.

Older Sony Mini-DV here too with I/O Port.

Keep the focus on 'infinity' not 'auto focus' and use a wide angle but not a wide angle lens.

Here are a few stills I have taken from the video:





Good Luck

steve40th

So keep focus on infinity, and go wide lens.
I will give it a whirl. I am sure with the suspension and some of the twisty roads here in Oahu, I can test this camera out. I sure hope it works.

steve40th

I noticed this has an A/V out, to hook up to TV or an external piece of gear.
Laugh at this. I could take my power converter, put a VCR in the car, record on the VCR with the camera

AU N EGL

the VCR is too slow and will jump around when you take corners.

Guys tried putting DVR boxes in their cars to record found out it was a problem too.

BrianCunningham

Here's my digital cam corder mounted on my Hardbar with one of Gary's mounts


Video I shot



more
http://www.youtube.com/profile_video...=swiftwood&p=r

steve40th

Hey Brian, I noticed your headlights were up? Was this on purpose? Or does this help with knowing where the front end is?

BrianCunningham

Nope, I just had the lights on before I left, and didn't want to mess with it.