Falcon

For years I've been using a Sony high dollar micro-tape video camera in the car. I bought a wide angle lens for it and for many way years it gave me great video and good service.

But Sony discontinued the camera and the micro-tapes for it so I was left kind of high and dry after my original stash of tapes got worn out.

Being the cheap bastard I am, I went on a quest for a new camera that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, and would be easy to use, and downloading the tape into my laptop or other computer would very easy.

I found one. It's the Aiptek Hi-Speed HD 720P.. I bought it at Target for ~$110.

Very easy to use, battery lasts for over an hour, records for over 2 hours on a 4gb SD card. The SD card plugs right into the card read slot of the computer and shows immediately on the screen without all the drama necessary to convert tape video to renderable video on the computer.

The one problem I had with it is it is a cheap POS camera so it doesn't have the female threads in the inside of the lens that allows me to screw in my wide angle lens adaptor. But I figured out a way around that, so now I'm a very happy camper with a easy to use high definition camera.

sperkins

Was that the one you used at CMP earlier this month? If I remember correctly, you were trying to figure out a way to mount it - right?
How did you attach the wide angle lens?
Can you post a sample video for our enjoyment?

Falcon

Yep, that's the one. I knew how to mount it, but it sat too high on the mount and the video was blocked at the top since the camera was pointed down. I changed the I/O Port camera mount to a different angle and it's good to go now.

I removed the threaded flange on the lens adaptor that I used on my old camera so that the adaptor would mate absolutely flush with the lens ring on the camera, then I J-B Welded it on. Now I have wide angle HD.

I'll post a sample tonight showing the difference between the camera's native angle and the new wide angle.

Jason

Of course.

dan_t

really looking forward to see the results of this as I'm looking for a camera also

Oyishdog

Nice work, Jody. That camera looked like a great buy and it worked well. Now with the wide lense, even better.

BTW, I need to get those brake pads from ya! You around this week/end?

Falcon

Hey Ryan!

I'm supposed to be out of town next weekend, but if you want to meet down around exit 25 or some place like that some evening, we can do that. I know you need those things pretty soon so you can prep for Road Atlanta.

0Randy@DRM

Does it work well with the vibrations in-car??? I have a hard drive camera that works good in the pits and the parade lap, then nothing. Good thing I spent a ton of money on it and now it's worth just about nothing. I love technolgy as it's the worst investment ever. But 120 bucks or so makes a ton of sence to throw around.

Randy

Falcon

Randy, it held up real well for our races a couple of weeks ago. No vibration or anything else amiss. Hopefully, I have my camera mount situated in a such way that it won't vibrate. Just turn the camera on when you get in the car, and turn it off when you get out, then put the SD card in your computer and watch everything that happened.

And you can plug the camera into your Hi Def TV with the supplied cables and watch the video in Hi Def.

My only complaint with it was lack of wide angle and since I fixed that, it's exactly what I wanted.

Here's some video from that race. Keep in mind, this video has been compressed once into Trackvision, then into .WMV format, and then compressed again for Vimeo, so even though the quality is still excellent, it isn't near as good as it is when viewed on a high def TV in its native format. BTW, I didn't have the camera angle set for the new camera, it was still set for my old camera which set down much lower.

Giddy Up!

0Randy@DRM

I'm pretty much sold!!! Thanks for doing the research, taking the risk, and most importantly posting your finding!!!

Randy
PS Now I just need a HD TV

haikun

Hi !

I tried the same Video camera but had problems from time to time when it would stop recording without any reason. Could have been vibration or bumps on the track, not sure. Just want to let You know.

/Hakan

Screamin Z

We also tried a HDD Camcorder in the car. but when the vibrations get bad enough it shuts down. Luckly we didnt buy this camcorder for just in car video. They arenot made for anything but your hands or a tripod. It just wont work

dan_t

that is a very good recording considering the cost! was this before or after you modifed the lense?

dan_t

And the next question is would anyone be kind enough to order one on my behalf and post it over if I send money via Paypal? I cannot order from Amazon US and google finds no results in the UK.

vms4evr

I too am an almost-as-cheap-bastard as Jody. Ended up spending a few more bucks though since I wanted dual purpose. I got a Sony HandiCam. 8GB memory. 16:9 recording so no wide angle lens needed. Easily has enough memory to cover all day and the battery lasted all day too. Just tested it out at a PCA event. Worked very well. The zoom goes well beyond anything I would ever want. We'll see if it lasts as long as my Sony SVHS did.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218061081889

It stores in MPG-2 and the software converts for YouTube and some others with the click of a button. Which basically means low quality WMV file in 320x240 format. You can also convert to 640x480 WMV. I'll post up some video on Youtube later from my VIR outing.

Graham

Falcon

That video was before I added the wide angle lens.

Falcon

Here are the 2 different lens:

Regular lens that came on the camera:



Here's the wide angle version:

Falcon

Thanks. If it quits, I won't be out much money, thank goodnesss.

haikun

It still works, had to restart the camera and then it worked fine again, once I had to reseat the SD memory card :-(. Was a bit disappointing to find out that the recording was only partial.

Cheers, Hakan