Onboard video camera

I'm half way throughdownloading the Cayman S rain chase video.... while I wait for that I thought I'd ask you guys a question about fitting a video camera inside the car. Has anyone got any good ideas for fixing a video camera onboard. I thought maybe one way is get a stand that clamps on to the the little metal rod just behind the seats... Any ideas guys? Zuksh

Well what I was using was a modified Brey Krause mount but it started out fine but loosened up during the runs and I wouldn't recommend it. Tom Simmons had a universal one with a universal type clamp that worked fine for him, you might ask him where he got it, etc.

Come on guys... someone must have a solution for it. Zuksh

good luck!<hr> Edited by - KaiserSozay on 05/09/2006 06:34:24 AM Edited by - KaiserSozay on 05/12/2006 07:28:11 AM

As a quick and dirty exercise, I tried simply slipping a camcorder under the elastic luggage net over the engine on a couple of large books!! Result here . It's a little bumpy, the road was a rough and the camcorder had barley adequate stabilization, but its OK. I also made a foam support for a larger Canon XL1 with much better stabilization and it worked quite well, I'll post some results soon.

Thanks guys! that's great stuff... I'm gonna spend some time on that this weekend... and will hopefully have some clips for you by Sunday More ideas are welcome. Zuksh

Zuksh, You might find some thing at http://www.ioportracing.com/ jm

Wohoooo... I found the camera I'm looking for... http://www.samsung.com/Products/Camcorder/DigitalMemory/SC_X210LXAA.asp There's the SC X220LX with 2gb of memory. Here's the pdf manual for it if you wanna check out the specs in more details: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200602/20060221155649046_SC-X205-00994A-IB.pdf Some may argue that the quality isn't high-res enough... I'm not too sure... I'm thinking of buying one... Zuksh

I went to a camera shop and bought a clamp designed to clamp on a post, then attached the head from a video tripod directly to the clamp using a 1/4" x 1.25" long bolt with the bolt head cut off (dremel tool w/ cutting wheel). The camcorder attaches to the tripod head, which allows fine aiming adjustment, and the clamp holds onto the rail behind the seats over the engine bulkhead. It works GREAT, and cost about $50 to make. I've got pictures of it, but can't figure out how to upload picts! I used it at the Zone 8 (SAR) Cinco de Mayo Autocross, and had the camera aimed to see the gauges/tach/PCM, as well as the road at the top of the screen. I can see the tach well and asses how well I was hitting my turnin points and apexes, but unfortunately the PCM is impossible to see because of glare from the rear window -- all I see is a reflection of the camcorders silhouette. email me if you want me to send you jpgs and part information. [email removed]

gemars... I'd love to see it. But I think it'll be great if you can upload the pictures and details here. It's not that difficult. To insert a photo in your post, simply click on the icon below the B (which makes text bold). This will take you an upload window. Click on the upload tab, then browse to the image you want to upload... then click on upload to server. Wait a bit until it uploads and there you go. Try to use small photos before you do so to avoid huge uploads. Give it a try. Zuksh

Sorry, folks, I'm on a Mac, using Safari as a browser. No icon, no bold b, haven't been able to upload pics of my ride on the registry for the same reason. Firefox didn't work either. I'll try to find a PC I can hijack temporarily...

I have VIrtual PC running, I'll try to upload 2 pics of the camera in the Cayman. If it works, I'll take close ups of the components tonight when I get home .

Ok, the clamp is a Manfrotto Super Clamp #035 ($40), and the pan head is off Quantaray QSXMiniPro Plus ($20 at RitzCamera) connected by a1/4' stainless steel bolt, with the bolt head cut off, and a nut to lock it down between the two pieces.

That is COOL! You should mass produce and sell those! Zuksh

Zuksh -- I notice you're from overseas. If you can't get the parts, I can probably piece one together for you. Not sure what shipping would run. Otherwise, you could probably find online venders for the Manfrotto & Quantaray. Lemme know & good luck. Love to see some videos, and I have some from mine but not sure how to share them... Greg

Greg, That's very helpful of you I'll firsttry to find the pieces here locally... If I totally fail I might ask you to send them to me Thanks man, Ziad

I bought one of the RamMount's that Coupe-de-Grace recommended in this thread: Could this be a good videocam mount? It was around $30 from http://www.CustomMounts.com/ . It also looks like it is going to work well... In early tests, I found this to be a bit high, the rear-vision mirror takes up a lot of the field-of-view. Fortunately, you can orient the ball joints in lots of ways, so I tried this: and it improved things quite a bit. Note that I've got a slit piece of 5/8' washing machine water hose pipe around the crossbar to protect it from the U-bolt. I'll post my test videos soon. Hope to use this at a PDE at Sears Point early next month. John.

Cool. Less expensive solution if it works well! BTW-- the Manfrotto clam is rubber clad in the jaws, so leaves no marks on Cayman bar, and all joints/connections easily hand tightened, don't loosen with tough day on the track. Post Videos if you can, and let me know if there's some way for me to upload my track vids! Greg

Yes, gemars, the RamMount is a bit of a pain to put on but it is very solid, and I was wondering how solid the jaw-clamp on the Manfrotto was. Yours does sound like a very practical scheme. What I'm doing now is losening the ball-joint wing-nut enough to completely remove the upper parts of the mount (and the camera) from the lower ball which I leave bolted to the cross-bar. So, it's quick to remove the camera, but the lower joint looks a bit silly sitting there on the crossbar when I'm not shooting. A good place to get parts like yours is B&H Photo Video. Your clamp on their site is about $25. They don't carry Quantaray but there are several relatively inexpensive pan-tilt heads, including this one from Bogen/Manfrotto specially designed to go with the clamp, and many others . One way to get videos up is to post them the Google video or YouTube and cross-link in your forum posts.

Thanks John. I'll check out those sites, and if I can upload some track vids, I'll list a link. The Manfrotto clamp is VERY STURDY. it clamps down very securely on the bar, with rubber inserts as the only contact with the bar. Quick on, quick off, I do tilt the pan head down so the Manfrotto screw handle clears easiy, then tilt back up for the filming. The lever on the pan head makes this easy. Thanks for the tip on B&H. Their prices are much better than I've found locally. Greg

you could also try a suction cup mount to any glass surface http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=316005&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

BTW, the Farnbacher-Loles harness bar I just installed (see Articles section on how to), has an optional camera mount. One just arrived and I'll be installing that and taking a few pics to share here as well. As a backup I modified my Brey Krause mount to work for the new harness bar and it works great so I could conceivably mount 2 cameras at a time, now that would be cool... /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/tounge_smile.gif