Cheap in-car camera / trackday use - with example Z4 video

A

a11y

Lifer
Central Scotland
After seeing some footage of a mate's cheap camcorder last year, I also bought myself one for recording some of the mountain-biking I do: I bought a Muvi Micro DV camcorder for £50. It takes up to an 8GB micro SD card, although I find the battery lasts just about long enough to fill a 4GB card and not much longer.

However, I heard about cheap knock-offs of these camera available on ebay for as little as £15 posted from Hong Kong :roll: but I decided to buy one anyway just out of curiosity. Well, they're superb. I now use my cheap knockoff on my daily cycle commute to record any muppets I encounter along the way, and keep my £50 camera purely for mountain-biking. But, last weekend I decided to strap it into the Z4 when I went out for a drive, just for fun...

The quality is OK, not fantastic, but for what it costs and what I want it for it'll do. The worst aspect was the mic picking up a lot of wind noise (I had it located on the top of the centre consol between the seats, roof down) but I'm working on sticking the mount behind the rear view mirror where it should be shielded better.

Anyway, I thought they might be of interest to anyone thinking about a camera for trackdays or just for a bit of fun. Enjoy:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5AoXyS4pMnc&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5AoXyS4pMnc&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]
 
I hope you know that's a 60mph limit your're in at the start - how fast is 3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0? :P

Anyway, these things are getting very affordable now, and I remember doing trackdays a while ago where I'd have to have my bullet cam attached to a VHS camcorder to record anything - it was a right PITA.

I don't think you can go wrong for £15 and I'd even consider buying a few so that you could put one on the front bumper, rear bumper, roll hoop and top of windscreen. A bit of editing and you'd have the start of a decent trackday video. BTW, what video resolution do you actually get, as the ad states 2 megapixel and then says 640x480 (VGA 300k pixels)?

BTW a colleague of mine has a B&B up that way.
 
Yeah great roads. TBH the visual quality is really good for £50 yep shame about the wind noise but hopefully you can work round that.
 
Actually pretty good... I am thinking about getting a small camcorder and one consideration is how much I'll watch it other than on a computer.

Just a thought, but I bought some microphone wind protectors (foam covers) the other day... cost next to nothing and am actually not going to use them, if I wind one up in the post you can "mod' it to cover the camera mic. Be interested to see how well it works.
 
mmm-five said:
I hope you know that's a 60mph limit your're in at the start - how fast is 3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0? :P
...
BTW, what video resolution do you actually get, as the ad states 2 megapixel and then says 640x480 (VGA 300k pixels)?
Click to expand...
3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0i? Erm..... :whistle:

Resolution comes out at 768x576 @ 25 frames-per-second according to the details on my PC - not too bad considering the price. I've found better results (more frames-per-second) using a class 6 micro SD card opposed to a class 4 one.


lacroupade said:
Nice vid - I bet those cool-looking gloves gave you another 10mph didn't they? :poke: :rofl:
Click to expand...
:oops: Gloves were purchased following my thread on cold hands, plus it was between -3degC and +3degC for that drive - gloves were very necessary! Notice the esp flashing away as I accelerate at 45-50secs in...


Z4 Beemer said:
Great video! :thumbsup: I had forgotten about some of the roads and scenery up that way.
Click to expand...
Yep, can't beat the roads up this way. The last section is still one of my favourite local(ish) roads but it's rare to get it as quiet as I managed on the vid: the Dukes Pass between Aberfoyle and Callendar :)
 
PawnSacrifice said:
Actually pretty good... I am thinking about getting a small camcorder and one consideration is how much I'll watch it other than on a computer.

Just a thought, but I bought some microphone wind protectors (foam covers) the other day... cost next to nothing and am actually not going to use them, if I wind one up in the post you can "mod' it to cover the camera mic. Be interested to see how well it works.
Click to expand...
That was what I based my decision on: I was about to blow £300 on a bullet cam and solid-state recorder setup, but TBH I only wanted a camera for a bit of fun. I'm not going to seriously watch it back that often. Plus, given my MTBing skills I WILL crash and land on my camera/head as some point, so £15 isn't much to lose when I do...

You're thinking along the same lines as me re the foam. I'm thinking of cutting a bit of foam off a pair of old-style headphones (the ones that sit ON rather than IN your ears) and covering the microphone bits. I've got my commuting camera completely wrapped in clingfilm for additional waterproofness and that makes the sound too muffled, so I need something inbetween.
 
a11y said:
That was what I based my decision on: I was about to blow £300 on a bullet cam and solid-state recorder setup, but TBH I only wanted a camera for a bit of fun. I'm not going to seriously watch it back that often. Plus, given my MTBing skills I WILL crash and land on my camera/head as some point, so £15 isn't much to lose when I do...

You're thinking along the same lines as me re the foam. I'm thinking of cutting a bit of foam off a pair of old-style headphones (the ones that sit ON rather than IN your ears) and covering the microphone bits. I've got my commuting camera completely wrapped in clingfilm for additional waterproofness and that makes the sound too muffled, so I need something inbetween.
Click to expand...

If you want to try one of the proper mic covers just PM the address you want it sent to. I have 2 or 3 spare, so if anyone else wants to try do likewise - yours to cut up to your hearts content!

Am currently holding out for the Kodak Playsport, due April... a little more expensive but full HD and is waterproof, so I can take it surfing! Still not convinced I need to spend even £120 though.
 
The Go Pro HD HERO is great (and as well as a suction mount for car use can have a chest and helmet mount for Karting and MTB XC rides).
 
ksher said:
Where did you fit it in your car? Just in front of the wind deflector?
Click to expand...
Yep, for most of that video. Towards the end I stuck it to the top of the windscreen where the roof meets the front of the car (couldn't mount it there if roof was up though). Wind noise was even worse there but view over the bonnet is good :)
 
Can it be fitted in the car with all accessories that come with the camera? I'm seriously thinking about buying it.
 
I've got that camera, it's awesome. It was £40 from Tesco Direct. There's a sports kit that gives you loads of mounting options:

Helmet mount - elastic and velcro straps that attach to a camera mount
Arm strap - iPod type velcro'd arm strap
Another mount that can be velcro'd or screwed to something.

Got some great footage with it whilst snowboarding, next job for it is to strap it to the roll cage of my Mx5 for a track day.
 
M9OWR said:
what is the yellow light which flashes in the dash on the first part fo the video about a minute in...
Click to expand...
ESP :oops:. It was a tad chilly that day and although the road was dry, grip was limited. I backed off when it first happened, but then you see it happening again a few secs later when I applied more power...
 
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