first off sorry if this is in the wrong section...

for those who auto cross nad video tape it.. what kind of camera do you have? i want to get a video camera but idk what a good entry camera is? i dont want to be spending alot of money on a camera... just something thats good to record my driving...

(i've search and came up with a lot of broad threads)

 

You can pick up a used MiniDV cam through ebay for not much money. Then the trick is mounting it. There are a few off the shelf solutions that use suction cup mounts like StickyPod and Chasecam (and there are some others, but those are the ones that come to mind first) and someone somewhere might have something that bolts to the two top child seat anchors in back or something that will go through the hole at the top of the passenger seat. If you browse around through B&H Photo's grip and mounting support section or tripod & support section you'll also be able to find some things that you could combine with assorted things from Home Depot.

A more expensive way to go that gives you some more flexibility is to add a bulletcam (see Chasecam again...and there are a bunch of other places that sell the same setup gear for about the same price). You have to go through the same process of finding/building mounting equipment...but most of the places that sell the bulletcams will sell you a mounting kit that will work well. They connect to the camcorder, so you have to be sure that the camcorder you buy has an external input (most do) but you can secure the camcorder anywhere in the car (in the center console is easiest, IMO).

 

I have the sticky pod with an older MiniDV camera.
The bulletcam idea is great. My camera doesn't have that option.
If you want to see the videos and mounting of the stickypod, I have some videos here.
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ight=stickypod

- Cesar -

 

I've got a few videos here. Most are with a bullet cam on the car's exterior (mostly on a rear side, but some on top of the car). There are also a few interior videos, some with a bulletcam and some straight from the camcorder.

If you plan on just using the camcorder, you want to look at what the widest field of view is and/or whether a wide angle adapter is available. Most camcorders at their widest setting aren't really wide enough to be as useful as they otherwise would be.

 

any specific model mini dv cam's you guys can recomend? what are the important specs i should be looking for?

 

Things you should look for (in order)...

Widest angle FOV (smallest number in mm)
Auxiliary input (so you can add a bulletcam later if you want to)
Smallish size (something that can fit in the console cupholder area with the cover closed)
Battery life (longer is better)
Progressive recording (if you put into a computer, it's easier to get higher quality output for a given data rate)

For these purposes, brand and model don't matter a whole lot as long as it meets your specs.

 

There is a much cheaper way out of this, get yourself a nice good value digital camera, (I recommend the cannon SD series), buy a 512 mb (about 4mins 30sec) card or even larger card, and then mount that on your sticky pod or what not.

The video quality is excellent, what I do is mount it on the sunroof then run the safety straps and the USB cable in though the sunroof then close it. 5 mins of video is plenty to click on right before you run, and then after it’s done I hook my laptop up to the USB cable running into the cabin and off load the video so I have a fresh card.

Off loading it also lets me look at my run on a much bigger screen immediately after the run.


I use a SD400 if you've seen any of my videos, u can get them now for about $200.

Edit: the only thing that i feel sucks is it doen't have a MIC in so i can't run a microphone into the cabin.
http://www.polakgraphics.com/images/...6.708+1cut.MP4