hey guys, for those of you who have camcorders and things in your cars for vids and dont have a passanger to hold it, how are you mounting them or where? Today i started fiberglassing a large MINI emblem that will lay over the curved part of the dash above the speedo. on that i got a cheap mini tripod and took the legs off leaving the swivel part and thats what will be embedded (in bondo) in the middle of the logo and then i think i might either make brakets that hold it there, or velcro it down. I think it'll look cool when its done. Was trying to figure out a way to mount the damn thing and thats what i came up with to distribute the weight of the camara so it doesnt rock back and fourth when i hit the gas/breaks. I know there are easier ways but i was bored. So how do you guys keep them still and mounted? I dont know if they sell them or if people are rigging stuff like me?

 

With my VacuCams, I can put the camcorder behind the passenger seat in the footwell. I just put a blanket or soft towel there to fill up the space. The VacuCams are doing the "seeing", so there isn't any need to secure the recording camcorder. I used to just put it between the seats above the eBrake, but during our last track event, having it behind was the safest place to put it.

Of course if you're using your camcorder for "seeing" as well, then you're kinda outta luck. Personally, I wouldn't want that thing to become a projectile if you find yourself in a roll, or other unexpected situation.

Richard

 

I bought a small camera only (home depot has one but I tried it and it is grainy and weak, poor color) and mounted the small camera on my side visor above the driver. I then run it to my camcorder's video in (old camcorders had things such as that). You might be able to get an ILO (walmart) dvd burner and run it off of an inverter. That way you could have up to 6hrs of recording time and just rerecord over the dvd+r when you are done.
if yu need info on how to do this let me know. I never read my email so ask here.

drewffff

 

hey thanks guys. yeah i bet that thing would hurt if it hit me in the head. Im a competative fighter so i think i can take the shot . want a v.cam just dont want to spend more money, and figured my mount would look hot if i do it right, just trying to think how to anchor it down tight but removable on the fly. any other ideas?

 

Hi btal40,


I have just bought my first camcorder today, so I am going through the same dilema as you are.

I am still considering my options, but I realise that unless you get the mounting system "right" it will either give you cr*p quality vids...or it will take soooo long to mount and un-mount that I won't bother taking it with me all the time

At this stage I plan on using a tripod "base-plate" as the basis for the mount. If you have a standard tripod you will notice that they have a removal plate that screws into the bottom of the camera. This plate is then released/secured to the tripod with a revolving cam which locks into the baseplate.

I figure that if you just get a cheap tripod, you can utilise the base-plate and then cut up the tripod to remove the bit that secures the baseplate. Then simply Bondo this bit into your dash so the dash becomes like the top of the original tripod

I plan on using this method myself, but securing it to an aluminium bar which I will drill 4 x holes in and then secure under the front head-rests (i.e. take out the head-rests and slide them through the holes in the bar). The "Tripod top" will then be mounted in the middle of the bar so I can quickly release my camcorder whenever I want:smile:

Good luck with your project....and post some vids when your done tweaking your setup.

 

I wish I had pictures to show what I'm about to explain, but there is a cheap way to mount a camera to your MINI and get some decent quality.

First, thanks to ahamos for showing me this. Sorry to OctaneGuy, because this might prevent people from buying the VacuCam. I still want one, though.

Now, get your tripod.
1. Place your tripod in your boot with 2 legs against the back seat and 1 leg toward the boot hatch.
2. Extend the upper part of your tripod up beyond the top of the back seat. You might want to temporarily take out the boot to cabin piece. What the heck is that thing called, anyway? I'll call it boot-blocker for now. Make sure the back seats are present and in the upright, latched position.
3. There is a triangular space between the two back seats and the boot-blocker in which a tripod should just barely fit. I'll take pictures next time I set this up.
4. Put the boot-blocker back in. It might be difficult to close the boot hatch, but just stick your hand in there and nudge the boot-blocker up just a tad to get the rear-wiper housing under it.

Example videos shot this way:
high quality 60.4 MB
mid quality 18.90 MB
low quality 6.18 MB

Sample of video, click for larger:

 

Cruise Cam

http://cruisecam.com/mounts.html

Best 45$ you can spend, it is AWESOME ...I use mine ALL the time

 

UFM makes an awesome mount with a fluid head
http://www.ufmotorsport.com/cameramounts.htm

 

Nice mount but NOT at twice the price of the Cruise Cam ... Cruise Cam also swivels, is black, sleek, easy to store

Price: $109.95 plus $10 Shipping and Handling

 

Go to Home Depot, buy a length of square aluminum tubing and two U-bolts. You're gonna make a bar that connects to the headrest posts of the front seats. Cut the bar to length (to go from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat. Mark where the headrest posts are on the bar. Figure out where to drill holes for the U-bolts so they are centered on the headrest post marks. Now, you've got a piece of square aluminum tubing between the two front seats.

Find a tripod head (preferably something "short" like a small ball-head). Get the correct size / thread bolt to go into the tripod head, and some lock washers. Drill another hole in the square tubing to connect the tripod head to. Voila!

Excluding the tripod head, this is less than $10 in parts and an hour in labor. The tripod head is the trickier part.

Works great... except for the rear view mirror getting in the way of the picture, and people's heads during turns if the camera isn't centered between the seats (or closer to the passenger's side for a passenger-less car would work well). And, you'll probably want to get a wide angle lens adapter for your video camera.

If my description isn't clear enough, I'll take some pics of my rig.

 

No worries--the VacuCam is an entirely different option over the Cruisecam and other camcorder mounts. When you're ready to shoot more than just out the windscreen, you have options. With a VacuCam mounted on the door as well as inside, you can view your line on the track as ground level as well as see out the windshield.

 

I like the cruise cam idea but it doesn't put the camera where I want. This based on having the same idea as snid and building my own. I wanted lower and also a little further back as my camera, in the cruise cam position, did not capture enough from the sides. In other words, the video didn't give me a feel of what it was like in the car.

I have since modified the bracket to the position I want and I will post pictures later. As said, it sits lower and further back while still mounting to the headrest. Another reason for the position is that I don't want a peice of metal aimed towards my neck when driving fast. It's a stable setup which costs me roughly $30 in parts. That includes a cheap mini tripod like btal40 mentioned in his first post.

Along with the pictures, I have a short video of the Dragon showing how stable it is on smooth roads and also a video showing a very rough road. The image stabilization of the camera got a work out on the rough road but the camera and mount held it's place. I'll post them tonight to give you an idea.

I too would like to have a VacuCam but at this point, I can't right now. While my setup is good, the sad fact is that if you are capturing audio through the camera while it is mounted to the headrest, your going to get bad wind buffering if the windows are down. You will not get that with the VacuCam as you can mount the mic and camera seperatly. I still like the view I have and when I do get a VacuCam, I will still use my headrest mount to mount the VacuCam. Then I will mount the external mic at a place where it gets the best sound without wind.

Obviously this problem only occurs if you can't hook an external mic to the camera unless you also use an external camera. After numerous attempts and talking to Octane Guy at the Dragon, that is the conclusion I came to with my camera.

 

I've got the Cruisecam mount as well. At first it was really annoying because it rattled quite a bit, but I got it down now and it's been pretty darn cool.

I am definitely getting a VacuCam someday though.

 

I would appreciate some pics I already have a tripod mounting thingamajig for my camcorder and heaven knows I have the tools, I should be able to make one for myself but I would appreciate any pics of your setup that you could provide. Thanks in advance

 

Here they are...

This is the contraption, minus the camera, as viewed from the top:


The U-bolts on the end "wrap around" the headrest posts. The black mass in the center is my tripod head. Finding a tripod head is the only difficult / expensive part of making one of these.

Here it is in the car, without the camera, viewed from the front:


I made mine the size I did so that it will fit either between the front seats, as shown, using "every other" headrest post, or it will also fit on the back seat headrests using the two outermost posts. I have since discovered that putting the camera on the back seats pointed forwards is pretty pointless. My camera gets confused and sets the exposure so the inside of the car is nice and visible, and out the windshield is a glowing white blur. But I could put the camera on the back seat pointed out the back window to see where I've been (or run both a front and rear looking camera).

mount, no camera, front seats, seen from behind:


and with the camera:




Things weren't tightened down and leveled for these pictures...

You could use the same idea to make a mount that just attaches to one seat instead. It would make it possible to move the seats that way, and get into the back seats... but it would probably be more vibration prone.

Here's a video I took with the mount while autocrossing:
http://homepage.mac.com/jtross/iMovieTheater44.html

The problems with this are that sound is lousy because of wind noise... a remote mic would solve that, or possibly some foam over the mic on the camera. Also, the rearview mirror is in the way. You could get fancy and rig something up to go between the headrests but mount the camera lower. But that goes against the "cheap and easy" philosophy. I might also be possible to mount the camera upside down, making the lens lower in the car, then flip the video on the computer, but I haven't looked into that yet. Anyone know how hard it would be to rotate video? You'll also want a wide angle lens adapter to get a better view, and zoom all the way out.

 

Nice looking setup, snid.

Here are a few shots of mine. Unfortunately, I only have one in car shot of the setup as I have recently sold my 03 and am awaiting an 06. Here's a shot showing the $10 mini tripod after removing the legs and mounting it to the camera mount bracket. Also, I've used shrink tubing over the aluminum to keep it from scratching the headrest rails or the aluminum coming in contact with the cloth seats and running a chance at a tear. It also provides better grip to keep it from moving. All things said, I paid around $30 in parts.

Don't pay any attention to the ladder with paint all over it.



Here's a shot showing roughly the angle the mount is when I have it attached to the seat. Obviously the angle of the bracket depends on how much you recline your seat. I attach it and angle the tripod head to make it level.



Here's an old shot in the car before I added the shrink tubing. I only mount it to the driver seat since my weight against the back of the seat keeps the seat back from moving. An empty passenger seat back seems to bounce easily.



Here's a shot from Killboy showing how low and back it sits in the car. This is what I was talking about earlier about having a peice of metal pointing in the driver/passengers direction. The mount is angled more towards the rear.



I only have two videos to show and unfortunately they are each 18mb in size. The first one just shows how steady it is going up the Dragon. Also you can hear the wind against the mic like I mentioned earlier.

http://www.magicmini.com/sb/videos/dup.00.avi

Here is one that shows the image stabilization of the camera getting a work out. The video is decent even though you can tell by how much I was bouncing around in the seat as to how rough the road is. There is movement, I'm not going to deny that but I believe that mounting the mount to the driver seat keeps the movement down a little. Don't laugh too much at my attempt up the road.

http://www.magicmini.com/sb/videos/crowruns.00.avi

 

heres the start of my thing, i still have to sand a bunch more, even it out, etch more evenly, im picky for detail. Then i shall cover it in dash color vinyl including the white tube part (inside that is the mini tripod without legs and moddified a little bit. After the vinyl i think Ill put an S badge on it or COOPER somewhere as i have them from my boot. well see if it ends up looking cool or not... check it

 

....what snid said...
He basically copied my setup exactly. For ten bucks, you can't beat it. I got a Slik 100 head from bhphotovideo.com. It works great. Check my site for autocross videos taken with it. The MINIsOnTop video was my first version using an L-bracket, and the camcorder was nothing but an oversized bobblehead. Went back to home depot and got a square tube instead and now the camera hardly moves.

I think you can go the suction cup method pretty cheaply as well if you can find the parts separately. The problem with external cameras is the video quality is typically so much worse than from your camcorder.

 

So much worse?? That isn't true---a little worse? Depends. A good CCD lipstick/bullet camera costing $150 to $200 will look as good as your typical camcorder, unless you're talking about a $1,500-$5,000 camcorder where 3CCD and Progressive Scan might make a difference.

The VacuCams are inexpensive CMOS based cameras that offer more than acceptable quality, especially for the price and the ability to outfit a 2 or 3 camera setup for about the price of a good single camera. The primary difference between CMOS and CCD besides price is response time--the speed at which it responds to changes in conditions--such as going from a light to dark room or shifts in color balance. CMOS is a bit slower reacting.

A mounted video camcorder is good, but it doesn't allow you to switch multiple angles. Maybe you decide it would be cool to capture different angles for different autox runs. Just push a button, and you can have a door cam, or windshield cam, or whatever else you want. Shift mid run if you want without losing a beat. Feed the same intake audio on all 3 cameras so you got consistent audio no matter the view.

I'll be posting some cool track footage I shot last weekend--using 2 VacuCam camera cars.

It's all about flexibility and I can go on and on....but I won't.

 

Of course. But every time I see your videos I'm reminded why I didn't go that route, when I've already got a perfectly good camcorder. If I were really making movies then I would have 3 of 4 vacucam or stickypod mounts with expensive cameras.

Hey there's also the $10 wireless video camera I got off ebay, and ziptied to my front grill!! The "ziptie" mount. 10 cents.

 

I agree with Octane Guy. Having seen the footage of crashes in WRC on Speed, I think that mounting the recorder down low and using a small camera would be much better.

My MINI isn't even born yet...

 

Wait, that's not one of those $10 wireless cameras where they charge you $35 shipping is it?? Cause I got several of those $1 cameras with $50 shipping from Hong Kong during my development stages.

Richard

 

i like vacucam, would get one if i didnt have a camcorder like i have. I tried my mount out a little and its very stable, just cant think of how to mount it without velcro?? think it will look tacky when its done, or nice?

 

It is, but I didn't pay much for shipping, I think it was like $14 total. Straight from the sweatshop.

 

usminiclub.com

Paul, the site owner has made his own which is a suction cup for carrying commercial windows for replacement......It is very sturdy and priced very reasonable. We ordered one for our race cars.