Bulletcamera footage

As you lot like all things gadgety, thought I would share some footage taken from a bulletcamera attached to the top of the windscreen of my car at a trackday on Sunday. The bulletcamera is about the size of a lipstick and connects to the AV-In port on a digital camcorder.

Full lap of Anglesey Circuit, North Wales 15.4Mb
Round the hairpin 2Mb
Slight "moment" on some oil 2.95Mb

I have one of those things... we just recently got it for use at a kite buggy event. Got some cool footage. We've also attached it to the fender of my buddy's S2000 and have tons of ideas of places to put it. They're a good bit of fun.

Cool footage!

What brand have y'all got?
I think I need one attached to the boat. I've got a mini-DV camcorder, but I'm real nervous about mounting it on the boat and going 70+ while it hangs on for dear life...

Mine is Sony I believe. I got it from http://www.rfconcepts.com

I've got one of those too. I got the Hi-Res Sony one about 18 months a go.

It gives really good pictures in most conditions. You got some really good shots there, what lens are you using???

Cheers

Cris.

Is that one of the races that they stagger the start on then rank you according to lap times?

Nope - not a race at all, just a trackday. Racing and timing are strictly forbidden. It's all about fun. Which is just as well as I am very slow.

What are the penalties for running a lap too fast? I guess they just kick you off. I like the Idea of just having an open track day, but eventually I'd want to start pushing the limits a bit.

I got one from http://www.helmetcamera.com. The 480 line one to be exact. The aluminum housing they built for the camera rocks... super tough and has a nice lens screen. It survived really well on the dry lakebed with all the dust storms and such. The helmet cam image looks 10 times better than the Canon ZR80 it's plugged into's image.

There is nothing to stop you going "too fast" - in fact the idea is to go as fast as you can.

But, you have to be in control and safe. Overtaking is by consent only - so the car in front has to indicate, pull over to the left and clearly back off before you can pass it. Overtaking is also only allowed on the straights. This means that car to car contact is impossible.

Thanks for the link loren! This one looks like it's perfect. Mine should be here on Friday!

Suggestions:
Think about getting a rechargable battery pack. That camera will take anywhere from 8V to 15V, so you have a pretty wide selection of battery packs you can pick up that would work. But, i've been pleasently surprised how long the 8 AA's last... way longer than my camcorder battery generally.

The cord is pretty short. I ended up cutting the cord to the camera... it's 3 line 28 gauge inside there. I cut it next to the splitter and soldered a tiny telephone jack in line on both ends, so that i could use telephone cord to make extensions of as long as i'd need (can you say UP the kite strings?). Cheap and easy.

Drill and tap a standard camera mount hole in the bottom of the aluminum housing. 1/4 20 i believe is the standard...

... and use it with a camera mount. I got this one and love it: http://www.chasecam.com/mounts-clamp.htm. We used the hell out of it already. Velcro doesn't work everywhere..

.. if you need more velcro, order extras from http://rshughes.com/. They sell the exact strips that come with the camera, 3 inch by 1 inch 3M dual lock (SJ3540) for .80 each. Not bad.

Rather than use a battery pack, get a 12v - 12v ciggy lighter power source.

can you say UP the kite strings

Is this posted any where? The curiosity kills me.

I think I need to add a 4th 12v battery and a power panel to the boat since I have one ciggy outlet and I have 3 things now (satellite radio, camcorder & bullet cam) to power as well as the sonar electronics on the boat. All the electronics run off the cranking battery, so I think the 4th battery is now necessary, takes some amps to crank that big motor over... For now I am going to see how the AA batteries work, their prices for the recharger were rather high, I thought.
That clamp loren linked to looks good, might have to get that too.

Yeah, if you haev a 12V source handy use it. I wouldn't buy the pack they sell... it's a lead acid and way over priced. You cen get NiMH packs for way less and the chargers are like $15. Click around on that clamp site ... they have a wider version that is supposed to fit roll bars... would work well on a boat ski rack i'd imagine.

Is this posted any where? The curiosity kills me

Nope... hasn't been shot yet. I made the rig but our time was cut short in the desert by rain, so i didn't get a chance to try it. Maybe this weekend though.