cruisecam camera mount

[Bruce Nunnally]

I ordered a cruisecam headrest mounted camera mount to experiment with today.

http://www.cruisecam.com/mounts.html

This is a metal mount that clips around the posts of the headrest and provides a more or less stable camera mount.

I am hopeful that this would provide a way to get some good in-car short commute or testing video shots to post. More info as it comes along.

[Regis]

Nice bracket. I took several in car videos using a tripod. I've also used a piece of non-skid mat with a large bean bag on top, right on the dash. A little primitive, but the second setup worked the best for all around use. Easy and immediate access incase something happened to the side of me, etc. I'm anxious to see some of your videos. Let us know how good the bracket is.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I am hoping for a kind of over-the-shoulder view, but we'll see. The youtube examples I have seen (search cruisecam) are very stable.

I could probably get better results by sending it to Marika...

[Bruce Nunnally]

Okay, this arrived today, and is a very nice piece of equipment in person.

It has good adjustments for the exact angle of the camera, and for attachment to the car.

I was not able to play with the new camera mount until after dark, so I have a poor sample to show. There is/was some vibration? induced noise on the camera audio, so it sounds bad, and you can hardly see in the dark. The good news is the video is stable, and over the rattle/buzz the Corsa exhaust sounds great.

Here is the direct link; I think the embedded needs Google to cache the file or similar before it will work properly: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4276358481675095791

<embed style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4276358481675095791&hl=en" flashvars=""> </embed>

[Bruce Nunnally]

Still some sound issue I have not tracked down. Possible that it is camera related. I am using a Vivitar 3935, which is a 5MP still camera that shoots 320x240 video, not a proper video camera. Possible that the camera is coming loose from the cruisecam, or that a part of the cruisecam is rattling, or other.

Direct link to google video here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7389349874103336422

Won't play embedded here until Google caches, then below:

[Cadillac Jim]

The video looks great, and the stability is far better than I would expect. The light metering needs to be adjusted for the windshield, or you need to zoom in the field of view so that the car interior doesn't dominate the light meter.

The rattle is very near the microphone, and is something very small.

This is a very big thing for photographers. And, I love that Corsa sound.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I note now that I neglected to put the camera in the available modes for night or action etc. Not completely sure it matters for video, but can't hurt. Tried a second camera, but still had the rattle/noise.

Tried isolating each part of the mouting bracket in turn, and together; tried tape over the camera buttons to eliminate some minor button rattle. When I hold the camera in my hands on the bracket and shake, it has no audible rattle.

The exhaust sound in the mpg is too loud compared with what I hear in the car, so perhaps the mic is just too sensitive; I will try some tape over the camera mic next and see if I can take it down a notch. The visual is more important than the audio, but it would be nice to have representative audio.

When shopping for the next camera, I'll look for one that takes an external mic input.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Finally by shooting video while holding the cruisecam bracket with camera attached in my hands, I was able to vibrate the bracket/camera and validate that the rattle/noise is internal to the camera and not metal/metal along the clamps or shaft of the bracket.

Next I plan to shop a camera which allows zoom during video, as most do now, and better video capture. Having a separate mic input would be good, but does not appear to be available on consumer digital cams I have reviewed. Having a separate digital audio capture device might work well regardless.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Another night test, this time using a Kodak C875 camera with 640x480 video:

This one loaded to photobucket for testing hosts also:

<embed width="430" height="389" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://s144.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid144.photobucket.com/albums/r190/Caddyinfo/CTSCruiseCamC875test3e.flv"></embed>

This camera saves to quicktime, but then when the quicktime movies go to google or photobucket, etc they get converted to flash format, and that strips out the quicktime subtitles/captions, so I will have to figure that part out still.

Here is a new still image from the same camera, which appears to be a noticeable improvement over my previous Vivitar 3935:

[JimD]

Take us for a daytime ride along Legacy over by EDS.

[Bruce Nunnally]

I have a 20 min drive coming once it gets uploaded; made a 669+ MB movie file. Google video uses a special uploader file for over 100mb files, and it is not fast, at least not at theis time of day.

Lots of things to learn here, including WASH the WINDSHIELD first lol.

It occurs to me that the conversation/dialog audio is actually the interesting part of the video. But at least if you turn up the speaker volume, the audio on the source file sounds good enough to hear the discussion.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Getting closer to what I want it to be. There is way too much light coming through the windshield; maybe try a sunny day with a filter on the camera lens next? I assume the camera is auto-focusing on the dash, but I want the dash in view, so have to keep trying different things.

The camera apparently automatically adjusts mic volume, which is interesting.

[Cadillac Jim]

This is great. I think you've got a good combination, with lots of resolution and you've demonstrated that you can put up 22 minutes of video in one file.

I think a lot of the flare was the sun shining on the lens. If you have a lens hood, use it. Or, drive East in the afternoon with this camera. I think it will come into its own in driving when the sun isn't out, at night in well-lighted areas, etc. You might also think about zooming out a bit or tipping the camera angle up just a tad so that the light metering is primarily through the windshield.

[Bruce Nunnally]

OH good points; I did not consider the lower height of the camera and the driving west into the setting sun as factors. So perhaps small adjustments to the setup or planned routes will yield much improved results.

[mmarinov]

Good job, Bruce - I like this sort of thing. Perhaps I'll try something with my A5250 just to see how it acts...

MM