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I am looking to get a new camera for the in car stuff. Can anyone recommend one that uses a hard drive or some kind of memory card or stick and does not break the bank? I want to be able to watch on the laptop and make it easy to upload. Carlton had one at nationals but I never got a look at it. He was watching video 5 min after a session full screen on his laptop.
Thanks.
Michael
Michael Osborne wrote:
[quote]I am looking to get a new camera for the in car stuff. Can anyone recommend one that uses a hard drive or some kind of memory card or stick and does not break the bank? I want to be able to watch on the laptop and make it easy to upload. Carlton had one at nationals but I never got a look at it. He was watching video 5 min after a session full screen on his laptop.
Thanks.
Michael[/quote]
I would not suggest a hard drive camera (unless someone has actually used a particular one with success). The hard drive can be subject to jarring motions which could crash the heads into the disks and kill the drive. Of course, you do drive gently, don’t you? 
-Steve
Never seen one in person… but I thought this was pretty cool.
http://www.vorshlag.com/cart/product_info.php?products_id=134
You will at Roebling 
I just bought one a week or two ago. Not sure if it’s the final answer, but so far so good from my initial tests. I will be using it for skiing, surfing, racing, and when too many drinks flow from the swim up bar in the pool. It seemed to fit that bill better. A buddy of mine is using this though:
(new; not refurbed)
These aren’t running off of hard drives, but memory sticks. I have a Sony that records onto mini DVD and it’ll shut down if jarred too hard. One problem with the Digital Hero is that it’s limited to a 2 gig stick or about 55 minutes of video and audio. The only other (so far) is that there’s no remote. It’s unbelievably small though and waterproof. The Aiptek can take a 4 gig stick (maybe more?) so that should be able to handle enduros and whatnot. My $0.02. No return policy on the advice.
There was a piece in the NYT technology column recently about the state of the market in tapeless cameras.
Here’s a link if you’re interested.
Best advise I can offer is to make sure to get one with a Remote control. With all the right hand net, Head and Neck stuff and everything else, it would be nice to have a small remote to hit as you are heading onto the track and then drop it in a deep pocket or somewhere.
the samsung scx105l looks pretty good, pricey but it does come with a small bullet lens that would fit in some very small places (behind the grill for example).B)
don.
Here is a video of Roebling taken with the Aiptek camera in VGA (640x480) format.
The camera is a solid state fixed focus camera with no moving parts. It comes with an infrared remote to control the start and stop.
A $14 car charger (in the accessories section) can be used to wire in the camera so that you don’t have to worry about the battery.
With a 4GB SD card ($22 at BUY.COM), you can record about 180 min. It records in ASF (Windows format) which can be played directly using the Windows Media Player. Just pop out the SD card and plug it into the computer to view the video.
(The video is about 23MB so you may want to right click to save it first.)
Wow, I’m just about sold.
How does it attach to the roll cage? Does it have a provision for conventional (IO Port) Camera mounts?
JP Coates wrote:
[quote]Wow, I’m just about sold.
How does it attach to the roll cage? Does it have a provision for conventional (IO Port) Camera mounts?[/quote]
based on how the available tripod connects to the camera… I would say it will work with the IO Port.
Can the format be converted to something that google or youtube can use? This sounds perfect.
Chi Row wrote:
[quote]Here is a video of Roebling taken with the Aiptek camera in VGA (640x480) format.
With a 4GB SD card ($22 at BUY.COM), you can record about 180 min. It records in ASF (Windows format) which can be played directly using the Windows Media Player. Just pop out the SD card and plug it into the computer to view the video.
JP Coates wrote:
[quote]Wow, I’m just about sold.
How does it attach to the roll cage? Does it have a provision for conventional (IO Port) Camera mounts?[/quote]
The camera has a standard screw mount on the bottom. I bought a cheap ($9) small tripod and mounted on the roll bar using a large pipe clamp.
Here is the mount.
Even though the camera is very light, the top needed some stabilization to get rid of some shakes. So, I added a bar at the top.
So, there is my $18 camera holder set up.
P.S. - A piece of green sponge taped at the top of the camera is my windscreen to block out some of the wind noise.
Michael Osborne wrote:
[quote]Can the format be converted to something that google or youtube can use? This sounds perfect.
[/quote]
I use Microsoft Movie Maker (which came with the computer) to edit the video.
Any typical video editor will work fine (and there are many of them out there). I usually convert it to WMV format and upload it to YouTube or to Google.
Here is the same video on Google
Heads up! I was just at Best Buy returning something and found the HD verison of Chi cam on sale for $149.
It takes the new either the SD or new SDHC cards and can take a card up to 32GB. Plus it’s 720p and a rechargeable Li-Ion batt.
No remote, but the start button is on the front of the cam.
I’ll be trying it at RRR this weekend!
Jeff
Bruce Leggett wrote:
[quote]that’s a great price - it is $249 on their website
bruce[/quote]
There are two versions of 720P cameras. One is $169 and the other is $279.
The more expensive one has mechanical zoom and focusing (moving parts). The less expensive one is a fixed focus (no moving parts) which I think is better for track usage.
It, however, produces the video in MOV (Apple) format so you will have to install QuickTime to view the video on a PC.
You can also purchase a remote separately for $10.
where are you finding those prices Chi?
The $249 is from the Best Buy site.
thanks,
bruce
Chi Row wrote:
[quote]Bruce Leggett wrote:
[quote]that’s a great price - it is $249 on their website
bruce[/quote]
There are two versions of 720P cameras. One is $169 and the other is $279.
The more expensive one has mechanical zoom and focusing (moving parts). The less expensive one is a fixed focus (no moving parts) which I think is better for track usage.
It, however, produces the video in MOV (Apple) format so you will have to install QuickTime to view the video on a PC.
You can also purchase a remote separately for $10.[/quote]
Bruce,
I was looking at the Aiptek web site.
Click on the ‘Digital Camcorders’ and you will see their whole line.
Another place (which is kinda odd) where you can find Aiptek on sale is at Walgreens or at Target.
I used the $169 one this past weekend at Roebling and agree with Chi. It was easy and the lack of remote was no big deal as the record button is right on the front and easy to reach.
Nice video too!