Gear Talk: Guide to putting together an In-Car Video Camera System

[sydude]

After many requests, I’ve decided to put together my guide on how to acquire and put together your own high-res in-car single or double camera system. This system will sound hugely complicated to put together and operate, because it is. That’s why Mike Marino’s service (Helix videos – www.helixus.com) is so convenient. You give them $100, you get in the car, and when you get home there’ll be a DVD waiting for ya (if it takes you a few weeks to get home).

But if you’re a control freak like me, and need to produce the best possible video, then it’s the only way to go. You’ll also save money after two or three race weekends of use. This stuff works really well and the quality and reliability of it is really good. But again, if you don't want to be bothered with all of this 'stuff', then use Helix.

1. What you’ll need to buy

Mini-DV Camcorder
Bullet Camera System & Accessories
Additional Low Gain Microphone
Mounting Hardware for R/T 2000 Race Car
Waterproof Camera Bag
Cable Accessories
Bungee Cords & Miscellaneous Other Accessories

Detailed Buying Info

Mini-DV Camcorder

The smaller, the better. If you already own a relatively small camcorder, then what you have should be fine. If you don’t own a camcorder, go get one. It doesn't really matter if you buy a cheap one or an expensive one - as long as you get a compact model AND it has an 'A/V In' jack, it will work. When you spend more, all you get for your money with these camcorders is better durability, more features and higher quality video when using the camera by itself (not as an in-car camera). They will all act like a VCR in the in-car system, with the same quality video, so don’t kill yourself to buy the most expensive camera if all you’ll use it for is with your in-car system.

The only recommended camcorder now is the Sony HC96. Its the only MiniDV camcorder with both analog video/audio inputs as well as a LANC controller input. You can buy it here:

If you don't want the Sony for whatever reason, and want to see all the other choices (make sure you get a camcorder with the analog A/V inputs and a LANC controller port - otherwise it will not work well), click here.

Also, make sure you buy one of those thick ‘extended’ camcorder batteries as an extra. You don’t want to run out of battery power at the track.

Bullet Camera System

Helmetcamera.com makes the Xtreme Kit 480 Line bullet camera system ($309), which I recommend. The biggest advantage over its competitors, other than it’s great image quality, is that helmetcamera.com sells replacement glass lens covers ($8) for its cameras. You'll need them. After every weekend at Lime Rock the lens cover gets so specked up you'll need to replace it. Especially if you're slow and you sit at the back of the field.

The kit comes with:

Color helmet camera, submersible to 100 ft. W / Sony super had ccd image pickup device.
4 ft. Waterproof audio/video cable
Helmet Mount ('Xtreme Mount')
Connectors for digital & non-digital camcorders
High gain microphone w/clip
Battery pack

So, buy the Xtreme Kit 480 Line system ($309) and at least one 'replacement lens cover' for each race weekend you plan to do over the next two years. DON'T buy an 'Interchangeable Lens'. The lens that comes with the camera is the right one for our application. It's just 'wide angle' enough. Any more wide angle and the guy's rear that you tucked your nose cone into going up to the bus stop at WG will look like it's 100 feet away.

I recommend that you also buy their remote control button ($59), so you can turn on the camcorder, start and stop the recording (and so you can also tell if the bloody thing is on...) after you've already tucked the bag away. Otherwise you'll have to wait until no more than a few minutes before your session to turn on the camcorder, hit record and then pack away the bag.

Additional Low Gain Microphone

The problem with the microphones that come with these systems is that they are high gain. VERY high gain. With the car engine off and sitting in the pits, it will beautifully record your 'conversation' with the guy you took off on the lap before (Hi Martin!). But at speed, there's no way that you can isolate the microphone well enough from vibration and/or wind, which it is waaay too sensitive to - you'll just hear tons of noise. But we’ll still be using it. A quick and cheap solution is to ADD (no, not A.D.D.) of 'Radio Shack's Hands-Free Tie-Clip Omnidirectional Electret Microphone ($24.99 - Catalog #: 33-3013)



which is a powered microphone that does a decent job of recording racing audio. You’ll be buying a few other pieces from Radio Shack, which you’ll find below, so don’t order just yet.

Mounting Equipment for R/T 2000 Cars

You'll need to buy one of each of the three following parts from Ram Mounts

Item # RAM-B-231Z - $13.95 - U-bolt (Holds the Bullet Camera)



Item #RAM-B-108B - $18.69 - Metal Strap and Ball Mount (Becomes the base for the Mount, and straps around the R/T 2000’s roll hoop)



Item#RAM-B-201 - $13.62 - Double socket arm (Connects the two above)



The double socket arm is compatible with Helix’s mount, in case they have left one on the car for you to use. If Helix isn’t available at your race weekend, and especially if you want to do a double cam setup, you’ll need the Metal Strap and Ball Mount.

Waterproof Camera Bag

To hold your camcorder and everything else except for the bullet cam, you will need a good waterproof bag. Get the Lowe Pro SlipLock 50, $18.95 from B&H.



Cable Accessories

You’ll need a few more pieces from Radio Shack to make this contraption work.

1/8" MJK-Phono Plug #2740871 – This will let you plug your Radio Shack Mic into the system ($4.00)


Gold–Plated Plug–to–Plug Coupler #274898 ($6.00) – you’ll need this to have a ‘double mic’ or a ‘mic & scanner’ system


Bungee Cords & Miscellaneous Other Accessories

You will need to get an assortment of bungee cords, preferably from 6” to 14” in their un-stretched state. Get them from your local hardware or auto parts store. These will hold your camera bag in whatever place works for you. More on that later.

A bag full of black zip ties, around 4 or 5 inches long each, to help tidy up your cables.

Also, you should try and get a 4” x 1” x 1mm thick strip of rubber to use an anti-vibration buffer between the bullet camera and the U-Bolt mount. It’s not necessary, but a nice touch that can’t hurt.

Finally go get yourself two or three packs of 8-AA batteries for the bullet camera system.


2. Assembly

Just follow the directions. Sorry, but Mike Marino, Allie and Lauren will not be there to do it for ya, so pay attention.

Steps to take well before are going to race (the night before etc):

1. Connect the yellow bullet camera video-out plug into the yellow plug receptacle on the Coupler

2. Connect the High-Gain Microphone Power lead into the High Gain Microphone

3. Connect the Audio-Plug of the High Gain Microphone into the bullet-cam audio plug, and the other end into of the harness’ audio plug either of the white or red receptacles on the Plug-to-Plug Coupler.

4. Using the Radio Shack Phone Plug, connect the Low Gain Microphone to the remaining audio receptacle on the Plug-to-Plug Coupler

5. As an option, you can connect the earphone output from your scanner to the Plug-to-Plug Coupler in lieu of the High Gain Microphone. That is a REALLY cool effect. To find out what kind of cable you need, take your coupler and your scanner to Radio Shack and they’ll oufit you.

6. Connect your Camcorder’s A/V cable to your Camcorder’s A/V in port.

7. Connect the ends of the A/V cord to the other side of the Radio Shack Plug-to-Plug Coupler

8. Load up your bullet-cam system’s battery pack and either tape it up so the batteries don’t pop out, or zip tie it tight.
9. Zip tie everything into a neat, tight bundles. DON’T bundle or zip tie the bullet-cam’s video cable. Everything except for the bullet-cam will go in the bag, including the mics.

10. Put the battery pack inside the bag, oriented vertically and with the cable dangling up and free. Then stow as neatly as possible the Plug-to-Plug Coupler assembly and the microphones and cables in the bottom of your bag, alongside the battery pack. Make sure you leave the power receptacle for the bullet camera and the power lead from the battery up high and accessible, so you can connect the two together easier later on.

11. Bolt your bullet camera inside of the U Bolt assembly, preferably using the anti-vibration buffer. DON’’T over tighten. Just enough to prevent the camera from twisting or sliding under a few pounds of pressure will do. Make sure you mount the camera UPRIGHT. Don’t be a yutz.

12. Test your system to make sure it works. Instructions are further below.

Steps to take as soon as you have access to the car before your session:

If someone is driving your car in the session immediately before yours, you may only have a few minutes to get the gear going, so hurry up.

1. Mount the bullet-cam assembly to the existing Strap Mount if it’s already there. If not, you’ve got to put your Strap Mount on too, which you should try to do this earlier in the day, as it takes the most amount of time and doesn’t affect any other drivers.

2. Turn on your camcorder and put it in ‘VCR’ mode. Connect the bullet-cam’s battery pack lead to the power receptacle. You should see on your camcorder’s screen what the bullet cam sees.

3. Adjust the camera mount so that the horizon is level and the car is in the middle of the frame. You will have to experiment with the vertical height, but most people like to have the bottom or the middle of their steering wheel at the bottom of the frame. That would put your helmet and hands in the frame, and also gives you plenty of above-horizon view.

4. If you have more than ten minutes before you have to get in the car, then shut your camcorder off and unplug the battery pack.

Steps to take just before you get in the car

1. If you turned off the camcorder and unplugged the battery pack, then turn them both on.

2. Turn the Radio Shack lapel mic power switch on.

3. Start the camcorder’s ‘record’ function, while it’s in VCR mode.

4. Carefully take the camcorder and pack it in to the bag, making sure you don’t crimp the a/v cable and that you don’t flick off the power switch. Close the bag carefully and tightly using the cinch-lock, especially when it’s raining.

5. Using one or two of the bungee cords you purchased, mount the bag on the rear bodywork under the roll hoop and on top of the fuel cap, or mount it inside the car. There are several places to mount it inside the car, and you will find the right place for it with some experimentation. I’ll try to take some pics of mounting locations next week at Lime Rock and update this manual.

6. Go out and race, and try to screw up as badly as possibly. That will give you the best footage. Crashes, spins, spins that develop into crashes – these are what make a video great. Stupid driving = watchable video.

7. When you are done with your session, and if your camera equipment hasn’t been destroyed by your off(s), then remove your equipment and don’t forget to press stop on your camcorder, unplug the battery pack for the bullet-cam, and finally flick off the Radio Shack mic power switch.

3. Now what?

Now that you’ve produced a high quality video with questionable driving on it, you have to decide how to use it. You can either plug your camcorder into your tv (using the A/V cable) and watch it, or you can edit your video on the computer and maybe burn it to a DVD.

If you want to just watch it using your camcorder, you will find that you may want to only plug in one audio channel from your A/V cable at a time. One channel will have the High Gain content on it, which is again great for the ‘Go F Yourself’ conversations in pit lane. The other channel will have listenable racing audio on it. On the computer, you can just edit in our out whatever’s appropriate.

If you want to edit your videos, you’ll need to have a Firewire capable computer with editing software. Macs are brilliant with this stuff and are by far the easiest to use. They come with everything built in and make it somewhat easy (but VERY time consuming). A MUCH better option is to send your video off to Doug Harrison, who’ll make a kick ass DVD for you with music and everything. His edits may even make you look like you drive better than your wife.


4. Double Camera Systems


To setup a double cam (front and rear), you have two choices:

1. Build one system for yourself (which you’ll always use as your ‘primary/front cam’) and whenever you want to use a double system, get Helix to do the rear cam. It will save you half the work, and that’s what I do. Or,

2. If you want to always do double videos and own your own systems, then duplicate everything here. Then just mount the two Strap Mount alongside each other on the roll hoop, and point one camera to the front, and one to the back. I don’t have a picture of this setup, but I’ll try to do one next week and put it in. You’ll also have to use two different gear bags, because a bag that holds two camcorders and all of the requisite cables will be too big to mount anywhere.


5. Tips and Final Notes

1. You should ‘focus’ the bullet-cam lens before you first use it. Unscrew the lens cap, remove the glass cover, and using a tweezer twist the threaded lens assembly in small increments both clockwise and counter-clock wise (it’s a threaded focus lens) until the focus is perfect. Make sure you do this with the camcorder connected to a TV, as the resolution of the camcorder’s viewfinder is crap and won’t let you see if you’ve really locked the focus in. Also, point the camcorder to something at least 10 feet away when you are doing this.

2. The focus lens (NOT the glass lens cover) will un-focus itself in time from vibration. I suggest that once you are comfortable with your system and have used it a few times, that you should unscrew the lens completely and put a little bit of clear nail polish on the threads. Then focus the camera. If you don’t do this, after 7 or 8 uses you’ll find that one of your videos was totally out of focus. Note: DO NOT USE commercial thread locks!

3. You can avoid all of the headaches of acquiring and setting up the system by paying me to do it for you. Even though the total of the parts (not including the camcorder) is around $500, and setup time is less than an hour, I’ll only charge you $5,000 for the system. That doesn’t include the camcorder. If you want me to get you a good camcorder, I can do that, too. I only charge a small 500% markup on the camcorder. Oh, by the way, shipping is always extra.

[cdh]

this one goes in the PHOF (Post Hall of Fame), thanks Sy.........

[MJAmok]

As I've said before... thank god for Marino!

[sydude]

I can't believe that I haven't gotten one order yet. You would have thought it would be a bargain at $5K (plus shipping).

[sydude]

UPDATE: I've been notified that the HC-20 camcorder by Sony is incompatible with our systems, as it does not have an A/V input. The HC-20 is the cheapest of Sony's camcorder line.

[jtree007]

Anyone seen this?? I bought one today to play with it.... It has its problems, but there is potential.

Can someone post a small segment of high-res video from their setup? I want to compare and see it the extrenal camera is actually comparable or not.

http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/n...elTab=Features