I use a suction cup device to mount the camera inside of the windshield. I love it! It's called "The Gripper" and is available from http://vacuummounts.com for $85. These are the same suction cups that are used with industrial robots to move huge panes of glass. As mentioned here, I actually use a point-and-shoot pocket camera as my video camera and this mount is total overkill for my little camera. I don't know how it would hold up with a bigger camera, but the mount is really beefy.
I mount my Gripper on the windshield just to the right of the rear-view mirror, so it doesn't obstruct my view at all. In that position, the camera is less susceptible to wind noise and is easy to turn on/off.
One of the things I like about this unit is that I can tell when the suction is getting weak (there's a vacuum plunger that eventually rises up and a red line appears). In my experience, it has appeared after about a week. Generally, I guess there's no reason to keep it attached and the unit probably lasts longer if you remove it. The point is that it works fine for a weekend at the track. Plus, the unit is tough; I'm sure my rear view mirror would break off with far less force than this thing.
Also, this unit comes with a very adjustable camera mount, so it's easy to position it correctly.
The first camera mount I had was from i/o port racing and it attached directly to the roll bar. It's arguably the most popular camera mount. The problem I had wasn't with the mount at all, but rather with the position. If it were attached near the A-pillar on a roll cage, then it would be great, but mine was on the roll bar behind my head. There are all sorts of problems having the camera behind you. You're usually recording the interior (which can actually be a good thing for studying steering inputs) or zoomed in, but it's hard to aim the camera, start it, or even tell if it's recording from the driver's seat. As a result, you may record 5-10 extra minutes of nothing prior to your session, which just makes for larger files and shorter battery life.
One problem with the suction mounts is that there's no good way to add a secondary securing strap to the camera (or at least you'd have to be creative about it). This would definitely be an issue with larger cameras and also with regulated races.
What have you found to work well?
Mounting the video camera
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4 comments:
Did you have any problems with not meeting any PCA rules for the Gripper? I thought I read somewhere that the mount had to be attached like to the roll bar. Joe
I've never had a problem with it in PCA HPDE events. I've never raced with it, but I suspect you'll find a good deal more scrutiny there. Perhaps if you could find a way to add a secondary securing mechanism (like a strap), it may help. Best to check with the PCA folks.
If you're feeling provocative, you might ask the following question to the safety guys. Under hard driving or an impact, which would detach more easily from the windshield: this mount with 20 square inches of contact area or the rear view mirror with 1 square inch of contact area? Put another way: which one could you break off with one hand?
I suspect the issue is more with the camera itself (which attaches with only one screw to _any_ mount) and that's where the strap might help.
..Kev
Kevin, I have purchased the mount and the camera. I have started testing the best position in the car. I agree that the front windshield is the best, but I get a reflection from the front dash. I don't see that in your movies. Did you do anything to reduce that problem? Gatorman
Helps to have a black dashboard. Even with that, in some parts of the track (i.e. certain lighting angles), you could see a reflection of the speaker grille.
In order to reduce the reflection, you might be able to anchor one end of a small black cloth to the bottom of the camera mount and then run it horizontally forward to the windshield (below the camera's direct field of view) and secure (tape?) it there, too. If you shape it right, it might not even obscure your visibility. I'm sure it would take some creative experimentation :)
One other optimization might be with your camera. The dashboard reflection is roughly two feet from the lens. If you can manually fix the focus further out (i.e. focus on the stuff outside the car you want to see when you're driving), it _may_ help minimize the dashboard reflection.
Let me know what hack you come up with.
..Kev
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