[Josh49]

I've been thinking for a long time of designing a camera mount for inside the car for days at the track, driving school, even nice drives I take. I would like it forward looking through most of the windshield, and cover the instrument cluster if possible, the steering wheel if possible. I'd be really good for driving school so I could go back and review what I was doing right/wrong.

I have to get my camera in the car and take some pics, but I had two ideas in mind, either an arm that comes off of the passenger headrest posts, or possibly a shelf in the backseat that attaches to the middle headrest posts. I have to get in the car and take some pics from these locations to see how well they work..

Anyone have any setups that they have and would like to post some pics, or experience with this before I start designing?

Some of the thoughts on my head include the stiffness of the mount, isolation of the camera from shock, DOF's to allow camera adjustability, how to ensure the camera doesn't move, etc..

TIA,
J49

[gos]

You actually don't want to isolate the camera from shock, otherwise your picture will bounce around if taken from in-car. You want the camera to move with the bumps, that way all the static parts of the interior stay still in-frame while the car is moving.

This essentially means bolting the camera to something inside. A "real" mount would be to the roof or something, a swingarm from the headrests would vibe too much IMO.

Getting the dash + looking out the front in one shot is very hard if you're trying to use a camcorder or something similar. You may be better off with two cameras, then use post-processing to put the instrument panel in a PIP on the view out the front of the car.

[KL2DC]

How about a mount in the rear parcel shelf. There's plenty of mounting surface including the ISOFIX baby seat mounts.

I like the arm out the side of the head rest idea, but the mic would be too close to the person and might catch all that heavy breathing and cussin'

Are you making a round of these? I'd be interested in a cheap and elegantly engineered universal camcorder mount

[Kuma]

There is a high suction device called "the cleat" that you can use to attach your camera to a window inside or outside on the body of the vehicle.

Directions here http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digit...ter/hack27.pdf

Device here
http://www.amazon.com/Cleat-Camera-a...&s=electronics
$49.99

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by gos

You actually don't want to isolate the camera from shock, otherwise your picture will bounce around if taken from in-car. You want the camera to move with the bumps, that way all the static parts of the interior stay still in-frame while the car is moving.

This essentially means bolting the camera to something inside. A "real" mount would be to the roof or something, a swingarm from the headrests would vibe too much IMO.

Getting the dash + looking out the front in one shot is very hard if you're trying to use a camcorder or something similar. You may be better off with two cameras, then use post-processing to put the instrument panel in a PIP on the view out the front of the car.

Thanks for the good response..

Re: the last paragraph I guess I'll just have to get in my car and try it out to see how it works. My digital camera takes decent videos, and is very lightweight. So I was hoping to use that coupled with a very large capacity data stick.

Re: the isolation. I have thought about that a lot. I would want a really stiff mount so that it is coupled to the car. On most tracks or roads I would be using this on I shouldn't be hitting any large potholes. But in the instance I did, I would think a good damper would do a nice job of absorbing some of the shock, so that it is not all transfered into the camera chassis and optic assembly. I'll do some calculations, but I definitely think I want some dampening in the system (just in case). Also I'll try to take note when driving today to see how much road vibration goes up through the seats. I don't want all of that energy going into the camera..

I think a cantilever system coming off the passenger side headrests could be stiff enough. I'll do some deflection calculations for some of the materials and roughly the cross section I was thinking, but the camera's mass is very small, and this location would be an easy place logistically speaking. I could reach up and start it and stop it no problem. The view from here might not be wide enough for what I want though.. Since it is going on the passenger seat, I could always slide that seat further back when I want to use this system, or recess it back. Or I could attach to both driver and passenger headrest posts. A lot of options..

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by KL2DC

I like the arm out the side of the head rest idea, but the mic would be too close to the person and might catch all that heavy breathing and cussin'

Are you making a round of these? I'd be interested in a cheap and elegantly engineered universal camcorder mount

"Fvck I missed that Apex.."

"Are you kidding me, what POS put that cone there.."

Could make for some very interesting watching..


I was wondering how long it would take for you to get on here and start a Group Buy... I don't really know if this is a product that would allow itself for that though. I will probably design this to meet the exact dimensions and mass of my digital camera. This job is more custom to each application. But yeah, we can talk more about that later, this is just the initial brainstorming session..

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by Kuma

There is a high suction device called "the cleat" that you can use to attach your camera to a window inside or outside on the body of the vehicle.

Directions here http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digit...ter/hack27.pdf

Device here
http://www.amazon.com/Cleat-Camera-a...&s=electronics
$49.99

Very Interesting. Thanks for posting.. I don't know how I feel about holding the camera by a suction cup. I'm sure people do without any problems. But I was looking for something very solid secure..

Placement of that product for what I am looking - Back windshield? Actually, I could put that inverted from the sunroof, that might do the trick.. But man, if that thing falls.. Anyone on here have positive experience with this mount??

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by Josh49

Very Interesting. Thanks for posting.. I don't know how I feel about holding the camera by a suction cup. I'm sure people do without any problems. But I was looking for something very solid secure..

That suction cup mount will probably be more secure than a metal arm attached to the headrest.

Also, www.chasecam.com is good.

[KL2DC]

Originally Posted by Josh49

I'll do some calculations....I'll do some deflection calculations for some of the materials and roughly the cross section I was thinking...

Wow, you really are an aerospace engineer

You have my support (and my wallet's)

[ironic]

yeah if ur balls-y enough u can mount the camera outside, iono how you'd record the speedo tho, maybe a mirror

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by KL2DC

Wow, you really are an aerospace engineer

You have my support (and my wallet's)

Sweet!! Steak and beer for lunch today instead of PB and J!! Wahoo!!

[NFS]

One of the guys who regularly posted videos on e60.net had a set up which allowed him to combine info from his v-box type race data capture system with his video.

His videos had a little information frame around them indicating the following in real time:

1. Wheel Speed
2. Rpm
3. Level of steering input
4. Level of acclerator and brake input
5. Current gear.

If you really want to get the most out of this it might be worth looking into. It certainly made his videos more interesting.

You might also find this interesting:

http://www.qv500.com/onboard/index.php

[2e9x's]

http://www.cruisecam.com/Mount_new.pdf

I use this frequently. It works great!

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by White05X3

http://www.cruisecam.com/Mount_new.pdf

I use this frequently. It works great!

That looks great. How much was it? How stable is the video?

Thanks, Josh

[KEVIN88GT]

take a look...i've made my own with about 40 bucks in parts... 20 bucks in parts from home depot...the actual piece that holds the camera..is from a 20 dollar tripod that I picked up in Best Buy....

[Josh49]

Very nice..

This is extremely close to what I was thinking of.. Have any small sample clips for us???

[mjh93sa]

Another couple of (admittedly UK sites) that might give you some ideas:

http://www.fastfilms.co.uk/

http://www.motorsportcameras.co.uk/

Let us know how you get on as I'm sure there are loads of us (me included) who have tinkered with similar ideas.

[sixspeedsam]

Yeah, I might order one of these for the upcoming auto-x season. That, and all the side fun runs

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

[KEVIN88GT]

here you go...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...&q=revo+auto-x

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by KEVIN88GT

here you go...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...&q=revo+auto-x

Very nice. Exactly what I am looking for, that view..

Thanks for posting this. I can't wait to get in the car this weekend and work on this. But I'm pretty convinced after watching this that the passenger seat headrest arm will work..

[KEVIN88GT]

cool let me know if you need any help but you can probably see from my design which parts to get from home depot..

[2e9x's]

Originally Posted by Josh49

That looks great. How much was it? How stable is the video?

Thanks, Josh

Here is a video using it from a track day with my x3

http://randall-harris.com/wsir.html

And here at an auto-x

http://randall-harris.com/X3_Auto_x.html


The mount was $55 including tax and shipping.

Good luck!