KJM3SMG

I bought a SONY DCRSR40 digital camcorder with 30 Gig Hard Drive... it is great...

except when I use it for the track, there are times when excessive droning from exhaust or vibration causes the camera to shut down saying there is too much vibration.

I'm thinking this has to do with the Hard Drive.. I know there are a few people with camera setups that use tape-based systems, not hard drive. And I haven't heard of the vibration shut off issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm thinking of selling the camera and getting a regular Mini-DV tape based camera instead... but the digital aspect of my camera system is great.. plenty of space.. and no need to convert formats.

Are there better HD-based cameras out there for the track?

What do you guys use?

Thanks in advance.

here's some pics of the camera and my car...






More pics here:

FmotorSports.com

38D

Hard drive cameras will not work unless you have a remote camera system. It has nothing to do with the exhaust, but rather the bumps/suspension. Either get a remote camera and put the recorder in a foam lined bag, or get a different camera (tape based).

Geoffrey

You may try something with a Compact Flash card like the Chasecam setup. No moving parts.

KJM3SMG

I've tried the CF based ones.. not a lot of tape room.. only 2 Gigs.. about 15 minutes

Colin, what do you mean by remote camera system? As in the camera is in the car but the recording is wireless (outside of car) ?

I am using a mount to hold the camera, which is on the front or back windshield. The shut off happens a lot more in the back (exhaust drone and vibration must be more)... up front it runs better.. a foam lined bag I'm not sure how'd u'd do that.

I guess I can downgrade to a mini-DV tape based camcorder... :-(

Bull

I received a hard drive camera as a gift, and can't make it out of the garages at Watkins Glen without it shutting down (or anywhere else). I was ready to place it in a padded bag and use a remote camera from ChaseCam, until I realized that it has no provision for external device input. I have used it with SD cards, which cut the record time drastically (basically 1 or 2 track sessions per SD card), and it works great that way.

Does your camera have an alternative recording method like SD cards, or a port for an external camera?

KJM3SMG

Bob, unfortunately no.. so I guess I have to downgrade to miniDV.. unless they come out with a track/sports HD camera.

Also, Colin, about the droning exhaust: the reason I thought it was that was coz when I'm on the straights.. no bumps.. I gun it and during the acceleration my Remus exhaust on my 996TT gets to this loud sound around 5k RPM, when I noticed the camera shut off..




FmotorSports.com - No.VA/MD/DC car zealots non-denominational

hacker-pschorr

There are quite a few memory card based camcorders hitting the market. Panasonic has one with 2+ hours in EP mode on the included memory card.

Not to mention woth CF cards dropping in price (just picked up a Lexar 133 4gb card for $45) it will not be long until you can record a few hours on a "standard" card.

jimculp

KM3SMG- where did you get your camera mount in the photo? TIA

KJM3SMG

Hacker-Pschorr, good point... I'll keep an eye out for new products. I was using a regular digital camera with 2 Gig drive.. but only lasted 15 mins... couldn't turn down the resolution (too high def), to extend the record time.

Jim, I got my mount from Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=140041350783






FmotorSports.com - No.VA/MD/DC car zealots non-denominational

38D

remote camera = lipstick cam

Your camcorder has to have a AV in for these to work

Here are some options:

www.chasecam.com
www.jonescam.tv
www.raceoptics.com

And the ultimate in bling:
http://www.cdoc.com/detail.asp?id=49...Camera+Systems

RICHVIZZ951

Colin
You have any experience with that raceoptics system? Looks pretty reasonable.

38D

I don't. I know a couple of people with the ChaseCam stuff, and they seem to like it. The VuZ system is just too cool, albeit very expensive.

multi21

Go to your local Best Buy, Circuit City or go on their websites. I bought a Samsung Sports Camcorder. It's primarily used as a helmet cam for snow skiing, or snow boarding, karting, etc. The optional 2 GB SD card will give you just under 1 hour of recording time on a high resolution setting.

It comes with a snake lens with a cable to the recording unit ( the smallest I've ever seen). That is what 38D was referring to I believe. Put the recording unit in a padded pouch and mount the snake lens where you want it.

bobt993

I have two systems: Archos DVR40gig drive with a variety of remote cameras, works great and Archos fits in a glove box if your racing stock. Mount the unit to the inside lid so when it is closed, the unit is somewhat vertical. No glitches. Started using a Sony HD DV camera on a solid mount on the roll cage/bar. Pretty stable, image quality is excellent being widescreen HD. Only complaint is editing is alot longer because of the resolution, even when downconverted (still working on my last Nurburgring and Summit Point track trips).

dan212

Recording to flash memory is much easier in my IMO.

Many of the newer cameras have an SD card slot. They are sometimes vague about how much time you can put on them. I have a Canon ZR830. I put a 4GB SD flash card in and get plenty of recording time. I put the SD card into a USB adapter (which came with it) and can copy over even 4GB worth in minutes. Thats a lot easier than spinning DV tapes to offload. One 4GB SD card lasts as long as the camera battery. A word of warning though. The data transfer rate of the cheaper SD cards may not be up to the record speed needed at high resolution and the write through speed is not usually on the packaging of the low end cards. I get the SanDisk Extreme II cards.