A&Q about Lotus
Q:
I am just about to get a video camera setup for recording my racing, and am wondering what recomendations for a camera are? is optical image stabilization better for this than digital image stabilization. is wide angle lens a must have, and what type of filters(if any).
I am looking at the canon ZR600, canon elura 100, and the
panasonic-PVGS300 which is supposed to be the best according the girl at bestbuy.
who uses what , and what are the pros and cons of what your using?
thanks, trying to be educated when making this purchase.
Fish
A:
I have found that my old sony camcorder, with sony's "steady shot" picture stabilization works just fine. Nothing special. I just bolt it directly to my BWR harness bar, without using the camera mount and it seems to work fine for my purposes. Here's an example Iv'e posted recently. The lens is set to the widest zoom.
A:
Hey, that's nice-clean video.
How is it to post up on Google Video? Tough, easy, fast, slow?
A:
Originally Posted by pilot
Hey, that's nice-clean video.
How is it to post up on Google Video? Tough, easy, fast, slow?
Very easy. Create an account, download and go. Any video length is accepted but it is reviewed for content. Great way for friends and family to review all kinds of video. I prefer it to youtube only because youtube is blocked at work.
A:
The Panasonic-PVGS300 is very very good.
I just bought the GS500. The big 3 chip lens is the way to go.
The video quality between the 300 and the 500 is the same.
I would stay away from Canon. My Canon's had reliability issues.
A:
Originally Posted by slaughtr
Very easy. Create an account, download and go. Any video length is accepted but it is reviewed for content. Great way for friends and family to review all kinds of video. I prefer it to youtube only because youtube is blocked at work.
They have instant uploads now.. It's uploaded first then reviewed..
A:
I like my Panasonic and the three color chips make the colors look great.
One tip that I had recieved from a fellow Etalker was a top feed tape position.The top feed makes it very easy to switch tapes on the fly.
This is a video that is way too long and has little to no editing, bad music, and a bad camera mount but you can see some of the colors. Keep in mind that the res is low on google video.
And by the way it is my video.
Good luck
Chris
A:
If you have a recent Mac it is worth it to get the Sony HiDef camera. Unbelievably clear on your home big screen. Price is a bit steep but worth it.
Get the extended warranty whatever you get, it is going to get shaken.
You could also peruse Steve's Digicams for reviews.
A:
Anyone tried the Sanyo VPC-HD1A ?
Inexpensive (for HD), MP4, 720p, solid state, right onto SD or SDHC. Almost looks too good to be true. . . .
A:
Sony or Panasonic. Stay away from Canon; can't handle the vibration.'
If you car is very stiffly sprung, then you should use a bullet cam and plug it into the camcorder which should be in a nicely padded container. Otherwise, you'll kill just about any camcorder from the vibration. I use the Chasecam.com setup with my camcorder but will switch to the Chasecam PDR100 solid state recorder.
A:
Have you looked at the PDR-100 from chasecam? It's an impressive setup.
A:
Originally Posted by babak
Have you looked at the PDR-100 from chasecam? It's an impressive setup.
The setup does look impressive but I will warn you that it's taking a long time to acquire one so don't be surprised if you decide on this. I ordered back in August, expected it in Sept. and have yet to get it. I am eagerly still waiting for it.
A:
This is video from this weekend from my Canon SD400, my little cheap digi camera. The video came out much better than I expected. Excuse the wind noise though. I'm going to try using a piece of low density foam over the mic when I go out next weekend and see if that helps the noise.
A:
Here's my setup:
It works great, except that the outside is rather over-exposed when the top is on. The camera gets confused by the dark interior against the bright exterior. I've tried polarizing lenses, and neutral density filters, to no avail. Still, the system works fine for what I need, and was cheap. It's served me well through a dozen or so track days and schools.
Q
A:
Originally Posted by 30mpg
Anyone tried the Sanyo VPC-HD1A ?
Inexpensive (for HD), MP4, 720p, solid state, right onto SD or SDHC. Almost looks too good to be true. . . .
I looked at this but my local store said that they had several returned because of problems with it.
A:
Originally Posted by blondie
Here's my setup:
It works great, except that the outside is rather over-exposed when the top is on. The camera gets confused by the dark interior against the bright exterior. I've tried polarizing lenses, and neutral density filters, to no avail. Still, the system works fine for what I need, and was cheap. It's served me well through a dozen or so track days and schools.
Q
Q,
I have a new cam that is modified to help fix this. Want to try it out?
A:
Originally Posted by blondie
Here's my setup:
It works great, except that the outside is rather over-exposed when the top is on. The camera gets confused by the dark interior against the bright exterior. I've tried polarizing lenses, and neutral density filters, to no avail. Still, the system works fine for what I need, and was cheap. It's served me well through a dozen or so track days and schools.
Q
did you try a split neutral densoty filter? was the ND completely covering the lens? if so, try experimenting with a split ND. have the clear part toward the top and slide the ND area upward until you get a good balance between the inside (car top) and outside. if you can feed the video to a monitor as you adjust filter position it will be alot easier. it is a common way to equalize exposure in nature photography- usually applied with the dark part reducing sky brightness relative to the terrain in the lower portion of the frame. an annoying example shows up in many tv commercials where they use these nasty tobacco colored split filters to reduce sky brightness and to insert a (hideous artificial looking imho) sunset appearance to the top of the frame
A:
Originally Posted by Randy Chase
Q,
I have a new cam that is modified to help fix this. Want to try it out?
Absolutely. You have a PM.
Q
A:
Originally Posted by LotusLust
did you try a split neutral densoty filter? was the ND completely covering the lens? if so, try experimenting with a split ND. have the clear part toward the top and slide the ND area upward until you get a good balance between the inside (car top) and outside. if you can feed the video to a monitor as you adjust filter position it will be alot easier. it is a common way to equalize exposure in nature photography- usually applied with the dark part reducing sky brightness relative to the terrain in the lower portion of the frame. an annoying example shows up in many tv commercials where they use these nasty tobacco colored split filters to reduce sky brightness and to insert a (hideous artificial looking imho) sunset appearance to the top of the frame
Split, eh? That's interesting. I didn't try that. I'm not sure it would help in this case. I believe the camera is auto-adjusting, because even with the darkest filter (10%) completely covering the lens, there was no perceptible difference.
Q
A:
Originally Posted by blondie
Absolutely. You have a PM.
Q
me too me too