From Car Video
 

Hello All,

Awesome forum you have here...loads of information that I am still trying to digest. Hope you can help me with a few noob questions...

Project: I am wishing to film scenic roads from a car. One important factor of this is that the camera must be mounted so that the only thing videoed is the road and the scenery...no dashboard, carhood, glare from winshield, etc...exactly as if you were there strapped to the front grill of a semi ;) One other factor is that I want the video to "lean" into the corners as you go around them (ie think of the view from a motorbike).

Camera: Unknown...would like HD for future expansion but not totally necessary. Budget of about $3000. Possible choice is a Sony HDR-HC1??

Cams: Don't know if this is needed or not. I've looked at the Vio ones and they are quite nice. To get the shot I need though, perhaps a helmet cam is the way to go. I surely don't want to stick a $3000 camera out on the front of the car. One question I had about them though was the lines (is 520 lines good enough for TV viewing?).

Mount: Unknown as well but I assume that it has to be some sort of pendulum type device but I have been unable to find anything that would replicate the effect of leaning into a corner. I suppose a lot depends on what kind of camera I use.

Lenses/Filters: I assume I will need a wide-angle and a sun light filter???

Audio: none

Capture: I would like to go straight to a hard drive but not against tapes.

Editing: Vegas or Premiere?

Any assistance or advice (besides stick to your day job) will be greatly appreciated.

If you want to keep the frame clear of any parts of the car and have it lean in turns like a motorcycle, why not shoot FROM a motorcycle? Strap the camera to the headlamp or clamp it in the centre of the handlebars and roll tape!

Car only...

no motorcycle

Well I'm a little reluctant to point you in this direction because it's a rather contentious thread. But try to look past those aspects and I think you'll find some interesting info on a similar project. But PLEASE let's not resurrect the vibration issue because that was already beaten to death!

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=49804

This thread may also interest you if using an analog camera to record to a hard drive:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50622

And also this one:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=25843

My point is, if you can't see any part of the car and will only see the road and the landscape in the shot, it really doesn't matter what sort of vehicle is carrying the camera. The viewer won't be able to tell if it's on a car, a truck, a motorcycle, an extremely low flying airplane, a penny-farthing bicycle, a skateboard, or is being hand-held and carried out in front of a really really fast runner. Since you want the image frame to tilt in the turns the way a motorcycle leans, why not keep it simple and shoot FROM a motorcycle so the tilts happen automatically?

simple really...out of all your choices I own a car...the rest I do not have nor want the expense of obtaining.

Having the camera lean into a corner is way down on the list of priorities...figuring out what camera to use is more of a concern.

Can you assist in that regard?

Well, in my opinion the easiest thing to do, besides the obvious of getting a bicycle and just speeding up the frames in post... is to get a small duffle bag and place in ithe bottom of it a piece of foam, which can be purchased for a buck or two from a fabric shop. Then grab a few un opened bags of beans an d place on top of that. zip the bag up and nestle the camera in on top of this. Grab a couple small rachet ties from Home Depot, (about 10 bucks) strap it all to the hood of your car, hit record, and take off. The foam and beans will cushio and absorb vibrations and if you placei t far enough foward, you won't see anything but roadl. This doesn't take care of the lean, but if that's not a high priority... It might not be pretty, but it'll get the job done.

As far as the camera goes, I would think the speed of the car would make a difference. If you are going fast enough, the viewer won't be able to take in a lot of detail so a more basic camera should suffice, but if you are going for more detail, I would suggest a Canon Xl series with wide angle lens. Adjust you iris right and you will have some pretty nice shots.

I had to mount a camera to the front of a car once and i used a cheap tripod with a mounting head that i fabricated with parts from Home Depot. I was able to position it from about 4 different places over the car, including right behind the front wheel, for some really interesting shots. All in all, it cost me about 25 bucks, excluding the tripod.

hope this helps!

A friend of mine was really into to recording video from his mountain bike and he experimented quite a bit with a standalone video lens that was plugged into a video camera. He mounted the lens on a broom stick or hockey stick, because the further it was away from the bike the smoother it was. It looked awesome, like you were flying along beside him and when he put it on the hockey stick he was talented enough to move the lens around himself and keep riding so it looked like he was being circled by a flying camera. My vote is for footage from a bike and then speed it up.

One more thing. I have recorded a fair bit from cars and the one thing I learned was make sure you have a UV filter on your lens if you are going to hang the camera alongside the tire because it is less traumatic to get a stone chip on a cheap filter versus your pricey camera's lens.

rent a tandem bike from a local bike shop. you can throw this on your car and drive it to all sorts of scenic destinations. find a friend who is a strong biker.

get a super clamp:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

and a 3030 3-way head (the 3-way head allows many angles on moving footage):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

mount the whole mess to handlebars. let someone else pant, struggle, and steer while you concentrate on operating the camera.

works great with my GL2, so surely it would work with a smaller, lighter HDV model....