Drive Cams

[starrymarkb]

Something I've been experimenting with recently is a Dash Cam set up.

First Attempt with a Camcorder taped to the dashboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSjWZCEfkQE

One from a couple of Months ago doing Launceston to Exeter via the A30 this time with my Phone and a timelapse app taking a photo every 3 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUcXIm29oG0

And one from last weekend Plymouth to Exeter via the A38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8VrEZGGrc

OK they aren't public transport but still are Transport related (may stick them on SABRE at some point too)

Has anyone else tried anything similar?

 

[90019]

I've had my camera mounted in the bottom corner of the windscreen of my Polo a few times, but I've never bothered doing anything with the footage as nothing particularly interesting happened.

Once I get my Mazda back from the garage and everything on it sorted, I think I'll be looking into mounting a camera in it, mainly for the summer.

 

[swj99]

I tried a full size camcorder on a tripod, strapped into the front passenger seat of the car once. It was good quality footage, but it's a hassle to set it up, and the disadvantage is that you have to switch the camcorder on at the start of every journey, just in case you might want the footage later, and if you drive for more than an hour, the tape runs out. I also made a camcorder mount and attached it to a heater vent on top of the dashboard of an old BMW I had a few years ago, but again, it's a hassle to put the camcorder on there, with a charged battery, and a new tape, etc.

A proper dashcam is a better proposition. Just stick it to the inside of the windscreen, plug it into the lighter socket, and you're away.
Many of them record in 5 minute segments, and once the memory card is full, they record over the oldest files first, so if anything interesting happens, or if you crash and roll the car whilst drunk on vodka like the Russians in those youtube videos, you've got the footage. I got one off ebay for about £17 which included the micro SD memory card. The footage is quite good, and the only downside I can find is that the format is not recognised by the video editing software I normally use (but you can get around this by using screen capture software such as Hypercam to record it).