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Porsche
Club of America
By Bruce
Corwin, Bruce968@PorscheNet.com
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 |
 For
a few years now I’ve been using a camcorder to tape some in-car footage
of autocross and track events. I was impressed by the footage created by
the “Race Cam” system used by some other club members, but upon finding
the cost to be $950 to $1,250, I decided to look into other options.
An interesting option I found was the “bullet camera”. The camera itself is enclosed in a weather-resistant aluminum housing about the size of a 12-gauge shotgun shell and is intended to be mounted outdoors as a security camera. One of the nice things about this camera is that because of its small size, it can be mounted just about anywhere. I've only used the camera one weekend, but got some incredible footage by mounting it in various locations. For example I duct taped it to the side of my helmet for “helmet cam” shots. I also duct taped it to the side, front and back of the car for some pretty cool shots. Good old duct tape! The image quality seems very good and is color, of course. It has auto brightness control and there is no needed focus adjustment - seems to be infinite. The price was $180, but recently has come down to $146. It runs on 12 volts, so I was able to power it with an off-the-shelf radar detector cord from Radio Shack. I also made a portable 12V power supply from Radio Shack parts. They sell a plastic battery pack that holds 8 AA batteries to produce 12V. There is a 9V battery-style connector on one end that you can attach wires to for powering the bullet cam. The camera uses a “coaxial DC power plug” size 5.5 mm OD, 2.1 mm ID with a positive center pole. I used 22 gauge stranded speaker wire to complete the connections. No special tools are needed, just a soldering iron. The picture from the bullet cam is better than what the camcorder can do alone. The lens has a wider-angle than I can get from the camcorder which is good for cockpit shots and gives a better feeling for the speed the car is traveling. I was concerned that without image stabilization the picture would be too shaky, but was surprised to find it wasn't. Either that's because of the wider camera angle or the low mass of the bullet cam. The bullet cam is manufactured by Pro Video, and I bought mine through the RNJ Electronics catalog 1-800-645-5833, item number PV635CR. I plug the camera into the AV jacks on my camcorder, which records the video onto tape. The only problem I had is with the audio input. The bullet cam has no microphone, so I tried hooking up a regular mic to the camcorder using a “mini plug to RCA jack” adapter. But I found that the camera is looking for an amplified (line level) input, not a passive microphone. I searched the Internet and surprisingly couldn't find much to help. Radio Shack sells a very simple, inexpensive amplifier kit (catalog number 990 0153) that should do the trick, but it's not in stock. I tried various other options, but the only one I found that works is a package from RNJ electronics. It's kind of a clumsy thing, meant to install in a wall electrical box, but it works. It’s called the “SM5 Kit”. The cost was $65, but unfortunately, they no longer sell it. I haven’t given up hope though that somewhere out there is a simple microphone that has a line level output. One option (although expensive) is to buy an amplified mic from Race Cam 201-794-9766. The cost is $115 which includes mic and amplifier powered by 12V. So for around $160, plus the cost of an amplified mic (if you can find one) you get a bullet cam system that will allow you to get some really neat footage. By comparison, Race Cam costs $950. Pixels are 510 x 492 for either system, or 768 x 494 for the hi res Race Cam which costs $1,250. The size of bullet cam is 1 x 1 x 2.75 inches (not including mic), compared to 2 x 2 x 3.5 for Race Cam. |
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