After purchasing an onboard video system for the bike early in the year, mainly with the intention of filming on-track persuits, I've had a lot of trail-and-error experiences that have seen me change the configuration of the setup. I've also had many people ask about the setup, either out of interest or because they wanted a similar setup themselves. This article is for those interested in the setup, and contains notes of my successes and failures.
The components for my setup are:
* DV-Cam with AV-in
* Broadcast-quality Sony CCD bullet-cam
* Hi-Gain microphone
* Battery pack
This is made up from two things, a normal DV-cam and a kit for the other components that is purchased from
rfconcepts.co.uk. The DV-cam records the image and sound from the kit's camera and microphone. What I then do is then take the DV-cam from the bike and plug it into my computer (a pc) using a Firewire cable. Windows Movie Maker II then asks to download the video, it does so and I then edit the footage up before publishing it to the web.
The bullet-cam kit from rfconcepts is KIT 4, which is the highest-quality option. This means a 480 line resolution bullet-cam is provided, that works down to 0.01 lumens, which in plain-english means it works in very, very dark (darker than night) conditions, excellent for that bike-meet run on a Friday. The kit costs about £180 delivered and taxed. If you are in the United States, then you will need the NTSC option, and for the U.K. You will need the PAL option. A compatible DV-cam is one that can acept an AV-in cable. My JVC camera does this through the use of an expansion pack, which plugs into the dv-cam itself.
The way my setup is installed is by having the DV-cam under the pillion seat, sat in a foam cradle that I fabricated using photographer case foam, it's easy to fork as it's built up using velcro-like strips, so you just pull out the pieces you don't want, to form the shape of the camera. A base and a cover layer of foam stop any further vibrations or damage being sustained to the DV-cam. The DV-cam runs off it's own battery. The battery-pack for the bullet-cam and microphone is wedged inbetween the foam craddle and the plastic of the bikes inside.
The microphone is very high-gain which means that it's very sensitive. I found it too sensitive, though that may just be down to the choice of DV-cam. I had to duck-tape the end up, then wrap some thick foam around it and duck-tape that up. I then wound the cable length up to take up slack and taped this bundle to the fairing wall, between that and the sub-frame, all out of view, but still in place to listen to the exhaust.
The bullet-cam wire is routed along the inside of the bike, i.e. under the seat, under the tank (secured in place with duck-tape) and to the front of the bike, where the bullet-cam can be mounted. The standard bike tool-kit allows you to remove the seat and raise the tank to get full access, and doesn't take long. Remember to duck-tape the wire to stop it touching any hot surfaces like the engine.
Later on I will discuss how you can improve on this setup to have a more convinient system than I do. For now, here are some pictures of my installation:
Failures have happened for me, mainly in the form of the following:
* The DV-cam has turned off whilst recording
* The bullet-cam mount has come loose, resulting in the camera rotating
* The bullet-cam has been hit by flies inbetween track sessions and I've not cleaned them off
* The bullet-cam has been mounted on less than solid surfaces, resulting in vibrations
So, from this I learnt that you should choose to mount the DV-cam in a way that it won't turn off. I tried to increase battery-life by just leaving the extendable eye-piece open, rather than the LCD screen, but this got shut, thus turning off the unit. I now leave the LCD screen open, and just fold it back on the camera body, this does not turn-off, and allows you to check the image without removing the camera from the bike.
I also learnt that the most solid mount for the bullet-cam is either on the fuel-cap, by using one of the bolt holes and a custom bolt for the bullet-cam base mount, or on the side fairing, above an indicator, using one of the fairing bolt holes in a fashion described above. Having the bullet-cam mounted under the nose of the bike was great for a full-steath appearence, but it was not a solid enough mount and induced vibrations which overloaded the image-stabilisation technology of the camera and resulted in a poor quality film.
When I come back in from a session on the track, I plug in to the DV-cam the recharger, as so to top it up. The battery-pack for the microphone and bullet-cam last for days and do not need touching.
You can improve on this setup by making it more convinient. You can do this by purchasing a Sony DV-cam, as these ones accept a remote-control on a wire, so you can turn the camera on and off, and start and stop recording, from the comfort of your handlebars (wedging it under a ram-air scoop works well for this). This will mean you won't have to open the pillion seat cover to start/stop recording. You can also improve on the setup by creating a custom power-supply for the two elements, the DV-cam and the bullet-cam/microphone. This would draw power from the bike's battery. You'd need to put a fuse in place to protect your equipment from surges and to downgrade the power to meet the needs of your DV-cam (the bullet-cam/microphone are already running off 12v, but most DV-cams do not). This would mean you wouldn't have to worrry at all about unplugging the battery pack when not in use. A master-switch for this power-supply would also be wise, mounted at the controls of the bike, so the DV-cam didn't draw power from the bike when the ignition was off (you could use the ignition power line instead, it's up to you).
Opinions on placementMy personal best view is from the fuel-tank cap, so that the bullet-cam is looking at the instrumentation, i.e. the gear-indicator, revs and speedo (though this is slightly obscured at times by the key), as this allows me to review my choice of gear/rpm for any given corner at the track.
Other people who view my videos prefer the side-fairing mount, as this is lower and more dramatic, giving the clearest, uncluttered view of the track/road ahead. This is also one of the most stable views.
Some people replicating my system wanted a stealth-setup, so none of the video equipment was visibiel, unless on VERY close inspection, so I tried mounting the bullet-cam under the nose fairing, but as previously mentioned, I couldn't get a solid mount and so had to revert to another mounting. A slightly more stealthy position, would be to have it inside the windscreen, sitting on top of the instrumentation, though this depends on your bike obviously, but has the added bonus of you just needing to keep the windscreen clear, and protects the camera more (though replacement lens covers are very cheap from rfconcepts).
With the rfconcepts kit, you also get a large velcro mount for the bullet-cam, meaning you can mount the camera on your helmet and induldge in some more foolery-footage. This view is good fun for push-bikes and city riding, though it doesn't show any lean-angle as you keep your head nearly level without realising it.
