I have the Ztec Camera Mount installed and have for sometime. My first camera (Sony DCRIP5) was far too small, had too high of a profile for good out the window shots and did not have any of the features I really needed/wanted for an in-car setup (no external mic for example). My new camera (Sony DCRTRV38) has a much shorter and I get great shots of the instruments and out the window with the wide angle lens, night-shot, steady-shot and it has the external options. Everything looks great (when I'm not moving) but the dang thing shakes like crazy at high speeds and on minor road roughness.

I have determined that it's not the mount alone (some shake is contributed to the compartment lid moving but not much). Most of the shake comes from the poor design of the mounting thread on the camera itself. The base of the camera when secured on the mounting system is very stable, but the shallowness or lack of supporting pieces up through the rest of the camera cause the upper portion of the camera to move with ease (I can twist it with 1-2 pounds of pressure with my hand). This upper portion is where the lens resides and this flex is causing the shake when filming.

My first thought was to design something that would slide and secure onto the external lighting piece on the camera and somehow secure it to the bracket. Any other suggestions for securing the upper part of the camera to the rest of the mounting system or other ways to stabilize it?

 

Marcus, I was planning on designing several other mounts for the S but realized that the inherent problem with mounting our cameras was mass, Did you install the gasket material supplied with the kit? I have nearly the same model camera as you do. for a year now I have been doing research and have learned much about mini cctv cameras and have a system that I use for track events and drives that allow me to mount the camera anywhere on the car I choose I make my own mounts which consist of a clamp mount which converts to a triple suction cup mount. you can view some footage hopefully this weekend or the following weekend, I will post to let you know the times it will air, My camera system was used in a racecar last month for a documentary on Stuart Appleby (a well known golfer) and it is suppose to air on the USA network! Stuart is a friend of mine so I will see if I can get the information - as of yesterday he didn't even know! Anyway, contact me if you would like more information, I can help you set up a portable or permanent setup! I feel much better now that I can safely store my expensive camera in a padded bag while I can record video inches from the ground or even in the engine bay - I will try and get some clips up soon!
Nick

 

I saw Nick's test setup on an NSX at a track event in West Palm Beach. It was most impressive. He had three or four lipstick cameras mounted on and in the NSX. The video was clear and stable, and the sound feed was great, too.

Sorry I can't help with the other issue, other that to suggest putting the weather stripping on if you haven't. The secret compartment lid was shakey with my camera mounted on it, but the weather stripping (or gasket material, or whatever it is) fixed that.

 

I think the camera mounts that screw into the compartment lids are completely useless. I just mount my camera directly to the compartment lid (as shown on S2000.org), and it doesn't shake at all. Here is a clip from my Sony.

 

I should mention that the video clip above is from an extremely poor surface. The surface is so bad, I screw up my alignment EVERY time I autocross out there.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nzaizar
Marcus, I was planning on designing several other mounts for the S but realized that

 

Oh, and yes, I installed the gaskets for the lid, as I said, it's not the lid that's causing the camera to shake (as far as I can tell) it's the camera itself with it's poorly designed thread and lack of support through the housing.