VacuCam

[Big O]

I took a ride up Angeles Crest and saw a bunch of Mini Coopers from a club and one with cameras mounted on the side, front, and inside the front and rear windows. He showed me the video from his camera and I thought it was good enough to check out his website. At $99 it looks tempting enough for el cheapo (me) to consider buying one to mount on the Busa.

Here's his website: http://vacucam.littlemini.us/

The video on the website looks pretty good.
hmmm

 

[shenoyp]

Interesting....

 

[stkr00]

Pretty cool setup. I'll have to look at closer after I get home from work. Here's a clickable link...

VacuCam

 

[OctaneGuy]

I took a ride up Angeles Crest and saw a bunch of Mini Coopers from a club and one with cameras mounted on the side, front, and inside the front and rear windows.  He showed me the video from his camera and I thought it was good enough to check out his website.  At $99 it looks tempting enough for el cheapo (me) to consider buying one to mount on the Busa.

Here's his website:  http://vacucam.littlemini.us/

The video on the website looks pretty good.
hmmm

I'm the owner/developer of those cameras, so if you got any questions, feel free to shoot them my way.  As was mentioned, these are GOOD quality cameras that were designed to be affordable and if broken, can be replaced without costing a ton of money.  They aren't as high quality as the ones that cost 3 times as much, but in most cases they are good enough.  In fact, I'll be posting a video clip of the run we did on Sunday, and it looks REALLY good.  I was very pleased with the results.

Also, I'll be happy to work with anyone in making mounts that work better for your application.  Because I drive a MINI and am a nut about it, I chose to develop the systems for this car, but I'm open to exploring other vehicles.

I used to ride sport bikes as well in my younger days.  It was in my blood and loved it until a near fatal collision with a left turning car.  The MINI is the closest thing to riding a bike!

Richard



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[nitrousjunkie]

Very cool and enterprising idea, good on ya!

 

[ICEMANN]

Nice concept but not too keen on the mount idea. Ive done numerous camera mounts and have lot's of tips/recommendations for anyone interested. If the above unit works out for ya then thats great make sure you post!. If not lemme kno!.

JD

 

[OctaneGuy]

Nice concept but not too keen on the mount idea.  Ive done numerous camera mounts and have lot's of tips/recommendations for anyone interested.  If the above unit works out for ya then thats great make sure you post!.  If not lemme kno!.

JD

Works perfect for my application--on door panels and inside windshields on the MINI. Solves a lot of issues.
1.) Won't scratch the paint (crucial for picky MINI owners)
2.) Won't move around at speed like magnetic mounts
3.) Easy to install and remove in just a few seconds
4.) Flexible mounting locations
5.) Affordable

There is no other camera system on the market in this price range that gives you this quality. Now of course, marketing cameras for motorcycles is a different matter--different requirements, and it's not something I'm an expert on, nor claim to be. These mounts are NOT ideal for motorcycles unless you've got a fairly flat surface to mount on. Sticks fine to plastic, fiberglass, or metal. Won't stick to a helmet.

But I've got other suction mounts in development that could work.

 

[BA BUSA]

 

[ICEMANN]

No doubt for a mini or that type of usage thats a very nice setup for the $$. What are the spec on the cam itself?


JD

 

[OctaneGuy]

No doubt for a mini or that type of usage thats a very nice setup for the $$.  What are the spec on the cam itself?


JD

420 lines CMOS cameras, powered by 8 to 12volts.
Manual Focus. 52 deg angle of view.
Decent image quality under good lighting. Not the best in dim lighting. Some color bouncing from the AWB when going from shade to sunlight. Not severe, but not as clean as a CCD camera that costs much more.

The real issue is that CMOS cameras are slower to react than CCD. The time it takes to gain up or down such as in a dark to light situation (emerging from a tunnel) might be half a second while a CCD is in miliseconds. Still it's an acceptable trade off for the price.