Two Guys Rally

How To Film Your Driving: Setting the Camera Up in the Car
[ January 19th, 2009 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » How To

This is a series on how you should film your driving and show the world what you’re doing. We’ve been getting lots of questions regarding camera setups and mounting options so what better way to exlpain it than with a series. In this entry you’ll learn how to setup a camera and explore some mounting options.

Camera Settings
When I refer to the camera I’m talking about a video camera, whether it is a camcorder, helmet camera, point and shoot digital camera in video mode or even a high end film camera. Our videos have been shot with a Canon Elura100 (camcorder) and a VIO POV.1 (helmet camera). We have used point and shoot cameras for pedal shots before we had the helmet camera but we were always disappointed with the quality.

Most cameras will have options either buried in software menus or are controlled by physical things (buttons, dials, rings). The most important one for driving is focus, specifically auto-focus. Turn off auto-focus. Since most of the shots you setup in a car are going to be static shots (the camera stays still in relation to the car) you just have to setup the focus of the camera once before you drive. With auto-focus on you can get all sorts of annoying focal length changes that may distract/annoy viewers. This gives you a chance to learn how to set focus on your camera too, which you must do if you turn auto-focus off.

Zoom out as far as you can. Zooming in multiplies the visual effect vibration of the camera has on the video.  Couple that with any camera that has digital zoom, in effect, lowers the quality/resolution of the video and you end up with some terrible looking video. You can always digitally zoom in later during editing.

Some cameras also have vibration compensation. Some do this really well, but most don’t. This is now in the realm of getting to know your camera, and the only way to know it is to use it. So here it is up to you, but try out both on and off and see which you prefer visually. For securely fastened cameras on stable mounts, vibration reduction usually does not help.

Mounting the Camera
Mounting the camera inside a car is a bit tricky. Most decent solutions will cost money. I forked over some dough for a Sticky Pod mounting system back when I bought the Elura. I am glad I did too, it has been more used than I thought it would be. I use the extra suction cup it came with to mount my helmet camera to the car. The full mounting system is still used for the Elura and has been used to make every single non-helmet cam video we’ve made (barring how to install vinyl stickers).  There is a downside to the suction cup style mounts: you have to have smooth surfaces like glass in and around the car.

However there are DIY mounting solutions far from the simplicity of duct tape. Threads all over the internet have talked about how to make a DIY headrest mount (fits on your head rest poles and is secured by the headrest). These provide 1 or 2 shooting positions but provide a “Driver’s View” for your video. These are also usually more secure than a suction cup mount.

If you’re filming with a full on race car I’ll assume you can make a mount that fits on your rollcage. Tube frames provide great mounting points using zip ties/clamps. Helmet cameras (lipstick cams) work great for tube frame mounts. This will let you get great shots of everything in the car including pedals, driver+dash, inside looking out shots, faces of the driver(s), etc… 

Sound Considerations 
On camcorders or any tape based camera there are spring loaded heads in there. Cars have a tendency to vibrate and those vibrations are passed through the mount to the camera. The big problem happens when your microphone is in the same area as the heads (such as with the Elura). The microphone picks up the vibration of the heads and any loose items in the camera, so consider picking up an external mic (example at amazon). I have, but before I did driving videos sounded terrible. Here is an example of the rattling:

Placing the microphone in different spots also gets you different sounds. With an external mic you can put it inside engine bays, near exhausts, near a window crack (so you get a wind buffeting sound for “speed”), etc… I’ve done it as an experiment inside the WRX’s intake and it ended up sounding pretty sweet. Here is that example:

So go grab your video camera and start playing! Make sure to focus on driving while driving and not the camera. You dont want to record a silly accident (but if you’re in one hope you’re recording).

That’s it for this entry into How To Film Your Driving. Next time we’ll talk about angles and and their effects.