I've taken a bunch of pics of my tow hook mount camera and through them into my gallery on NAM.

It's a pretty simple setup. The only difficult thing about making one yourself would be getting a metal plate welded to a spare tow hook. In my case one of the guys at the local garage did it for me and I am in turn going to help them get together some video for their website.

And as per my other post here's the parts list:

• Tow Hook ~$20 from OutMotoring.com
• Swann Bullet Camera ~$52 at Buy.com
• Ultramount Universal Ballhead ~$10 from BHPhotoVideo.com
• Misc Screws & Washers ~$5

 

Brillant!!!! How long of a cable do you have running to it? Do you jsut run that through the bonnet somehow.

 

Looking good but what about getting a stone right in the lens? Shouldn't you be able to put some kind of safety glass infront of it?

 

The cable comes attached to the camera and is 30 feet long. It's a single cable until the end where it splits up into audio, video, and power. So I just suction cup that to the side of the car. Another alternative would be to use some painters tape to stick it down.

The camera comes in a "weather proof" housing, which means it's in that little metal cylinder with some caps on it. The actual camera lens is behind a small peice of glass so it's not directly exposed.

I guess what's missing from the pictures is a sense of scale. The bullet cam is only about a 1" diameter and maybe 3" long. So the chance of it getting hit is pretty slim. I'm also not too worried about the camera as it's not exactly the most expensive thing in the world, sure $50 is nothing to sneeze at but it's not like I'm mounting a $500+ DV cam outside the car.

 

how is the picture quality? have you seen the test footage for the vacucam? how does it compare? the only thing I see is that with Vacucam, all the mounting hardware is provided, and only about 50 dollars more. i dont want to weld anything to my towhook since is painted a nice red color

 

nevermind, I saw your other thread, looks good! Im trying to figure out which picture I like better

 

The picture quality will be similar. I don't like the Swann cameras. I've tested them out. They have a lot of nice accessories, but they don't work very well. But the most important reason they are similar in quality is simply they are both based off CMOS chips.

Also remember that CmdrVimes parts list doesn't include the cost of the metal plate or having someone weld to it since he did that by bartering. IMO, a MUCH better option is my forthcoming tow hook mount that utilizes ANY MINI Tow Hook.

Painted or not, it clamps on and provides a rigid mount in seconds. You don't even need to buy a Tow Hook because your MINI already includes one with the car.

Here is the VacuCam Tow Hook Mount--it's attached to a painted tow hook.


The camera that's on here is the forthcoming VacuCam Pro which is a high resolution, CCD based waterproof camera. CCD based cameras provide instant response to lighting and color changes in your image while CMOS chips tend to have a short lag time. CCD's are definitely better, but they cost more.

You can see how I routed the wiring from the camera


If you'd like to see what it looks like, check out my M7 Promo video
www.m7tuning.com/files/m7final3.mov

This was shot with a mixture of the VacuCam Pro and handheld.

You should also remember that when I designed the VacuCams, I priced them to be competitive with building your own, and of course they are a lot less than any other similar camera system on the market. Finally, the kits are designed to complement each other. You can start with a single camera for $99, decide if you like it or not, and if you do, later on, add another single camera deluxe ball, and now you've got a fully switchable 2 camera system equivalent to a VacuCam 2Deluxe, and so forth.

Richard

 

When is this new camera coming out Richard?

 

I'm looking at a Fall release--Septemberish.

 

im ready to buy the regular standard kit now!!!! how much longer do I have to wait???!!!!

 

Heh heh, not much longer.....thanks for your patience. I will PM you soon.

Richard

 

There's a certain flexibility built into the mount I worked up though. The fact it just uses a ballhead mount with a 1/2"x20 mounting screw means that you could use any camera you wanted assuming you could fit it to the screw. It just so happens the camera I picked up when I was working mine out had the same size tap on it. I could also have just as easily mounted another style camera on there (I have in fact mounted one very similar to the one found on the vacucam with just a seperate 1/2"x20 nut).

Anyway, as I mentioned previously, I'm not looking to sell anything anymore. It's just not worth my time, I was just posting my work so other people out there could build one if they wanted or use it as a base and build something better.

The one I currently have built was purely just a proof of concept, I'll probably end up replacing bits and peices to get a clearer picture (I've noticed that the white balance ability of the current camera is somewhat lacking) or better audio (still working on the right circuit for rigging up my mic idea). It's still very much a work in progress and I figure I'll keep posting any info I might come up with along the way.

 

Great shooting...great editing...but even BETTER soundtrack! :D

 

WOW!
Finally a MINI video that doesnt have the dreaded wind noise overpowering the intake and charger! Very well done!

 

Oh my...that is nice

 

Thanks guys! I was prepared for this one, as Peter emphasized that the sound would be everything.

More VacuCamTow Hook video on the way...

Richard

 

I was thinking about your (OctaneGuy's) point about my mount not being very flexible by using a special purpose mount, in this case a tow hook with a metal plate welded to it. It would actually be pretty easy to modify the mount to not require that sort of setup.

What could be done would be this:

• Get a longer 1/2"-20 bolt (the screw I used is maybe an inch long including the head)
• Get some large washers, large enough to be used to clamp to both sides of the tow hook eye
• Get some neoprene washers that are about the same size as the above washers, they will act both as vibration dampners as well as providing a less slippery mating surface (metal to metal contact is relatively low friction).
• Place the neoprene washers on the mating surface side of the tow hook
• Place the metal washers on top of those
• thread bolt through washers and tow hook
• tighten bolt to ball head

 

Uhm if want to blatantly copy my design and call it your own.....after having seen it in person at the Dragon, I wouldn't at all be surprised.......

Richard

 

That would be kind of like ... um, hijacking somebody else's thread to promote your own product?

 

Considering that he says he has nothing to gain, and he did ask in the first thread about the Tow Hook why no one else had come up with a Tow Hook design, I consider that as an invitation to offer other alternatives.


In the past month or so I've been coming up with ideas I was doing some searching and I was really surpised that nobody on NAM had thought of the idea (or at least nobody posted about it)."

If he were a vendor selling a product and I came in an "hijacked it", I could see there being a problem, but if he's going to release details on something that isn't yet out for sale, and claim it's "his new thoughts" on a more flexible design, I don't think that's Kosher.

Richard

 

This is just the design I was willing to show off without being embarassed. I had other designs earlier that were far cruder and didn't require a permanent modification to the tow hook. Those were scrapped though as I thought they weren't quite ready for prime time. Just because things are similar doesn't mean there was any copying of ideas.