UPDATED, page 2:- Video camera recommendations please

[StuBeeDoo]

We are planning a road trip to Italy (not in the 'Lingo, in the 330d...........) later in the year.  Wor Lass has a bad habit which I can't get her out of - "STOP! STOP! I want a photo of that view".  This is just about bearable (and do-able) for a couple of hours around The Lakes or The Dales, but I don't want to be hearing it all the way from Calais, through Switzerland, and around Italy to Rome.  So I thought of videoing the scenic parts of the journey on a dashcam.  I know it's possible to do what I'm thinking of because I've been looking at 30+min videos on YouTube.  What I haven't a clue about is the necessary hardware.

Now, I've been looking around the 'net and I've got to the point where I can't see the wood for the trees.  One thing I can't find mention of is the maximum time I can get on one memory card, and is it possible to disable the looping feature.  Obviously I don't want to be swapping cards more often than every hour or so, so I don't think a maximum card size of 32Gb will cut it.

I'd be grateful for all thoughts, experiences, and/or recommendations.

Cheers,
Stuart.

[Johny555]

Good look driving in Italy mate..get some bull bars fitted...my partner is Italian we go back once a year I will never drive their its crazy..and I use to drive for a living..and Rome is crazy crazy..

[Col]

Why not use a hand held video camera?
I see a few issues using dashcam-
#1 You are going to have to sift through hours of boring stuff to find what you want. (although good cams have a *protection* button you can prevent a section of video being overwritten)

#2 Cam is fixed facing in one direction, which may not be the bit you actually want to record.

#3 As you have noted, you will have to keep changing cards, and on my nextbase dashcam, you have no warning you have reached the end of the memory and it is about to start overwriting.

#4 Dashcams use an extremelly wide angle lens with no zoom facility as it's designed to record traffic and road conditions- not scenery, so you will get distortion and won't be able to zoom in on a distant view you want to capture.

Why not use a handheld camera and get the passenger to do the videoing of appropriate views? You could mount it in one of those mobile phone mounts that *clamp* the phone, and take it out to film hand held syle when needed.

[StuBeeDoo]

Col, good advice! I hadn't thought of that.

Good look driving in Italy mate..get some bull bars fitted...my partner is Italian we go back once a year I will never drive their its crazy..and I use to drive for a living..and Rome is crazy crazy..

We aren't going to be driving in the cities. The plan is to stay in agriturismos and see mostly the countryside. I've bought what looks to be a useful resource "Backroads Italy". When we go to Rome we will stay a little outside and travel in on the Metro.


Thank you both for your input.

[Johny555]

Metro is crazy to.. But the weathers nice.I like
Going the for the weather.my partners family live in oastia on the coast about 12 miles from Rome.its got some amazing beaches and coasts in the world.

[Tree]

I have a Prestigio Road Runner 320. It has just over a 90 degree viewing angle so pretty much A pillar to A pillar. I have a 32gb card in mine but it records in 5 minute bursts - when the card is full it just records over the first five minutes etc. 32gb gives you around 19 hours recording at full HD so if i've not needed to download the data in that time then i don't need that data!

[Col]

I have a Prestigio Road Runner 320. It has just over a 90 degree viewing angle so pretty much A pillar to A pillar. I have a 32gb card in mine but it records in 5 minute bursts - when the card is full it just records over the first five minutes etc. 32gb gives you around 19 hours recording at full HD so if i've not needed to download the data in that time then i don't need that data!

I have a Nextbase 302G It's an expensive bit of kit, full HD, but I wouldn't film holiday video with it for the reasons I gave above.

[Tree]

Col. Mine was about £30. I'm also with aviva for van insurance and when I told them I had a dash cam fitted, they lowered the premium by more than £30. Win win for me.


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[Col]

Col. Mine was about £30. I'm also with aviva for van insurance and when I told them I had a dash cam fitted, they lowered the premium by more than £30. Win win for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Too many cash-for-crash incidents these days I'm afraid. I'm not one for posting my videos all over youtube either, Just have it as an extra witness and it records other data such as speed, GPS position, and route track.

[CourierJim]

I've been using a "DOD" brand of dash cam for over a year now which had rave reviews at the time. It cost about £140 and I bought it from the company web site. Sorry, I cant tell you the model name/number off the top of my head. It's very compact, and takes brilliant high definition video. The pictures are crisp and clear shot in the daytime AND at night. I have captured sharp video of cars nearly colliding with me on really dark motorways.