captdistraction
GrumpyRacer
Time to annually review the state of cameras for racing use:
I have a gopro hero4 black and a yi 4k. I've owned a gopro hero session and hero 7 black as well. The hero 7 was the worst of the bunch as it lacked persistent settings for spot metering and if you forgot to turn off the motion stabilization it was a mess; but had great image quality and ok-sound quality (The hero4 black is the best of the bunch). The hero4 required a motherboard replacement this year, and the yi has awful audio quality but has been somewhat more reliable than the go pros. I want to relegate the existing cameras to be secondary units or video parts under the car like the suspension or alternative angles like footwells, etc.
The goals are:
I have a gopro hero4 black and a yi 4k. I've owned a gopro hero session and hero 7 black as well. The hero 7 was the worst of the bunch as it lacked persistent settings for spot metering and if you forgot to turn off the motion stabilization it was a mess; but had great image quality and ok-sound quality (The hero4 black is the best of the bunch). The hero4 required a motherboard replacement this year, and the yi has awful audio quality but has been somewhat more reliable than the go pros. I want to relegate the existing cameras to be secondary units or video parts under the car like the suspension or alternative angles like footwells, etc.
The goals are:
- Primary forward facing camera for NASA compliance
- Reliability. I’ve lost so much race footage to “gopros doing gopro things” (freezes, buffer overruns, heat, cold, batteries, inability for chargers to keep up with running power needs).
- Image/sound quality. I want to start doing some 4k stuff, HDR is starting to show up in some cameras and storage is currently cheap. I have cold shoe mics should onboard not cut it
- Nice to have: a manual wired trigger. Wireless triggering, voice triggering tend to be flakey ways. Current GoPro’s need for you to manually set the exposure on the camera from the rear LCD is a massive pain.
- Data integration not a concern, I have a smooth and reasonable post workflow using racerender to integrate data for now. (see picture below)
- AIM Smartycam HD rev 2.whatever – decade-old imaging technology, worst in class picture and sound quality. Dead nuts reliable, able to do data integration (with some limits) on the fly; there’s not a more reliable option. Costs $1,300-1,500 after wiring, mount and integration parts. Hardwired power for reliability.
- GoPro Hero 8: the latest camera from Gopro is minutes away from firesale, already sub $300. Arguably best picture quality, though the build quality is a concern. No spot-metering capability (nor a persistent setting for it), same gopro reliability, requires $80 “mod” to allow external microphone, support is non-existant. Considered a disposable/consumable among racers. Would require leaving another camera next to it for shooting redundancy. No wired trigger. Devil I know option. USB-C power more reliable than old mini/micro A 2A power supplies.
- DJi OSMO Action camera – HDR support, color not as nice as gopro, audio not quite as nice, but easier integration with external microphones and color easy to correct in post. 4k HDR a nice feature, along with serviceable lens. Has a front facing LCD which is nice for in-car use, compatibility with existing gopro mounts. Relative unknown on software, did outscore the gopro on some hot weather testing. USB-C for power, which enables me to power it from the car reasonably. Spot meter is the default mode. Price inline with Gopro.
- Others? Sony RX0 II, Yi 4k+,