Can someone recommend a camera for my application?

[CarCam]

I am new to this forum, and I have a simple problem.

I have been capturing video from a small camera (Swann pinhole security camera) located behind the grill of my car. This connects to an external Adaptec Videoh DVD Media Center USB 2.0 (ACV-2310) which compresses on the fly to 720x480 MPEG files.

From there, it connects to a Compaq V2000 notebook with a Sempron 3100 AMD processor via the USB 2.0 port. Later, I edit the files, add music by dropping the MP3s or WMAs onto whatever I currently use.

Mostly, I get great video running through the mountains at the level of a cats head.

My weak spot is the camera. It is what you would expect of a $40 security camera. It’s fuzzy and blurry. I have tried a variety of other cameras costing more, with slightly larger lenses, but I don’t see a significant improvement.

When I hook up on an old camcorder and capture through that, the picture is much better. Quite acceptable. The problem is the size and where to mount it. A dash mount is clumsy and it’s hard to steady, plus you see the hood of the car rather than the road coming at you. The camera has to be very small and able to bolt to the frame so it’s steady. It also has to be cheap enough that if it takes a stone hit or gets rained on, I can just buy another one. Up to about $100 is OK. Waterproof or water resident would be a plus.

I can hook up to the Adaptec device with composite, S-Video, or Antenna. I am also open to capturing to a webcam directly to the USB port, but I have tried a bunch of them and I’m not getting a fast enough compression. I think I need to compress on that Adaptec device.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[redwudz]

It's fairly hard to find a surveillance color camera with any quality for less than $100US. Closer to $200 should get you a 1/3" or a 1/4" CCD camera with interchangeable lenses that will run off 12VDC. I like the ones with the Sony CCDs best and they are used in quite a few cameras. They have a excellent picture for their size and price.

Most of the inexpensive color cameras are ~380 line. The higher priced types are ~480 line, but at about double the price. If you get one with the standard 'C' mount lens, you can use a neutral density filter to protect it or better, a replaceable piece of Plexiglas. These are industrial cameras, so they can take quite a bit of vibration and heat that may be under a car hood. Also pay attention to the sensitivity. Color cameras need more light than a B&W camera.

Take a look at this site, they have a fairly good selection for under $150. The lens are usually separate and depend on your application: http://www.spytown.com/cosecaun1.html

Those little pinhole cameras usually have a 1/16" CCDs and you won't have much quality. The only difference between the models and brands of that type is usually the lens, but most all will have a poor picture.

And welcome to our forum.