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Congratulations on owning a car camera! You’re now fully enjoying the benefits they bring and probably can’t live without it any more? Now you’ve got your camera, you need to make sure you’re getting the most out of it and record the best quality footage you can. We’ve put a simple list of 10 things you can do to improve the video quality and get the most out of owning a car camera.
It may sound obvious, but we’ve seen plenty of videos where the camera is mounted in the corner which tends to distort the footage making for a less clear picture, especially when driving at night. The camera should be positioned in the centre of the windscreen near the top, ideally behind the rear view mirror.
Everyone loves the sky but, unless you’re trying to capture the next meteorite landing, you should limit the amount of sky you capture as you drive. The more sky you have the more sunlight you get which results in more glare, reducing the quality of the video. The camera will also try to compensate for the brightness of the sky, darkening the video, which can make the detail on other vehicles harder to make out. It doesn’t matter if you record more of the car dashboard – as long as you capture the road ahead.
Many car cameras equipped with a g-sensor automatically lock a video clip if it detects an accident. Sometimes, the camera will lock a file by mistake when you go over a bump or take a sharp turn. You can usually tweak the sensitivity of the g-sensors to prevent your memory card filling up with locked files. Adjust to a setting which works well for you – some cars, particularly performance cars, require a less sensitive g-sensor.
This is down to preference of whether you want to record sound. Personally, I prefer to mute the sound so I don’t record my dreadful singing or telephone calls on the video. The important thing is the video so sound is an added bonus.
It’s vital that you keep your windscreen clean. Aside from being able to see where you’re driving, you’ll have clearer footage should you be involved in an accident. Try and clean the inside with window cleaner every month and make sure you keep your windscreen washer fluid topped up – especially in the Winter.
When driving in the rain or wet conditions make sure to use your wipers to not only see where you’re going (very important!) but to clear the windscreen for the camera. If you have muck or light drizzle on the windscreen the quality of the video footage will be significantly worse.
All cameras provide the option to change the resolution (Full HD, HD, VGA etc.) and possibly the frame rate. Generally speaking, there is no real need for 60fps for a car camera and we recommend the highest resolution possible. When we get a new camera we always experiment with the different resolutions and frame rates to see which works best during the days and equally at night.
When it comes to night time driving, many cameras come equipped with a WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) mode. This mode improve the light for night time driving but does tend to add noise to the footage which can reduce the quality of day-time footage. Generally speaking, if you drive a lot at night then it’s worth using, otherwise, leave it off. Try the settings and see what works for you.
Everyone loves the sky but, unless you’re trying to capture the next meteorite landing, you should limit the amount of sky you capture as you drive. The more sky you have the more sunlight you get which results in more glare, reducing the quality of the video. The camera will also try to compensate for the brightness of the sky, darkening the video, which can make the detail on other vehicles harder to make out. It doesn’t matter if you record more of the car dashboard – as long as you capture the road ahead.
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