anti-shake+discreet I was held at gunpoint at army roadblock

[iRobot]

Thanks for helping. 2 months ago....... I was stopped on the highway between Nairobi and Mombasa in my 4X4 and told to get out and open up the back. The soldier put his arm around the back of my neck and pulled me onto his gun demanding I make a donation to his retirement fund. At the roadblock were armed police, who looked drunk and were laughing at what going on, I imagine eagerly awaiting their cut. It wasn't much he wanted, the equivalent of 30USD. He smelled heavily of booze. I wished I had a dash cam front and rear to send to the government anti corruption department. I don't know what to get as I do a lot of off road driving in the bush and police/army road blocks are not uncommon. I would like a camera which does not look like a camera "stealth" and is anti shake. Currently visiting the UK until early October.

Please advise

 

[iRobot]

Last night I got up to page 50. On page 45 in 2016, someone wrote there is no such thing as anti-shake. What matters is how well the camera is secured. Ok I got that and lots of threads for recording the side in the event of a traffic cop stop. A fascinating site. Thank you all.

 

[jokiin]

secure mounting makes all the difference

 

[iRobot]

Thank you very much, what you said will point me in the right direction.

 

[SawMaster]

I'm glad I don't have to face that kind of problem here. There are a few discreet cams you might consider but most mount in such a way that the lens can't be moved once installed. Most which can be moved aren't very discreet. I think you'd have more trouble than this if in a similar situation it was discovered that you have a camera going

The B1W cam looks more like a factory sensor than a camera. It can't be aimed to the side once installed though, but it's great for the price otherwise. The K2S cam has remote cam modules and two channels. You can hide the control unit away where it's not seen and the cams are discreet in size, but again they can't be aimed to the sides once installed. The old Mobius cam is tiny and save for the lens doesn't look like a cam at all. The problem with it is that you have to buy a mount as it doesn't come with one but that's also an advantage since that lets you mount it in many different ways using it's 1/4-20 standard camera tripod thread. You'll need to buy and install the super-caps for it which is a very easy plugin once the case is opened. The F1 is similar but newer and has better video especially at night. You'll need the new super-cap powered version of that one as the older battery-powered version isn't suitable for your hot climate same as with Mobius. The Mobius and F1 can be mounted where rotating them to the sides can be easily done if you need that. If you have a cam in the rear you need to consider whether it will be blocked with the trunk (boot) lid if it's opened like your last encounter.

There are plenty of other cams which might work for you and how discreet they are will be more about your vehicle than the cams, as every car is different and what can be hidden and where will vary considerably. Here's to hoping that you never have an encounter like this again!

Phil

 

[iRobot]

Hi Phil, thank you very much for taking the time and thinking through the problem with attention to detail and recommendations. Impressive sir! You have given me much to think about. In all the years I have been in Kenya, what happened was a first. Traffic stops are global. I don’t mind being stopped if I am doing wrong or if it’s a security check and doesn’t involve corruption. Most of the time, I jolly the police along and can talk my way out of it. Thanks again for your insights and knowledge, appreciated. When I have decided, I will follow up with a post. It’s inconsiderate when people don’t follow up to let readers know how they got on.

Best wishes
Phil

 

[kamkar]

You cant do much with a dashcam for shakes in the vehicle due to road conditions, what you would like are a camera that are shaking with the car, cuz of say it is on a stalk then you can get something called jello in the footage and that look awful.
you can see jello in this quadcopter video, probably due to propellers not beeing balanzed well, and a camera not on a vibration dampening mount.

Action cameras have build in image stabilization, but even that have its limits and also action cameras are not suited for dashcam use.

Many dashcams of the wedge design that mount to the windscreen with tape, they often come off as some kind or rain sensor and so on, but this kind of camera only film forward and you can not turn it to face the driver / door windows, but it will record the audio just fine.

dashcam and offroading.

you can find many pictures of how people have installed different dashcams in what ever car they drive.

Where did you mount the camera? Post your pictures

3D wedges repositioned for side-by-side Mobius testing:

dashcamtalk.com

 

[iRobot]

You cant do much with a dashcam for shakes in the vehicle due to road conditions, what you would like are a camera that are shaking with the car, cuz of say it is on a stalk then you can get something called jello in the footage and that look awful.
you can see jello in this quadcopter video, probably due to propellers not beeing balanzed well, and a camera not on a vibration dampening mount.

Action cameras have build in image stabilization, but even that have its limits and also action cameras are not suited for dashcam use.

Many dashcams of the wedge design that mount to the windscreen with tape, they often come off as some kind or rain sensor and so on, but this kind of camera only film forward and you can not turn it to face the driver / door windows, but it will record the audio just fine.

dashcam and offroading.

you can find many pictures of how people have installed different dashcams in what ever car they drive.

Where did you mount the camera? Post your pictures

3D wedges repositioned for side-by-side Mobius testing:

dashcamtalk.com

Thank you very much for the videos for comparison and for letting me know about the jello effect with the helicopter camera and the problem with wedge cameras, how they can sometimes become unstuck and fall down. The jello effect is a problem which needs to be addressed by the manufacturer or maybe it would up the costs. Thank you for taking the time in posting up the videos. I spent several hours on YouTube last night watching the off-road cam videos. An entertaining and useful evening.

 

[kamkar]

you pretty much only see jello in the dashcams that are on a stalk as it is often not rigid enough, and then the camera start to oscillate at a different rate than the car.
You might already have this in the mirror of the car, i know in my little Suzuki car at low RPM the mirror shake, but once i get up to a little speed it stop.

The wedge cameras most often stay in place if you have cleaned the glass good before install, actually if the come loose most often its the bond between the sticky pad and the plastic mount, in that case i have just put more glue on those surfaces and stuck them back together.
But this have only happened for me 1 time over the past god know how many dashcams.

Also aside for the risk of jello, the cameras on a stalk are also less stealthy, as it is offset from the window glass quite a bit. only plus is as they are on a stalk you can reach over and turn it, but this in turn will be seen by people and they will be suspicious.

Some of the Uber style cameras do have a cabin lens you can turn to face either door window, but again reaching over to do that will make people see, and these cameras are already not that stealthy.
The viofo A129 with the IR cabin camera on a wire will be ideal, i would put the cabin camera on my mirror stalk ( even if it shake at some low RPM higher than idle ) or i would out the camera on top of the windscreen near the R side A pillar and then aimed over towards me in my L hand drive car, this way it have the cabin in view and any person that might turn up at the driver side window, and police always do that here unless you are pulled over on a motorway.

you can also see jello a little in the start of my video from the B2W uber camera i am testing, it have come loose in the mount again, and then even on a fairly good paved Danish road i get jello.
When the mount are nice and tight this will not happen.

 

[iRobot]

you pretty much only see jello in the dashcams that are on a stalk as it is often not rigid enough, and then the camera start to oscillate at a different rate than the car.
You might already have this in the mirror of the car, i know in my little Suzuki car at low RPM the mirror shake, but once i get up to a little speed it stop.

The wedge cameras most often stay in place if you have cleaned the glass good before install, actually if the come loose most often its the bond between the sticky pad and the plastic mount, in that case i have just put more glue on those surfaces and stuck them back together.
But this have only happened for me 1 time over the past god know how many dashcams.

Also aside for the risk of jello, the cameras on a stalk are also less stealthy, as it is offset from the window glass quite a bit. only plus is as they are on a stalk you can reach over and turn it, but this in turn will be seen by people and they will be suspicious.

Some of the Uber style cameras do have a cabin lens you can turn to face either door window, but again reaching over to do that will make people see, and these cameras are already not that stealthy.
The viofo A129 with the IR cabin camera on a wire will be ideal, i would put the cabin camera on my mirror stalk ( even if it shake at some low RPM higher than idle ) or i would out the camera on top of the windscreen near the R side A pillar and then aimed over towards me in my L hand drive car, this way it have the cabin in view and any person that might turn up at the driver side window, and police always do that here unless you are pulled over on a motorway.

you can also see jello a little in the start of my video from the B2W uber camera i am testing, it have come loose in the mount again, and then even on a fairly good paved Danish road i get jello.
When the mount are nice and tight this will not happen.

Thank you, I enjoyed your video clip and didn’t notice any jello. Thanks for clarifying about the sticking of the camera and cleaning the glass carefully beforehand. Here are a couple of photos of the interior of the 4x4 and of the rear doors where the soldier attempted to intimidate me with both of the rear doors open. The toy rubber snake on the front seat, is used as a security and police or baddie deterrent. I suspect I will have to get more than one type of dash cam. At the back of the car inside, is another cigarette lighter point.

 

[kamkar]

Some have reported that the 12 V outlet in the back are often live all the time, so thats not optimal with a dashcam but fine for a cooler if your car have a lov voltage cut off on that socket. ( just a thing to be aware off )
My little 5 door hatchback dont have that, so i got one of those 3 port 12 V sockets, extended the wire and tapped into a 30 A fuse, and then out that in the back of the car so i had 3 sockets for cameras and so on.
I once owned a Mitsubishi L200 pickup, it had 2 batteries, one i assume to start the car ASO and the other for other stuff.

you can also get keaychain cameras that look like a FOB, but then you have to make sure it is charged and ready for use + you would have to point it towards whatever.

 

[iRobot]

In follow up, I bought a cheap WiFi Chinese dash cam with ‘anti-shake’ called a C11 and I have been using it. The only fault I had with it, was the inability to change the date.

I am returning to Kenya on 14 October. Last week, I bought a DDpai X2 Pro and will be taking it in my hand luggage. The deal included a 12 month warranty, but it is from the trader’s ‘open box, tested and discontinued range’ sold under half price.

It has 2 cameras, a 32gb Toshiba micro SD card, Car charger, Instructions, remote, cable stickers, 3M stickers, long cable for the rear camera and a trim tool. All arrived in a pleasant looking manufacturer’s box. The DDpai app was updated one week ago by DDpai. I bought a hardwire kit in case I want to use the parking mode.

I have seen some negative experiences on YouTube. One user said the camera suffered from “skipping” in the footage. Another complained about the app being too basic, I will see how I get on and try to work through any problems I might have.

Thanks everyone for your very kind help.