Is there such thing as a side view dashcam? (For your car doors)

[Dan Robinson]

I am using sg9665gcs as side cams. I had to use the alternate "thick" window mount that allows use on more vertical windows (like buses and trucks). The problem was that even then, the lens doesn't pivot up quite high enough. I had to use superglue to hold the lens pivot above its last detent - there is a bit of slack after the last 'click' but no way to hold it in place above that point otherwise.

 

[Dashmellow]

I am using sg9665gcs as side cams. I had to use the alternate "thick" window mount that allows use on more vertical windows (like buses and trucks). The problem was that even then, the lens doesn't pivot up quite high enough. I had to use superglue to hold the lens pivot above its last detent - there is a bit of slack after the last 'click' but no way to hold it in place above that point otherwise.

Here's a little tip you can try.

Go to your local hardware store or look around on the internet and search for furniture stabilizing wedges. There are several different types available. These wedges are used for wobbly furniture that might have one leg that is a bit too long or perhaps the floor isn't quite level.

Attach a wedge to the SG9665GC mounting plate with some 3M VHB tape, then attach it to the glass also using VHB tape and the camera will now be at a better angle for aiming.





Also, Super Glue is really best avoided, especially anywhere near lens surfaces. Super Glue fumes can permanently fog the lens. One of my SG9665GC cams has a loose spring holding the click stops on the lens adjustment causing a slightly wobbly lens housing. I used a tiny wad of Blu-Tak to hold the lens where I want it and the nice thing is that it's not permanent so I can re-adjust the lens if I ever want to.

 

[Gibson99]

... Drivel...

Wow, if anyone ever wondered where the phrase "pot calling the kettle black" cane from... Now you know.

As has already been stated numerous times in this thread (probably even on page one)... No, there are no cameras specifically made for recording what's happening on the sides of your car. But there are plenty of cameras that will do the job just fine.

Using your logic, the GoPro line of cameras should not exist. They were not specifically designed for almost ANY of the various ways people use them, yet they do exceptionally well in those uses. For example - Drones didn't even exist when the first GoPro cameras were released and yet they are extremely popular among drone pilots. But by your logic, you shouldn't use a GoPro on a drone because that's not what they had in mind when they designed the GoPro.

Creativity and adaptation are what often makes a product successful. Just because it isn't specifically stated in the owner's manual doesn't mean it can't be used a certain way. I'm pretty sure the person who invented the hair dryer never imagined that someone would use it to remove a bumper sticker!

Please, folks. Let's stay on topic. This thread has plenty of useful info, including creative ways to mount cameras for the use case given in the title. We don't want the thread to be locked or deleted because of pedantry.

 

[Cessna CJ4]

Wow, if anyone ever wondered where the phrase "pot calling the kettle black" cane from... Now you know.

As has already been stated numerous times in this thread (probably even on page one)... No, there are no cameras specifically made for recording what's happening on the sides of your car. But there are plenty of cameras that will do the job just fine.

Which is precisely what I told the OP. So, if there is a definition of drivel, you just refined it with your nearly 8,000th post.

Another DCT Law Enforcement Official, no doubt. You will find this psychopathy on many forums throughout the internet. It is a well know fact on the internet.

Using your logic, the GoPro line of cameras should not exist.

That's logical fallacy and a non-sequitur reply on the merits. It has absolutely zero logically follow-up to anything I've posted inside this thread. None. If you can show a logical nexus between your statement here and anything I've written in this thread, I'll eat my hat. You won't - so I won't.

They were not specifically designed for almost ANY of the various ways people use them, yet they do exceptionally well in those uses.

The GoPro was not designed for taking Action Footage? What was it designed for - professional wedding photography!

You DCT Police types are monumental in the level of illogical drivel you post. Action Camera means action. It means almost any darn thing that contains physical movement. I mount several GoPro Action Cameras in my aircraft and they work well for that purpose - except they don't do very well at night in low light conditions.

It is an Action Cam, for crying out loud. What do you mean, that's not what GoPro had in mind when they designed it. GoPro headquarters is right in my backyard in San Mateo. You won't find a singular GoPro Developer or Engineer to tell you that they did not design their product to be used as an Action Cam.

Unreal.

For example - Drones didn't even exist when the first GoPro cameras were released and yet they are extremely popular among drone pilots.

Drones produce the action that Action Cameras thrive on. Do you realize how irrational you read? The "Action" is not platform dependent and GoPro did not exclude future "action platforms" from its initial design intent.

But by your logic, you shouldn't use a GoPro on a drone because that's not what they had in mind when they designed the GoPro.

GoPro designed their cameras to be used as Action Cams. The platform which delivers the action is moot. Blackvue did not design their camera to be Side Mounted. Then video framing rotates 90-dgrees and does not have Variable 360-Dgreee Rotational Framing which is exactly one (1) of the several functional design criteria that would be a necessity for Side Mounting of Car Cameras given the variable nature of mounting surface across a wide range of vehicle types. Ergo, it was NOT designed to be side mounted.

Creativity and adaptation are what often makes a product successful.

Another non-sequitur as the OP never asked about how you creatively adapt the side mounting of a car cam. The OP asked whether or not car cams were designed (implied) to be side mounted.

Just because it isn't specifically stated in the owner's manual doesn't mean it can't be used a certain way.

Which seals the deal on the fact it was not designed originally to be side mounted and also confirms precisely what my post concludes, as I provided the OP with videos from others who have made such adaptations with their vehicles.

I'm pretty sure the person who invented the hair dryer never imagined that someone would use it to remove a bumper sticker!

Again, more moot non-sequitur drivel as no one ever claimed that the hair dryer should be used to remove a bumper sticker.

Please, folks. Let's stay on topic. This thread has plenty of useful info, including creative ways to mount cameras for the use case given in the title. We don't want the thread to be locked or deleted because of pedantry.

There is a stark difference between being smart and trying to be a smart ass.

When you offer non-sequitur reply (redundantly and without knowing it) while assuming facts not in evidence and at the very same time repeat that which you claim to be debunking as an example of that which you think is logical, you have just pulled down your own pants and shown your own rear end.

Some of you need a disclaimer below your signature line that reads: Warning! Post count may not reflect level of rational thought given to anything I say on this forum. Reader Beware!

 

[TonyM]

In the space of a few days this has gone from a discussion in which I was genuinely interested, to one in which I feel unsafe to contribute. I'm leaving.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

In the space of a few days this has gone from a discussion in which I was genuinely interested, to one in which I feel unsafe to contribute. I'm leaving.

+1

 

[jokiin]

for the record a couple of manufacturers have made cameras specifically for side mounting, they haven't sold particularly well in the past, perhaps in part due to the level of performance at the time, and quite possibly because it's difficult to come up with one size fits all type designs so the application wasn't that great either

 

[Dashmellow]

You must work for one of the Car Cam companies that continually put out failed attempts while calling it cutting edge. Like one of the many "internet" know-it-all types, you've managed to rack up close to 10,000 posts on subject matter that does not warrant 10,000 presses of the "Post Reply" button.

Your psychopathy truly shows when you attempt to project exactly what you are onto others. If you check your posts - you've done this before. That comes with the territory of being the Resident 10,000 Post Champion and the Police of Car Cam Forums.

I'll say it once again for the reading and comprehension impaired such as yourself: The OP did not ask whether or not you can merely mount a car cam from the side. The OP expressly asked whether or not a cam exists for that purpose. Such a question denotes Design Intent, which is probably something someone as arrogant as yourself knows precious little about (real Engineering).

If you had half the brain you feign exists in your head, then you would know what a Dialectic Medium of Discussion means. Whether the OP made their post last week or 10 years ago is not the point. The OP's thread topic can be read by anyone 2 years later and get lost in the complete and utter useless minutia that you have convinced yourself is so important, if someone does not recently clarify and explain. Of course, by then, your post count would no doubt have reached the 20,000 mark making you King of the DCT Realm and its Police Chief De jure.

The internet is filled with your kind, someone deluded enough to think that your post cost matches your intellect. You have proven with your pathetic childish outburst here that in your case, each one of those factors may indeed be part of a much bigger and absolute mathematical inverse function, no doubt.

Sober up, Kid. You are not splitting atoms; solving the problematic pathology of pervasive cancer cells; feeding a billion starving kids or building a non-profit global organization that does; developing aerospace technology that will make the Mission to Mars possible; engineering Quant based technology that works; nor are you in anyway proving anything beyond how big your ego might be on a regular and perpetual basis.

When you have accomplished something worthy of having an 'ego' the size of Kentucky, Nebraska and Texas combined... then come back here and pontificate on the utterly amazing journey your life has been while making the world a better place because you lived in it.

Unreal.

 

[Gibson99]

for the record a couple of manufacturers have made cameras specifically for side mounting, they haven't sold particularly well in the past, perhaps in part due to the level of performance at the time, and quite possibly because it's difficult to come up with one size fits all type designs so the application wasn't that great either

Another huge complication for mounting anything on the actual sides of the car: side curtain airbags. Even if someone made something intended to be mounted on the sides, I couldn't use it because both my cars have side curtain airbags. No, not all vehicles have them, but as time goes on and more and more cars come equipped with more and more airbags, it gets more challenging to have side cams at all.

Once I can figure out a way to mount them so the wires are hidden and the cameras are actually pointed at useful angles, I intend to somehow mount my two old a118 cameras to the roof console, next to the map lights, facing out the sides. Unfortunately that console is at a weird angle, and the a118 doesn't like to have the lens adjusted all the way to one extreme, so I may use some combination of those plastic furniture wedges mentioned above to both cancel the angle of the console and to angle the lenses down so they aren't recording a bunch of ceiling.

 

[jokiin]

Another huge complication for mounting anything on the actual sides of the car: side curtain airbags. Even if someone made something intended to be mounted on the sides, I couldn't use it because both my cars have side curtain airbags.

some of the ones I mentioned were exterior cameras, no problem from airbags but a host of other problems anyway, we get asked often about 4 channel options but quite often those asking for them have little understanding about just how hard it is to accommodate the side cameras effectively, what might work on one type of vehicle can be useless for the next

 

[Dashmellow]

some of the ones I mentioned were exterior cameras, no problem from airbags but a host of other problems anyway, we get asked often about 4 channel options but quite often those asking for them have little understanding about just how hard it is to accommodate the side cameras effectively, what might work on one type of vehicle can be useless for the next

Yeah, I said as much almost a week ago when I mentioned "the huge number and variety of motor vehicle styles, designs and window configurations that would need to be accommodated make the manufacture of a "universal" side camera mounting system virtually impossible", but unfortunately that got lost in the kerfuffle. I can see the possibility of viable eternal side cams as possibly being offered as a factory option one day.

 

[Dashmellow]

Speaking of side cams I experimented today with a new camera on the right side of my truck.

It's that time of year again for the giant marshmallow harvest! (read here if you want to know more about them.)



Forgot to compensate for the tinted glass. Adding 1/3 EV will improve things dramatically. Still this doesn't look too bad at 50 mph.

 

[jokiin]

I can see the possibility of viable eternal side cams as possibly being offered as a factory option one day.

it's entirely doable if it was done at an OEM level and was vehicle specific as we see already with some of the 360 degree parking monitor setups, something universal though has major hurdles

 

[jokiin]

It's that time of year again for the giant marshmallow harvest!

how big a fire do you need to build to roast those

 

[Dashmellow]

how big a fire do you need to build to roast those

Pretty big fires! And you should see the sticks we use.

I remember when I first started seeing those things appearing in the hay and alfalfa fields around here just down the hill from my house. They really seemed like giant marshmallows that had dropped out of the sky. The fact is that this method of putting up silage has revolutionized dairy farming in this part of the country because the method dramatically increases the nutritional value of winter feed for the cattle as well as increasing the efficiency of the harvest. Apparently the initial investment in the equipment is costly for the farmers but it pays itself off rapidly. Instead of harvesting a whole truck or wagon load of individual hay bales you get several giant sealed rolls of balage ready for storage.

 

[kamkar]

I feel that the only way you can make a dedicated side camera design are to do one that install on the door at the bottom of the window.
Up high and you risk getting in trouble with airbags.
And i wouldn't like to have my side cameras on the outside, not even now where i wash my car far more often than i use to do.

The Big hole valley people have more fun prepping their hay for winter.

 

[Nigel]

Speaking of side cams I experimented today with a new camera on the right side of my truck.

It's that time of year again for the giant marshmallow harvest! (read here if you want to know more about them.)

View attachment 34225

Forgot to compensate for the tinted glass. Adding 1/3 EV will improve things dramatically. Still this doesn't look too bad at 50 mph.

I prefer the pink ones from Ireland:

And the purple versions:

But for this time of year, this is more appropriate:

 

[Deleted member 46308]

I prefer the pink ones from Ireland:

And the purple versions:

But for this time of year, this is more appropriate:

Nice

 

[DT MI]

Purple all the way!!!!

 

[SawMaster]

Just beginning to see the marshmallows down here in SC. A few years back drought conditions reduced the crop greatly, and then early winter was very wet which spoiled most of the field-stored bales. Folks were bringing in what they could spare from 2-3 states away and many had to thin their herds at a cost deficit or risk a loss of all the herd. Many recreational horse owners has to sell their mount as they couldn't afford the feed prices. This is cheaper and more convenient than new hay barns though
Sometime in the future I'll be trying a center-mount scheme in the workvan with the G1W-HC's as that will greatly increase the horizontal coverage (which I need) but at the cost of low close-up images. It will positively be less troublesome than what I do now

Phil