alanwiles

I have read the other postings about cameras on a boat, I have an Atlantic 3837 Yacht and I have a question.
1. What is an inexpensive video camera and a video receiver I can use. AND I believe the best place to mount it would be on the bow in front of the cabin windshield. Although looking at the boat, a better place may be between the cabin windshield and the cockpit windshield,

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

mfr02

Not so much a yacht as a speedboat. Just a question of looking for lightweight cameras in waterproof housings at your price, or hunting down radio transmitters and receiver systems plus a camera head. Due to every smartphone in the world now having several cameras built in, they are the really cheap part and have the potential to be almost invisble on the boat, the modulator/transmitter being hidden.
At a Laser meet a while back, I watched one skipper (then the UK champ) try to sail one using a GoPro mounted on the deck. Totally different perspective - he almost immediately crashed it.
When sailing a model via a "crew view" you need a co-pilot to tell you when to look up and steer out of trouble.

Hydro Junkie

And that, in a nutshell, is why you should be watching your boat instead of a view screen.
What many fail to consider is that the average camera only has between a 60 and 90 degree viewing angle. My eyes, on the other hand, have a viewing angle of between 160 and 180 degrees. If you actually use all of that vision range(I had to learn to since I work in aviation and spend several months working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier), you can see much more than what the camera can and can avoid problems since you have more warning than what a camera will give due to that extra "peripheral vision" that a camera doesn't have. Even if you use a wide angle or "fish eye" lens, you won't have the depth of site due to the distortion those lenses have when shooting over a medium to long distance

mfr02

A purely recording camera on the other hand just needs a waterproof mount. The market place has lots and lots of "mini spy cameras". No doubt there is a lot of discussion about their merits on forums outside the model boat world.

alanwiles

Thanks for the answers. I will be recording the runs and want a view closer to the water. I will actually be watching the boat and surrounding water while using it. Although the camera may be small, should I mount it front of the cabin close to the bow or mount it in front of the bridge window?

mfr02

Where to mount it is almost purely personal choice. I expect that there will be plenty of examples of footage on YouTube, otherwise quality time spent looking and searching there might give you the clues that you need regarding the best site for the camera.
A deluxe feature would be if it could record at a higher frame rate then play back at a lower rate if you wanted to make the results look "real" rather than "model". Might be a step or two beyond a sensible budget.