A contractor has captured incredible footage inside Christchurch's red zone by apparently attaching a small camera to a ladder on the roof of his car.

Three street-level videos taken inside Christchurch's red zone provide context and a fresh perspective of the shattered city.

The videos, which tour the streets around Cathedral Square and south, have been uploaded to YouTube by user goatracing610.

In one of the video captions goatracing610 says he shot the footage on a small camera tied to a ladder on the roof of his car. He says he was driving through the red zone for work.

The videos can be watched below. They are all about six minutes long and were taken last month.

The first video was shot on August 11 and takes viewers down a little of Machester St, Tuam St, Colombo St, Cathedral Square and Hereford St.

The second takes viewers down Manchester St, Lichfield St, Madras St, Hereford St, Latimer Square, Gloucester St, Manchester St and Hereford St. It was shot on August 1.

The third video was also shot on August 1. It takes viewers down Hereford St, Colombo St, Hereford St, Madras St and Tuam St.