Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: Camcorders
mookaloid

posted on 10/6/05 at 11:18 AM Reply With Quote
Camcorders

Anyone have a camcorder they would recommend or know about these things?

I am thinking of mounting one in the car - you all know what i mean

I guess I want a digital one but there seems to be a vast choice. What do I actually need and what would be nice to have?

also has anyone made a roll bar mounting for one? if so how have you done it?

TIA

Mark

View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
flak monkey

posted on 10/6/05 at 11:27 AM Reply With Quote
My mate mounts digital cameras on the roll bars in banger cars. He just made a metal box for the camera to fit in, and lined it with foam. The foam is fairly high density, just enough to cut out most of the vibration.

You can get digital camcorders pretty cheaply these days. Are you intending on using it for normal recording as well?

IIRC my mate thinks that Sony and Panasonic camcorders are the best, and he has had quite a few different ones over the years.

As for format, Mini DV od digital8 are the main two digital formats. MiniDV have the best quality, and also the smallest camera, but they are more expensive than the Di8 ones.

All depends what you want really.

David





Sera

http://www.motosera.com

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
ned

posted on 10/6/05 at 02:24 PM Reply With Quote
I've been looking at digi camcorders today as it happens! I've always like sony and panasonic (though never owned either) and I was very interested in the dvd based modesl when they came out. The panasonic system is meant otbe better from what I've read as the way it indexes tracks on a disc and can jump around to fill all the gaps when writing data whereas I was told the sony ones weren't as versatile in this way.

Today I've been looking at solid state digital camcorders, basically no moving parts and based on sd or mmc memory cards! There are few available and they tend to be lower end of the market which suits me!

Sanyo make an mpeg4 digi camera/camcorder available from amazon for about £230 which seems quite good. 640x480 @ 30fps which I believe is about the same resolution as a normal tv broadcast. obviously the memory cards are more expensive than tapes but it's the way forward imho as you can download them to your pc then burn them onto cd/dvd's or put them on the web/email.

Solid state also has the benefit of no moving parts, so no risk of judder or skipping when mounted to a car (i hope!)

link for info on the sanyo thingy, available as said from amazon
http://www.sanyo.co.uk/scripts/hsrun.exe/Distributed/iFramework_UK/iFramework_UK.htx;flag=restart;start=HS_FSGen_US

Ned.





beware, I've got yellow skin

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
bimbleuk

posted on 10/6/05 at 02:30 PM Reply With Quote
This is a good site for mounting brackets. I bought the camcorder mounting kit.

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/Mounting%20Brackets.htm

I was recommended Sony and Canon DV camcorders for track work.

Look for a model with remore MIC (to avoid wind noise) input and analogue AV input. The latter is for use with bullet cameras.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Danozeman

posted on 10/6/05 at 02:30 PM Reply With Quote
I am getting a panasonic one off a bloke i know. If u want to mount it in a car the image stabiliser thing would be good to have in it..





Dan

Built the purple peril!! Let the modifications begin!!

http://www.eastangliankitcars.co.uk

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
DarrenW

posted on 10/6/05 at 02:33 PM Reply With Quote
i bought a bottom of the range Cannon DV. I cant fault it. Im no spielburg tho.
It has firewire connection so can be linked to laptop to burn DVD's. Nottried this yet - cable is on shopping list.






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
donut

posted on 10/6/05 at 03:37 PM Reply With Quote
Doesn't Hicost do video for cars?





Andy

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
ned

posted on 10/6/05 at 03:39 PM Reply With Quote
yes he does. http://www.f1camera.co.uk i believe. good units, but for the money some people prefer to buy a normal camcorder that they can use for other things and get one with a dv-in so they can plug a bullet camera into it as mentioned above.

Ned.





beware, I've got yellow skin

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
ChrisGamlin

posted on 13/6/05 at 09:38 AM Reply With Quote
Isnt it "Analogue In" that you need for a bullet camera? DV input just allows you to edit stuff on your PC then re-record it back to the tape ISTR (might be wrong though)

Chris






View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
andyharding

posted on 13/6/05 at 10:06 AM Reply With Quote
You can't go wrong with Canon. Their lenses are the dogs. For best (near broadcast) quality get one with 3CCD. Having said that I'm rather tempted by Sony's new HDTV offering.





Are you a Mac user or a retard?

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
mangogrooveworkshop

posted on 13/6/05 at 10:47 AM Reply With Quote
we killed a camera at Knockhill after several laps. It was a tape based analog one that didnt like the extreme gforces dished out when braking for the hairpin.
Mac replaced it with a sharp camera the same size as a mobile phone!
I would go for Hicosts system as it gives better flexibility for alternate camera angles.






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.