In a message dated 5/21/99 3:45:41 AM Central Daylight Time, dlaver@ms.com
writes:
<< The best I've seen was a welded alloy box with the camera strapped in
tight. This
was on Morgan and he'd been through some iterations. His tip was to put the
microphone down by the exhaust - much nicer than wind, gearbox grinding, and
valves. His regret was that his remote was on/off for each push on the same
type of
mechanical remote as a stills camera. Often loose track of if it was on or
off and
strapped in he couldn't tell. Worth putting the camera somewhere where you
can see
what's going on even when strapped in.
David
>>
I gave up on rigidly mounting the camcorder; no way to get rid of shake, even
with one with stabilization. I've also seen too many good camcoders destroyed
byt the shake. The mechanisms in those things is not all that substantial.
I bought a camcorder with audio/video connectors that can be use as "in" as
well as "out". I then bought a small "board" or spy type of color video
camera and mounted it rigidly. The camcorder is mounted in a box in foam on
the floor of the car, and the camera is wired to it. A few early 8mm
camcorders have video/audio "in", and every Hi8 camcorder I've seen has it.
I also bought a Sony RM-95 wired remote that has a LCD readout. This way I
can remotely turn the camcorder on and off, start and confirm recording is
occuring, and see how much tape is left. It plugs in the the LANC port on
the camcorder that all Sony and Canon camcorders have (maybe some others).
You can sometimes pick up a good used Hi8 camcorder on Ebay for a reasonable
price, or maybe an older 8mm that has video in. If you use Hi8, try to find
a remote camera that has at least 400 lines of resolution so you can take
advantage of the better picture that Hi8 can provide. Most of the cameras
have built in microphones. Expect to pay $200 to 250 for the camera. Make
sure to get an extra lens with about a 45 degree field of view, as most of
these cameras come with a "fisheye" lens.
I now have completely jitter free video that looks as good as something on
broadcast TV. Well worth the extra effort.
Jon Lowe
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