New vapour project - want to make movies...

[Ryan]

For a little while now I have been thinking of investing in a proper camcorder to capture the trials and tribulations of Land Rovering.

Currently I use the video feature of my Canon Powershot, but the quality isn't great unless it is just for uploading to YouTube (see samples here) as it is only 3 megapixels, and once started I can't change any of the settings (e.g. zoom or brightness).

I want something that is easy to use with gloves (well it can be cold outside), easily transferred to my laptop (I only have USB and serial capability and may need to upgrade my processor and hard drive for a bit more capacity), and good quality on TV.

I also want something that is quite rugged as I would like to try and mount it on vehicles at some point, both inside and out.

Unfortunately, my camcorder experience is about 10 years out of date (Canon Hi-8) so I don't what's good and bad. Does anyone have any ideas on vehicle mountings? Another option maybe two cameras- one for the high quality handheld stuff, and a cheaper one for mounting to the vehicle such as the Oregon Scientific Action Cam (I've seen it cheaper on Eblag).

Budget? Err, "value for money."

What do the learned masses think?

(sorry, ignore the "and not" in the subtitle - bit of a keyboard glitch - it didn't know what I meant to type! )

[Ryan]

Sorry, and another thing (always thinking of these things afterwards!).

Regarding the vehicle mounts, I want something that would be easily and quickly transferrable to another vehicle, so if I saw that someone was about do something really stupid clever, I could mount it in or on their vehicle without too much faffing.

[MogLite]

Suction mounts are the key for the quick fits IMHO

Take a look here I've used the smaller ones for a bullet lens, but I wouldn't hang a full blown camera off of a small one.

Years ago I spent a lot of money on a DV cam with an analogue input for an external lens. This option is cheaper now-a-days but you still need to do external mic as well.

My Canon S2 stills camera takes very good video considering what it is. 640x480 at a good frame rate. Big files until compressed though.

I think Jez had one of the Oregon cameras

Look at the Adventure Cam that is an expensive option on new Range Rovers for ideas.

Hope it helps

Andy

[Mo Murphy]

.... and not "home movies" .......... perhaps

Mo

[Orgasmic Farmer]

RE suction mounts. My brother is an agricultural contractor and has a large screen LCD monitor for cab mounting for various reasons (watching DVDs in big fields LOL). Obviously a good mount was essential. He bought one of those double suction windscreen lifting handles and made up a bracket to mount the screen to the handle part of it. Better and much stronger than most bespoke suction mounts on the market.

a bit like these

http://www.abbeypowertools.co.uk/car-repai...0660-71172.aspx

[sotal]

I'd just pick up a cheap mini-dv camera - the price has dropped loads since the mini-dvd ones came out, I would have thought the mini-dv ones would be a bit more robust for off-roading as they are a digital tape rather than a spinning CD.

To get the video to your PC in decent quality you will need a firewire port though - these can be added to a half decent computer by buying a card for about £15, you then need lots of harddisk space.

As for mounting you're probably best off with the suction mounts for quick changes, just not sure I'd trust them.

I've just been thinking up how I'm going to mount mine, and I think I've got it sorted but it's going to be a semi-permanent mount in the series, which would probably take 5 mins or so to remove (undo a couple of bolts) then the camera will clip in using a standard tripod type quick release clamp, so I can remove the camera in seconds

[FridgeFreezer]

Jules used a normal tripod folded up and bungeed to the rear bulkhead for his famous flip video, seems cheap, versatile and surprisingly stable (the tripod, not Jules )

I've tried a few homebrew and commercial mounts and unless you spend a decent amount of cash it's very hard to get something that works under vibration. Nigel H had a suction mount (a very expensive one I might add) that worked really well, he even stuck it to his bonnet at Slindon

Mini DV cams are cheap nowadays, I wouldn't go for anything too expensive as it will discourage you from using it in slightly risky situations (either that or make sure it's insured with a very understanding company ) some of the best shots are gotten by risking the gear. You can get firewire cards for PC's and laptops for less than £20.

I bought a USB video converter (analogue in, AVI/MPG/whatever out) but it takes a load of processor power and ends up dropping frames at higher (read: decent) resolutions. Firewire I think transfers the DV data stream direct so is less CPU intensive as long as your HD can keep up.

[Ryan]

Thanks Andy for that link - I knew I'd seen them somewhere before...I think my budget would stretch to one of the mini ones!

.... and not "home movies" .......... perhaps

Mo

Didn't take long did it?

I'd just pick up a cheap mini-dv camera - the price has dropped loads since the mini-dvd ones came out, I would have thought the mini-dv ones would be a bit more robust for off-roading as they are a digital tape rather than a spinning CD.

When you say "spinning CD" - do you mean one of the direct to mini DVD ones, or one of the HDD ones?

Mini DV cams are cheap nowadays, I wouldn't go for anything too expensive as it will discourage you from using it in slightly risky situations (either that or make sure it's insured with a very understanding company ) some of the best shots are gotten by risking the gear. You can get firewire cards for PC's and laptops for less than £20.

I bought a USB video converter (analogue in, AVI/MPG/whatever out) but it takes a load of processor power and ends up dropping frames at higher (read: decent) resolutions. Firewire I think transfers the DV data stream direct so is less CPU intensive as long as your HD can keep up.

Those Novatech cards and nice and cheap compared to the ones I spied in PC World.

My laptop currently has an Intel Celeron M 1.6GHz processor and a 40Gb HD. I know I would have to up the HD, would I need to up the processor too?

[FridgeFreezer]

Those Novatech cards and nice and cheap compared to the ones I spied in PC World.

Now you need never go to PC world ever again

I would avoid the DVD recorders, a HDD one would likely be the most vibration resistant (more than tape) as they use laptop-style HD's which are incredibly tolerant of shocks. I've yet to see a reasonably priced HDD recorder though, unless you've found something?

[Superpants]

I have a Panasonic DV cam that is about 3 years old, so probably not one that’s available anymore. We have used it quite a lot in Mark’s disco and got good results on a home made mount. We found that if you hand hold it, there is a tendency to try and correct the angle you are shooting at, which results in strange angles when shown.

The mount is a simple piece of aluminium sheet about 2mm thick, folded as a Z (no photos I’m afraid). There is a (about 150x100mm) flat surface with two p-clips attached below. A downturn is made on the forward edge with a short return forward of approx 15mm at bottom. The two p-clips are clamped round the grab handle on the disco passengers side so that the return is flat on the dash top.

The camera is mounted by a tripod screw passed through the plate into the camera base.

This has proved simple and pretty successful. It isn’t quick to grab the camera off the mount, but it could easily be adapted to take a tripod head with a quick release to be able to do so.

If I had the money to spend, I would look seriously at the ram mounts range Ram Mounts