Anyone know anything about camcorders??
Discussion
Got a camcorder headrest mount for the car and borrowed a friends camcorder for Thunder road, but it was a mini DVD style one without any computer connections.
What im wanting to do is get a camcorder but purely for use in the car, never owned one before so wouldnt know what to start looking at!
It cant be very heavy, im sure the B-Hague mount says upto about 2kg's and it needs to be easy to get the pictures from the camcorder onto my computer, not sure whats easiest connect the camcorder direct or have a memory stick style one?
Another good thing again if possible would be some sort of video out lead which would work whilst using it so I can connect to a monitor, not sure if thats doable aswell?
As its purely for in car use im not wanting to spend a fortune, something in the region of £250 as an absolute maximum. Any help on what to look for or whats the best type to get would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
What im wanting to do is get a camcorder but purely for use in the car, never owned one before so wouldnt know what to start looking at!
It cant be very heavy, im sure the B-Hague mount says upto about 2kg's and it needs to be easy to get the pictures from the camcorder onto my computer, not sure whats easiest connect the camcorder direct or have a memory stick style one?
Another good thing again if possible would be some sort of video out lead which would work whilst using it so I can connect to a monitor, not sure if thats doable aswell?
As its purely for in car use im not wanting to spend a fortune, something in the region of £250 as an absolute maximum. Any help on what to look for or whats the best type to get would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
I know nothing about them, but copied someone elses' set up, and it's brilliant.
I've got a little Panasonic SDR-S7 It works well, and the smaller cameras don't cause the mounts to shake. Recording is on SD cards - I have 2 x 8gb cards, and two batteries. The batteries run out before the cards.
Download is either by lead from the player to computer, or take the SD card out and plug it into the PC to copy across like any other media stick.
You can also play to a TV via normal AV leads (supplied)
I've got a little Panasonic SDR-S7 It works well, and the smaller cameras don't cause the mounts to shake. Recording is on SD cards - I have 2 x 8gb cards, and two batteries. The batteries run out before the cards.
Download is either by lead from the player to computer, or take the SD card out and plug it into the PC to copy across like any other media stick.
You can also play to a TV via normal AV leads (supplied)
Edited by ARAF on Tuesday 1st December 22:04
This was taken with it at Lydden. Unfortunately, when it was converted the height/width ratio was done wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRBIdMXlpQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRBIdMXlpQ
Probably doesnt work with your mount, but I bought one of these specifically for the car.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VCC-003-Muvi-Micro-Ca...
You need the mounting kit as well which adds £15.
I also have a mini DVD and if you want to upload to the PC you are better off with an SD or micro SD recorder.
The advantage of a really small recorder is you can use it in the car, on a head mount, on a wing mirror, or even strap it on the grill or under the car etc.
Disadvantage... limited finctionality, often no zoom, cant review footage without a PC etc. On that budget you could buy both.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VCC-003-Muvi-Micro-Ca...
You need the mounting kit as well which adds £15.
I also have a mini DVD and if you want to upload to the PC you are better off with an SD or micro SD recorder.
The advantage of a really small recorder is you can use it in the car, on a head mount, on a wing mirror, or even strap it on the grill or under the car etc.
Disadvantage... limited finctionality, often no zoom, cant review footage without a PC etc. On that budget you could buy both.
ARAF said:
This was taken with it at Lydden. Unfortunately, when it was converted the height/width ratio was done wrong.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRBIdMXlpQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DRBIdMXlpQ
Looks like it works well, what have you got yours mounted on?
mogv8 said:
Probably doesnt work with your mount, but I bought one of these specifically for the car.
www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VCC-003-Muvi-Micro-Camcorder/dp/B0029631VI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259705011&sr=1-1
You need the mounting kit as well which adds £15.
I also have a mini DVD and if you want to upload to the PC you are better off with an SD or micro SD recorder.
The advantage of a really small recorder is you can use it in the car, on a head mount, on a wing mirror, or even strap it on the grill or under the car etc.
Disadvantage... limited finctionality, often no zoom, cant review footage without a PC etc. On that budget you could buy both.
www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VCC-003-Muvi-Micro-Camcorder/dp/B0029631VI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1259705011&sr=1-1
You need the mounting kit as well which adds £15.
I also have a mini DVD and if you want to upload to the PC you are better off with an SD or micro SD recorder.
The advantage of a really small recorder is you can use it in the car, on a head mount, on a wing mirror, or even strap it on the grill or under the car etc.
Disadvantage... limited finctionality, often no zoom, cant review footage without a PC etc. On that budget you could buy both.
Cheers for the information.
I would purely use it for in car use (hate having my pic taken!) so would only be uploading stuff onto the computer so an SD style sounds like it would be ideal.
Doubt would bother mounting it anywhere else other than on the headrest mount.
Superclamp and short extension arm from http://www.fastfilms.co.uk/fixed-camera-mounts.php
I raise the headrest (on my BMW), and clamp it onto one of the headrest pillars
I raise the headrest (on my BMW), and clamp it onto one of the headrest pillars
In which case, top tips would be:
a) buy a strap for the seat itself, connect to the hooks behind rear seats and it helps stop the seat vibrating. The seat itself vibrates under power, I used to have a head rest mount myself.
b) Get a good SD card, say class 6 as a slow card can show jerkiness on playback.
c) if you do track days get a proper tether, just in case something breaks or you have a shunt there should be something to stop the camcorder becoming missile !!
a) buy a strap for the seat itself, connect to the hooks behind rear seats and it helps stop the seat vibrating. The seat itself vibrates under power, I used to have a head rest mount myself.
b) Get a good SD card, say class 6 as a slow card can show jerkiness on playback.
c) if you do track days get a proper tether, just in case something breaks or you have a shunt there should be something to stop the camcorder becoming missile !!
Appreciate the tips, didnt realise different classes of cards existed!!
I wont be doing any track days, unless something like Thunder Road comes round again so just be a straight line, the camcorder that used seemed to work well with the headrest mount when used it, picture was surprisingly clear.
I wont be doing any track days, unless something like Thunder Road comes round again so just be a straight line, the camcorder that used seemed to work well with the headrest mount when used it, picture was surprisingly clear.
James, just my 2 cents. I have a mini dv recorder. It's small and you can get them cheap and converting to avi or dvd is a piece of piss. No real technical knowledge needed. It uses litle tapes. Only downside is that when putting raw footage onto computer the files are MASSIVE! But it is pretty much dvd quality.
sneakygloworm said:
James, just my 2 cents. I have a mini dv recorder. It's small and you can get them cheap and converting to avi or dvd is a piece of piss. No real technical knowledge needed. It uses litle tapes. Only downside is that when putting raw footage onto computer the files are MASSIVE! But it is pretty much dvd quality.
Appreciate that sneaky, I will do a bit of research over the next few nights as its a christmas present to myself
after_shock said:
007 VXR said:
knowing what you are like getting stuff . can you pm me with your final spec , when you do get this , as i would like to do this as well 
thanks
007
can you pm me with your final spec , when you do get this , as i would like to do this as well thanks 007
I hope your not implying im a touch on the anal side?? lol
Oddly, I just bought a stupid computer mag tonight. In it was some "best buys" and was a section on camcorders.
Top couple of reccomends were SD type camcorders.
FlipVideo Flip Ultra HD circa £140
Kodak Zi8 circa £150
Panasonic SDR-S26 circa £215
They were the top three, the next two were big bucks.
Top couple of reccomends were SD type camcorders.
FlipVideo Flip Ultra HD circa £140
Kodak Zi8 circa £150
Panasonic SDR-S26 circa £215
They were the top three, the next two were big bucks.
stevieturbo said:
Just FYI...
I posted the names in the order the magazine rated them, first, second and third. If it makes any odds.
I posted the names in the order the magazine rated them, first, second and third. If it makes any odds.
Yeah thats fine, the panasonic keeps cropping up in other stuff ive read so seems to do well all round if not necessarily the best at any single thing.
Always a good indicator.
I think the price and compact size of the others put them ahead. The zoom of the panasonic can be worth having though for sure. For normal camcorder duties anyway.
Ive an oldish Panasonic DV camera here that takes the wee tapes. Very small, was a recon kinda thing from ebay. Ive no complaints about it at all. I guess battery life with the card types would be better though, as there is no tape mechanism to power.
I think the price and compact size of the others put them ahead. The zoom of the panasonic can be worth having though for sure. For normal camcorder duties anyway.
Ive an oldish Panasonic DV camera here that takes the wee tapes. Very small, was a recon kinda thing from ebay. Ive no complaints about it at all. I guess battery life with the card types would be better though, as there is no tape mechanism to power.
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