Cameras

[Guyfrommich]

I know the TGR crew uses alot of sony handy cam stuff. I was woundering if they had any suggestions as to what model is best for shooting home made ski movies.

[TGR420]

Thanks for the inquiry. We have had great success with the Sony cams. The main three I would suggest are the TRV 950, the VX2000 and the PC120BT. The 120BT is a great compact camera. We connect our headcam to it and it works great and is a very lightweight setup. The TRV 950 is a little bigger, shoots 3 chip and has good audio. This is a great lightweight smaller cam, with big camera resolution. It is really good for travelling and trips where equipment size and weight would be an issue. The VX2100 is the biggest most pro of the consumer line. It has a great mic., super high resolution, great lens, etc. If you are seriously into production this is the camera I would reccomend. If you want a great camera and will be doing some major production stuff, but mostly home movies I would go with the TRV 950. Good Luck and let us know how it goes.
thanks,
Todd Jones

[insideragp]

Please tell me more about the headcam! I've been looking for a camcorder for exactly the same reasons. Wanted to put the camera in a pocket to:

A: Keep the batteries warm
B: Keep the camera above 32 degrees
C: Protect it in case of rapid decelleration (like hitting a tree!)

I've wanted a lens assembly on a 7' cable with the guts inside my jacket and you be able to point me in a workable direction!!

OK, upon further research I found customvideocameras.com (thanks Owens) and it looks like they take standard surveillance video cameras, make a battery pack and reinforce the cords. I would assume it goes into the video in jack on a camcorder and your good to go. Looks like fun! Gotta try it out. Have you guys used anything like this?

Thanks

A.G.

[insideragp]

Ok, lets say you have some sort of helmet cam set up, if anyone has any experience here, how are you controlling the record/stop function? How about an on/off for the camera battery pack? Just disconnecting it or switch based?

I would think you could use the camera's remote if it controlled the record feature.

Any tips?

Thanks,

AG

[2stix]

Controlling the helmet cam is easy if the recording camcorder has a LANC conection on it.
It is usually located by the video out/USB/Firewire connections on most cameras.
Controllers can be purchased for the this connection. It allows you to start/stop recording and put the camera to sleep (battery presevation) and wake it up.
I personally bought my helmet cam from jones cam and it included the LANC remote.
Works very slick. I keep the battery pack in my Mickey pocket, slide the LANC cable down my sleeve so its just sticking out my glove. And I put the camera in my backpack.
Neet option and gets interesting camera angles for sure!
Hope that helps