I need to find the right camcorder for use in videotaping the condition of roads. I'm concerned that the newer hard drive solutions will not hold up to the amount of vehicle vibration over time. I will not be editing the video, but will need to voice record the name of the road as I drive the road. I need a camera with great image stabilization, great battery life, and one with a bigger than average lcd display. I will also need to find a dashboard mounting solution for the camera. Thanks for your help!!

Image stabilization isn't really designed for vehicle movement -- it might handle the shakes of idling, but not the bumps of a road... The "classical" mount for shooting from a moving vehicle is a person hand-holding the camera and only braced from the waist down <G>; this allows the arms and upper body to steady the camera and absorb the bumps.

The "drop-detection" circuitry in hard-drive cameras will tend to activate on any sudden bumps. I wouldn't trust a miniDVD camera either.

If you've ever watched some of those compilations of police pursuit video, you'll have noticed how poor quality they tend to be...

Thanks for your response, but can you explain why you wouldn't trust the miniDVD solution? I'm not asking for a make and model, but if you don't recommend the hard drive or miniDVD would you recommend a MiniDV? I don't have an option of riding with a passenger holding the camera.

miniDVD has, 1) short record times relative to tape and 2) you still have a large spinning mass (the disk) with gyroscopic effect, and a read/write head that needs to be kept in near perfect alignment. While a sharp jar on playback may just cause a drop-out until the servos reset the head position, the same jar on record could make the disk unreadable.

Since tape is in physical contact with the drum, along with the tensioning mechanism, it should be less sensitive to vibration...

miniDV camcorder with a Sticky Pod dash mount kit

Use a miniDV (Canon ZR850 - a MD160 down here) to record my track days with a tailor made headrest bracket mount, it works beaut.

In all the people that record their track days, 99.99% use miniDV as it's more reliable.

The Hard Disk Drive camcorders can have problems with vibration (and with high altitudes), but that's because the camcorders are not isolated properly and used in extreme situations like in race cars. They should hold up in moderate situations.

Electronic or Optical stabilization are normally not designed for these applications. Normally the manufacturer recommends turning off stabilization when using a tripod. It may not work well depending on how you have mounted/isolated the camera, and the model of camcorder. Sorry, there is no absolute answer, but you can always isolate the camcorder and drive smoothly.

How long do you need to continuously record ? Great battery life is not always a problem but recording medium like DVD, Tape, HDD can be a problem.

For short recordings I have just laid a MiniDV camcorder on the dash on some folded towels and drive slowly...


Some threads:

When recording in vehicle, I get a recording error...
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t126041.html

Inside a Car?
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/sh...ad.php?t=135231

Shooting from a car...
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t119215.html

Car mounting
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/sh...ad.php?t=132998

Rich

__________________
FireWire Survey

Then how in the world are you going to watch the LCD? Let me know where you're going to be taping so I can avoid those roads. Seriously, this does not sound like a safe operation to me.

Good luck.

Dennis