Camera Suggestions for road trip

[JamesB]

I'm gonna start looking for a video camera for my vacation I'm gonna take in April and want to know what's a good one to get.

Basically I'm going to mount this on the car (low on the front bumper or in the grille somehow) and get some video of the road.
Im going off to Big Bend National park and there are some really nice twisty mountain roads I want to get vid of in the BMW.

It should also have a jack for a mic so I can relocate the mic and not get all the wind noise.
I know I will have to protect the camera from debris and stuff so that's not a problem.

Also what type of media would be best for this? I plan on just about 10 to 30 minutes of video at a time.

Thanks

JamesB

[Mickey]

<img src="http://www.geektimes.com/michael/techno/computing/hardware/products/sony/drc-trv20/images/dcr-trv20.jpg" align=left>I'm guessing that you're going to want a digital video (DV) camera for maximum versatility (and small size).

You can connect a DV video camera to a FireWire (<a href="http://www.1394ta.org/">IEEE 1392</a>) port on your laptop or desktop and download the video for manipulation and burning to CD or DVD.

They're small and reasonably rugged (but won't really like being smashed on the ground much).

I own the Sony DRC TRV20 which includes a digital still camera as well.

[Matthew C Smith]

There's no way I'd put any video camera up on my bumper. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

They made remote mount camera's that hook into your camera. I'd pick one of those up if you want to get front bumper shots.

[Mickey]

Depending upon the quality of the video you want to end up with, you could bring a laptop along and attach a FireWire or USB cheapo camera.

Or go to eBay and pick up a cheap(er) video camera, perhaps a non-DV model. DV, though, is really convenient.

[JamesB]

Originally posted by Smith 328is
There's no way I'd put any video camera up on my bumper. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

They made remote mount camera's that hook into your camera. I'd pick one of those up if you want to get front bumper shots.

I will have to look into this...sounds like a much better option.

Thanks

[Mickey]

I'll say it again: it depends upon what you want to output. If it's just video for you and the clan, then a FireWire or USB camera module with a laptop might be just fine.

If you're looking to generate some good-quality video, say Escape in Stockholm, then the cheap route will let you down.

You might want to search the 'net (esp. USENET at <a href="http://groups.google.com/">http://groups.google.com/</a>) to find out where the videographers hang out. They'll know the inside scoop on what's appropriate, what works, etc.