icarusfx99 0 #1 July 12, 2007 I know that lots of people like Sony camcorders. I am thinking about buying a camera for handycam use and I was wondering what camcorders people use these days and what your experience is with it. Most people at my DZ use miniDV (PC5, PC9, etc), what are the experiences with harddrive cameras or newer miniDV cameras? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #2 July 12, 2007 Look in the Photography forum, lots of discussion there on cameras. Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisL 2 #3 July 12, 2007 2 weeks ago I bought a Sony DCR-HC48. MiniDV camcorder. Price was great ($400.00) Good pixel resolution. Shot my very first freefall video with it last weekend and it came out great. Well OK, the second jump came out great. The first jump I had a little issue keeping my subjects in the frame I've heard (no direct experience though) that hard drive cameras are not goof for freefall video. __ My mighty steed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 5 #4 July 12, 2007 Quote I've heard (no direct experience though) that hard drive cameras are not goof for freefall video. HDD cameras will do one of two things in freefall, they'll either simply shut off, or they'll work for a period of time and then die, depending on how they're made. I put 20 jumps on a DR 60 HDD system to see how it would function (I was specifically tasked with killing it), and it died on the 20th jump. I then jumped a JVC HDD Everio, and it shut down the second I jumped out with it. Odd, it worked at altitude on the plane, but shut down the moment I left the door. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kharkness 0 #5 July 12, 2007 Im no expert on these cameras, but I have been told by a few people that the reason they shut down is because they are designed to if they fall. Shutting them down protects the heads of the HDD system. Now I dont know if this is correct or not. The Sky's not the limit, the ground is. Fear Nothing, Regret Less. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 5 #6 July 13, 2007 You are correct, some are designed to shut down above 10K/3000M. Cheaper designs won't shut down, they'll simply fail/die. The reason is because the disk floats on air, and if the air pressure doesn't fall within specific tolerances, the disk can skip/strike the head causing pitting or scoring. There are specially sealed/pressurized disc systems, but none of them are built for camcorder use. Toshiba has announced a sealed NABS system for GPS, designed for climbers. Maybe we'll one day see this system in camcorders. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
