Hi!

I'm looking for a camcorder with A/V in so I can plug in an external sports bullet cam to record helmet cam footage (From Mountain Biking). Having looked at many different alternatives and models it looks like a half-decent camcorder will cost me around the £450 region... Basically with the bullet cam costing an extra £140 it's getting a tad expensive so I had an idea...
If I could find a good camcorder with faulty/broken lens (obviously useless to most people) that has A/V in I could still record the same quality footage but it's probable that a camera with a broken lens won't set me back a great deal, and hence I could save a packet!...

Would the A/V in still record footage if the lens was broken (I presume so) ?
Where can I find broken/faulty camcorders ? (apart from ebay)
Does anyone know of any cameras with faulty/broken lenses for sale ?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Cheers - Jon

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by Jon_F

Would the A/V in still record footage if the lens was broken (I presume so) ?

Depends on how the lens got broken! Rather than broken perhaps a scratched lens would be a better option. Either way though you are asking for a camcorder that has not been looked after, therefore a lot more could be wrong with it.

Originally Posted by Jon_F

Where can I find broken/faulty camcorders ? (apart from ebay)

Put a 'wanted' advert in the relevent section of this forum, you never know your luck.

Originally Posted by Jon_F

Does anyone know of any cameras with faulty/broken lenses for sale ?

Nope! I look after my camcorder. But if I do hear of anybody who has bounced a cam on it lens I'll let you know.

Mark.

[GaryB]

Camcorders with external AV in are quite rare. The main reason for this is that if they have AV in they are taxed as a VCR which attracts a higher rate of import duty that a normal camera/camcorder.

[209AZ]

Nah,there are loads of them.Nearly all JVC models have this facility

Offer a canon MV600i owner a fair price (check the forum) these cameras have a generic flaw in their CCD but still work as AV-in recorders.

[GaryB]

Originally Posted by 209AZ

Nah,there are loads of them.Nearly all JVC models have this facility

Some JVC digital camcorders have a digital input that can be switched on but they haven't fitted analogue inputs (which is what is required here) as standard for years.

[209AZ]

Well have a look on the JVC website.I have just clicked on each of the models listed and most have analogue in,so your comment is wrong !
http://www.jvc.co.uk/product-list.php?id=11

[GaryB]

Originally Posted by 209AZ

Well have a look on the JVC website.I have just clicked on each of the models listed and most have analogue in,so your comment is wrong !
http://www.jvc.co.uk/product-list.php?id=11

Ahh - I was talking about analogue camcorders. Those are digital.

The problem with trying to use digital camcorders in an application like mountain biking is that they don't like vibration. Even the pro cameras mounted in anti-shock housings used for in-car shots on rally cars break up into blocks on larger bumps. Mounted on a bike, I doubt the footage from almost any domestic camera would be very stable.

Originally Posted by GaryB

Ahh - I was talking about analogue camcorders. Those are digital.

The problem with trying to use digital camcorders in an application like mountain biking is that they don't like vibration. Even the pro cameras mounted in anti-shock housings used for in-car shots on rally cars break up into blocks on larger bumps. Mounted on a bike, I doubt the footage from almost any domestic camera would be very stable.

It doesn't seem to effect it and your body takes a huge amount of vibration out! I'm definatly getting the setup sooner or later, it just depends how cheap I can get a good camcorder!

here is some sample footage:

http://www.slaponart.co.uk/BikeMovie...rSDA2-59mb.wmv (60meg)
http://www.adrenalinsports.nl/movies/willingen05.wmv (37meg)

- Jon

[GaryB]

Pretty scary stuff. If that's shot on DV, the body is doing a lot of absorbing.

By the way, the guvnors of this sort of thing are Eastern Video. They provide the cameras used in a lot of the rally cars shots shown on TV. I worked with them in the early days of DVC to evaluate how well they would perform in this sort of work.

http://www.easternvideo.co.uk

yea there both DV! Keep in mind the bikes also have 7"/8" suspension travel as well as the body taking some of the vibration off! The 2 vids posted are both of very very rapid guys
That eastern stuff looks pretty industrial! most definatly out of my price range

Cheers - Jon

[Ian964]

I'm looking for something similar, for in-car use on track days. Canon sell refurbished DV cameras on eBay (seller canon_uk1), looks like you can get an MV730i for around £150ish (includes a years warranty). The models with 'i' after the number (e.g. mv730i, mv750i) have analogue input, so should work with a bullet cam. They also have DV in & out, so you can transfer to PC, edit, then record back to DV tape.