Whats a good camcorder to bring to Iraq?

[BigWayne3000]

For those of you who have gone over, would you recommend even bringing one? I would like to capture video footage of myself over there just so I can look back on them in a few years and just relive the memories etc. What camcorder would you recommend? Also, I'm trying to find/get one that I could put attachment on, that I could possibly mount to my rifle and get some scope shots possibly. Do many companies make attachments that are like a wire with a small cam int he end? If anyone knows what I'mt alking about, I did a bad job of describing it ha. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[sparkie]

Hurray for Hollywood. Just kidding. Come back with all your essential parts. Thats all I pray for. Otherwise,,, Take a Pentax with a bayonett attachment ;]

[1stRad2671]

It's definately worth it. I wish I would've hard more memory for my digital still camera. I had to shrink a lot them in order to take more since I didn't have a way to download them. I got a decent amount of video and I was able to make some stills from that.

I would suggest one that records to a hard drive. You would need a laptop with a decent sized hard drive to download to, as well a DVD burner.

I had one that recorded to 8mm tapes. It was fine and all, but I had to take a lot of care to keep the dust out.

As for mounting to a scope, get a 'bullet camera' that will plug into main camera. Get one that has built-in microphone.

My pics are here (http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/svbadguy/Iraq/iraqpics1.html)

[sparkie]

I used to have a hard drive,,, used it many places. In fact,,,, still do. ;]

[rvillac2]

For those of you who have gone over, would you recommend even bringing one? I would like to capture video footage of myself over there just so I can look back on them in a few years and just relive the memories etc. What camcorder would you recommend? Also, I'm trying to find/get one that I could put attachment on, that I could possibly mount to my rifle and get some scope shots possibly. Do many companies make attachments that are like a wire with a small cam int he end? If anyone knows what I'mt alking about, I did a bad job of describing it ha. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Some guys thought I was geeky when I brought a compact VHS-c camcorder with me on a deployment in '91. Then, they all begged me to give them copies of the footage. ; )

You have to think about your price range, the level of risk you're willing to take, and lastly performance.

Price: You can get whatever you want if you're willing to pay the price.
Risk: You gotta be prepared to drop it (break it or lose it) and do your assigned duties else you'll get thumped by your NCOs about the head and shoulders.
Performance: How much is good enough?

I think what you're looking for is a sport camera, the kind that the x'gamers stick on their helmets to get that 1st person footage. Here is one that's priced reasonably but note that the performance is limited to 640x480 resolution (good enough for a vga screen and standard definition television).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8264816&type=product&id=1170290185386

Note that it includes a bullet cam so you can attach it to your helmet, rifle, etc. I'm really curious to find out what happens if you put it onto your scope!

If you want a bit more flexibility and higher definition, I would go for one of the MiniDV cameras. Yeah, it's still a tape, but it still looks great on an HD tv and can also easily download to a laptop. If you just get one of those and a lot of tapes, you won't need to bring a laptop with you in order to download your hard drive or flash drive. Another drawback with hard drive camcorders is their battery life, they suck.

I just had an idea and I'll leave it open to anyone interested. If they want to take a MiniDV camcorder to Iraq, they can send me back their tapes. I'll download them and send them fresh ones. PM me if this idea is attractive anyone.

[Alphaonethree]

The only good cam corder to take to Iraq is the one you bring back home.