OT - hidden cameras

im about to start a project where i need a hidden or at least very small and discreet camera. nothing shady, just a "guy on the street" kind of thing.

anyone have any reccomendations on a small camera that could be easilly mounted to an auto headrest or one of those sneaky glasses mounted jobbers.

oh, has to have decent sound as well.

any tips greatly appreciated.

wG

Whatever you're trying to do, fake it with live actors, a good camera, and a high quality microphone and mixer.

Make it look like surveillance in post instead of starting with surveillance and trying to make it look like a show in post.

Koz

thats not the goal. this IS an actual hidden camera / news story kinda deal, thats the nature of it.

<<<news story kinda deal, thats the nature of it.>>>

Shucks.

Let's see. *You* would wear an omnidirectional lavalier hidden under your collar. You could put it higher than normal on your shirt so *your* voice is indirect (under your chin), but the talent's voice would be more direct.

You will not be able to use any directional mic I know of because either they will be too big or too difficult to use.

Any "lipstick" camera should work. Park a battery operated recorder like a Sony "Clamshell" DV-D1000 in your backpack.

No, that wouldn't work because they won't accept mic level..... Wrap a CamCorder in Gaffer's Tape??

Koz

good call koz. i AM indeed planning to use the dv1000 with my sony ecm88 lav mic. do you think that would work?

<<< my sony ecm88 lav mic.>>>

It's a delightful microphone, but it's output voltage is mic level. That's in the -50dB or -60dB range or less given what you're trying to do. The clamshell's input is line level at -10 or so. The signal level doubles or halves every 6.

You will need some sort of portable sound mixer you can set to AUTO and stuff into the backpack. That's why I thought of a camcorder that can accept external microphones.

I'm winging this. I don't know a good way out. I have been tempted to build something that will do this because I don't think there's anything out there.

This is where other people chime in and save my/your butt.

Koz

im kind of half way considering a usb web camera hooked up directly to a laptop and recording straight to imovie or fcp...

were shooting out a compact car window, so wed have room store the machine...

<<<recording straight to imovie or fcp...>>>

Or QuickTime Pro.

Koz