Not sure where to start looking...

Hi,

We will be modifying our experimental plane this winter to accommodate an external photo system. We've contacted some vendors who have submitted design proposals for the housing and remote control pan/tilt platform which will house a Canon DSLR.

I'd like to mount a small video camera connected to a 4" LCD monitor screen mounted on the plane's dashboard which can be used by the photographer to see what the Canon sees and snap shots accordingly.

I would appreciate any suggestions as to what kind of video cameras and/or capture/control systems might work for this application?

Are there any relatively inexpensive cameras that have remote control capabilities? It appears that LANC is the type of connection I would be looking for?

...a small video camera connected to a 4" LCD monitor screen ...

Perhaps if I narrowed the question(s) down a bit:

Are there any small, relatively inexpensive cameras with LANC capabilities, or is that typically a function of more expensive units?

I see there are quite a number of choices as far as small LCD displays (at B&H for example) that we could use for the remote monitoring. Perhaps someone has some specific recommendations based on their own experience with a particular LCD model?

Not sure why you would be looking for LANC capabilities

If i understand you correctly you want a canon DSLR on a remote pan/tilt platform to shoot still pictures and you want a live video feed from the viewfinder

That means the video camera will be linked to the viewfinder and focused on the viewfinder so there will be no remote control of the video camera nessecary

In this case some solution similar to the zigview would work

http://www.intro2020.co.uk/pages/zigview.htm

Now next issue is zooming and focusing. Depends a lot on what you intend to shoot but mostly for areals you'd simply set the camera to infinity focus and shoot with a standard to low telephoto lens. There is generally enough light so you can shoot at say F8.

if of course you intend to get video footage this is a whole new story and then i wouldnt use a DSLR.