We're making some shows on classic aircraft in HD and are looking to film some "in cockpit" shots, as there are no reasonably priced and practical HD minicams available, we are looking to use the HC3. Has anyone tried using the HC1 or HC3 in a similar environment, either as "in car" or on motorbike shots.

I'm wondering how the camera might cope, obviously with manual focus set to infinity and the wide angle adapter added.

I know theoretically HDV doesn't like fast motion, but we've strapped our Z1s into cars with no problems at all.

I suspect it'll cope fine and in fact cope better than something like Z1 in a high-G environment as it has Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) and not Optical (OIS). I've heard that sometimes OIS systems don't 'like' high-frequency vibration and also the high-G *may* affect the OIS, but i admit that's just a guess. - It might well be perfectly fine.

The HC3 yields great video when used as a cockpit. In fact, someone has done just that and has posted his video online.

There are 3 links at the bottom. The first 2 are from the HC1 and the last one is from the HC3. Check it out:

http://homepage1.nifty.com/CUE/hdv_movie/hdv.htm

Thats great ! The HC3 movie cracked me up . Well worth checking out

Just great clips, especially the river shots and the long, 3 minute flight at the end. What terrific implementation of the whole system from remote flight control and performance of the mini plane to the remote camera moves & quality of the footage from that price of a camcorder and to the simulated movements of the "pilot". Amazing stuff. Amazing little camera. The more I learn how to use the sibling A1U properly and compensate for its shortcomings, the happier I am with my purchase.