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I forgot to ask people at the MGT if they had any ideas for something I am helping my athletic director with. We want to put a camera in each end zone of our football field. We priced some rigs that are really spendy and I figured we could do it cheaper. We have the boom tripod figured out but I need ideas for the following.
1. Camcorder and a way to keep it protected from the elements
2. Remote control down on the ground to trigger the camcorder
3. Should we go miniDV, HDD, or firewire to something else
4. A small monitor on the ground to view the shot

Any innovative ideas are welcome! Thanks in advance!

Question:
Why would you put an unmanned camera up there? If you do, you will need to keep the shot to wide and it will not be useable or do the team much good.
I work with several football teams. All of the cameras, including the endzones are manned. One team did try an unmanned camera one year, but like I said, it just didn't do the job.
They have students or parents man the cameras, so there is no cost involved.
They all shoot on mini DVD.
I have worked with the Duke LAX team and they shot on mini and directly dumped it into their laptop. They had a nice booth with electricity and protected from the elements.
You can get rain coats for the cameras. I have shot in torrential downpours and the camera was dry as could be. I can't say that I was.LOL
If you decide to go unmanned, you can control the cameras on and off via remote. If you put a monitor on the ground, you will need to worry about getting electricity and protecting that from the elements as well.

In order to get the endzone shots, 2 of the schools have erected scaffolding that stays there for the season. The other 2 either get on the roof of a building or stand on the hill that is at the end of the field.

I am sure you know about the hi-pod. This is another option, but it is pricey. http://www.hi-pod.com
Trying to talk one of my schools into it.

I hope I helped you make a few decisions. I would love to find out more of what you are doing for the team.

Jeff

Hey, Jeff, did you get any good shots of the Duke LAX team's parties?

Fortunately for me, I wasn't working for them at that time in their unfortunate history.

Jeff -

Thanks for the quick response. Let me look over the info from the website you suggested. We have to go unmanned because it is hard to even find someone to run the basic full-field shot from the pressbox. Our coaches are interested in that "all 22 player" shot and we would put a unit in each end zone and shoot the opposite end of the field from each. We won't have a problem running power but I will pick your brain after I look at all the materials.

thanks!