equipment recommendations

[Iverson, Jana Marie]

Dear all, I have received excellent advice from this listserv before and am hoping that I can count on you once again to steer me in the right direction.  Our well-loved and used camcorders and microphones are just about to be retired and we are seeking to replace them.  This seems to be more difficult than in past years as some of the features that we count on are no longer available on many models.

We collect all of our data in infants' homes, so mobility and dependability are of great importance.  In the past, we have used miniDV camcorders with wireless microphones plugged into the camera's audio input jack (the microphone itself is positioned at shoulder level on the baby hidden in a vest worn over the clothes and the receiver is mounted on the camcorder).  This has yielded very good recordings.  As we've looked at new camcorders (miniDV), we've noticed that many no longer have the microphone jack, which is a big problem.  So, I am wondering if any of you have recently purchased video and audio equipment that you like and find reliable that you could recommend.  Since our sessions all involve fairly unstructured play and interaction, we need cameras that aren't too heavy and will still record good images in low lighting situations.

We recently purchased new microphones which seem all right, but the microphone itself is quite large and has been the object of much exploration by little hands.  So any suggestions for wireless microphones that will interface with a miniDV camcorder would also be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!  I will post a summary of your responses to the list.

Best regards,
Jana Iverson

Jana M. Iverson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology and Linguistics
University of Pittsburgh
3415 Sennott Square
210 S. Bouquet St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone: (412) 624-6160
Fax: (412) 624-4428
Email: jiverson at pitt.edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~icl


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