Any camcorder gurus here ?

[Graham]

Hope this makes some sort of sense 

As some of you know, my eyesight isn't all it might be. So when watching Youtube videos pf Eddie Castalyn recently it was noticeable that he kept looking up at a TV screen so he could check what we were seeing.

Light bulb moment. ( it takes me a while, I must be pretty low wattage )

If he could do that then I could set up a camera over the lathe and a screen behind it to give me a bigger image of finials etc which I have been unable to do.

Long story short, it works brilliantly, the last inch of a finial can now fill the screen of a 22 inch TV 12 inches in front of me. great stuff, chuffed to bits.......  being a practicing skinflint I have the camcorder fed directly from the mains so no need for a battery, and I am not trying to record anything ( just using it as a magnifier ) so no need for a flash card. However...... it works great for 4 or 5 minutes then swaps itself from showing what I am doing to playing an advert of the cameras features. Sort of a shop demo program. pressing a button brings it back immediately but it is a PITA

I guess if I put a card in and actually recorded then the problem would go away but anyone know another way ?

[Philip Green]

It's great that you have found a way to helping you turn small items.

Recording is one solution but you could instead, change one of the settings on the camcorder to stop it going into standby mode (which usually displays adverts of camcorder features).

On the camcorders I have done this to, the setting is pretty well hidden so you may have to go through the menu structure to find it. Also, the feature name may not be obvious. The ones I have done is something like "DISPLAY ON".

[Graham]

Thanks  Phillip, it was buried deep but I found it ( it was called demo mode which helped ) works without interuption now.

[z3ddie]

This is a great idea for your work, but I have a slight concern about all the fine dust going into sensitive electronic equipment unless you have some sort of extractor or enclosure. My DAB radio died from it the other day - I took it to an friend who is a technican and he said it was so 'fused' together inside it was beyond economical repair.

[Graham]

Hi Eddie (?)
That is a potential problem. Most of the time the TV and the camera are covered by plastic bags sealed to stop any dust getting in, these only come off when I am making smaller stuff. I also have extraction rigged up to the lathe for when I am sanding which takes away pretty much all the dust produced.

I have no idea how long the setup will last but I am a hobby turner and it is not in use all day every day. I guess I will find out in time