I see a lot of inexpensive camcorders on eBay nowadays in the $50-$120 range. They are capable of 1080 or 720 HD, and can be upgraded to larger memory cards for longer recordings.
I am looking for something along this line to use on my shop workbench to make videos of dismantling, assembly or display of parts I repair and rebuild. Many of the cheap cameras seem to fit the bill, but there are a few things I am not sure about, but maybe someone here is familiar with the general operation of these things.
First, I would like to better be able to see what the camera is seeing. Many of these cameras screens will not turn 180-degrees toward what they are shooting, and the screens are usually less that 3" across, so it would be hard to see from 2-3 feet away.
These cameras have video outputs, many have HDMI. Can an external video screen be ported to the camera and viewed while the recording is being made? It would be much easier to see the recording as it happens on a large screen off the side than the tiny one on the camera.
Second, most of the cameras are powered by batteries that are charged by a USB cable. Like a cellphone, is it possible to power the camera off a USB power source while recording so that the battery doesn’t run down?
Third, the specs on most of the cameras I have seen shown that the focal range is 1-meter/1.5 meter to infinity. If the camera is stationary, and the action doesn’t change distance from the lens, will the camera decently focus at a shorter range of, say, 2-feet?
I don’t have a laptop or WiFi in my shop, so hooking up a simple webcam will not work for me, though they work better at close range and are very cheap.
Anybody do something like this or have any experience with these little camcorders that might answer some questions for me?