Help with camera

[dblwing]

I have a 30 foot video pole that we use for filming our football games. My camera is an older sony that has a Lanc for the corded remote that I have on the ground. We also have a pan and tilt box that is controlled on the ground. My camera is about worn out and sony no longer makes the Lanc useable for remote control but is used for video or something else if it even has one. Does anyone have suggestions of a different camera or something else that I can use. We are on a limited budget and I want digital format as I need everything in avi for my video editing system. Thanks in advance for your help.

[filmboss80]

Has Canon stopped making LANC-controlled cameras? (I did not know Sony stopped. Are you sure?) For a new camcorder, I would start with Canon products. Manfrotto has lots of LANC remote lens control products, but if you need f/8-pin or f/12-pin lens controllers, you will need to look into the VariZoom products, which are a bit more expensive. You may also want to check out the Foxi lens controller.

The pan/tilt box would only affect the tripod head, not the camera lens.

Other than that, you may need to reconsider the method in which you capture football plays. There are alternatives to jib arms/poles. At tripod-mounted camera on top of the press box is workable. Or if you're on the field, a small scaffold, like the one used by a marching band conductor, might be an option.

Like my grandma said, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."

[dblwing]

I appreciate the help. We film 2 angles, one from the pressbox and the other from the enzone camera. Scaffolding would work fine for the home games but we need to be able to film the EZ view on the road also. Our video pole is portable and we take it with us on the road. I was hoping to find a different camera that would be usable for this.