Leave it on or repeatedly turn it on and off?

[_Paz_]

I start and stop recording all day. Paint a bit, wait for the paint to dry using a hair dryer, paint some more. When I leave the camera and monitor on, I can study what I've done from across the room on the monitor view. The camcorder doesn't seem to be particularly hot. I'm not sure how hard it is working when it is not filming.

On the other hand, lots of gears and things whirl every time I turn it off, then on again.

I'm not sure which would harm the camcorder faster. I don't worry about leaving the monitor on.

[TreeTopsRanch]

What kind of camcorder is it? I know my pany camcorder gets quite hot if filming for long periods. It's a DV tape type so it has lots of mechanical parts. On the other hand my sony AVCHD camera records to cards and only 25 minutes or so and shuts down automatically. If you use a web camera you can leave it on all the time.

[_Paz_]

Panasonic X900 MK, 3MOS (I had to look it up.) It films in AVCHD and uses SDHC cards.

It's not recording during the time I'm using the hair dryer to dry the paper, or waiting for some other reason, observing what I've done from across the room, it's only "looking" and displaying the image on the monitor.

[Briantho]

I have various Panasonics which I record with continuously for literally hours on end - I do a lot of multicam of local shows, plays and concerts. I usually run on their large batteries as I'm never 100% confident about the amateurs in the lighting/whatever booth - they might hit the wrong switch and plunge part of the environment into darkness! The camcorders get warm but nothing serious. I currently use:

1 x HC-X900M
2 x SD900
2 x TM300
1 x TM10

All my AVCHD cards are 32 GB (fours hours of AVCHD) so with that capacity why turn anything off?

[_Paz_]

Brian,

Thank you! So nice to have one less thing to worry about!

I use 32 gig cards too. For me they seem to fill up awfully fast.