OK, so I had to add a funny story to the SUV argument going on. Not much
call for a SUV (or 4x4, or whatever else we choose to call them here in
UK) - or certainly not much need where I come from (South East). However,
my job (sorry, make that ex-job !!) did involve the use (rather extreme use
too) of such vehicles.
I work (for another couple of weeks !) for a company that provides
"specialist Film & TV coverage" for a number of events, especially sports
events. One of our regular contracts is with the Horse Racing (Channel 4
Horse Racing for UK listees who know what I'm talking about !). For US
listees, we did the same cameras for the Kentucky Derby, amongst other
things. We put cameras in cool / stupid / dangerous / extreme places
(delete as applicable). The TV camera in question is a "stabilised" mount
which we attach to the roof of a Land Rover Discovery and then drive around
racecourses giving a "tracking" shot of the horses for live coverage. Land
Rover in question (for US guys - do you have those ?) is a big (4.2 litre ?)
Petrol V8 beast. It moves. Quickly.
Anyway, to get to the point, by the nature of the job, they are put through
some fairly rough off-road situations. Unfortunately, due to the usage
previously described by other messages (ie taking the kids to school) the
"off-road" ability of this vehicle has been dumbed down in favour of Air
Con, CD Player, and Soft Ride, etc. Cue one Land Rover with approx 500,000
pounds (that's UK price, not weight !) of camera kit on the roof, chasing
horse at 35-40 mph, wobbling very unhealthily before raising onto 2 wheels
and sliding on it's side into a ditch at a UK racecourse. Very embarassing.
Spectacular crash, though I did nearly poop my pants in the process !! And
the camera kit survived (although the vehicle didn't fare quite so well !)
Oh, and for the record, the super-robust camera system - it was designed &
built in the US. The not-so-robust Land Rover - I believe that is a UK
design ??!!
OK, so it's totally irrelevant. Sorry. Just thought it may raise a laugh
in a thread that seems to be heading towards flame war status !
Jon
PS: Is TOPE1 still open for submissions ? The self-portrait one ? How
"obscure" can these be ?!
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