As the topic says. What I'm looking for is a small mini-dv camcorder that has a broken tape mech but still works as a camera. Preferably a PAL one.

The reason is that with the aerial video I've been playing with I'm running up against the limitations of resolution of a small board camera, or more likely the optics. Camcorders usually have very good cameras and optical systems, so the idea is to get a cheap broken one, strip out all the un-necessary crud to make it smaller and lighter, and stick that in the plane. A 3 cdd one would be a godsend! I'm also looking on ebay, but of course things there often go for silly money.

Anyone out there able to help?

By the way, if you're interested, here is a sample of the current video.

pca