Charging your batteries in your hotel room? 
If you get one of these hotel room where you have to insert the key or card in the wall to get power to the room, don't forget to plug you charger into a hole that isn't on that circuit or no power to the charger while you are away. 

If the key card is a credit card type you can put anything in there to keep the supply going. I was in Greece and had this problem. But I found if you put, say an inlay card from a tape, this works. It doesn't have to be the hotel key. It's only keeping the switch in. By Paul Ashley, UK

Drops on the Lens By Jay Murdock WYFF-TV, USA
I found that having a UV filter with Rain-X water repellant on it is a cheap and easy way to keep spots off the lens. It dries clear and water beads easily, so a wipe of the hand, and it's gone
Downside: Once you start using Rain-X you will have to re-apply it every few months. And NEVER put it straight on the the lens.

Reducing glare from monitors
The are few items that can be used to make a monitor picture more visible in daylight. One of the most common ones is placing a large black cloth over the monitor and the viewer. The only disadvantage is that only one or two people can look at the monitor at once. The other option is if you are using a 9" monitor is to place a four-leafed barn door (found on most lights) over the screen. The monitor will fit right in and the leafs reduce the glare without blocking the screen.

Sungun for long distance telephoto shots by Mark Hanrahan
I found that a PAR-36 sealed light beam (General Electric Model 4596 - Aircraft Landing light) can run off our industry standard 30 volt battery belt. The 4596 is rated at 250 watts (10 degree beam), which is equal to the DYG bulb used in most sunguns. On a clear night, the illumination from this sealed beam can go as far as 250 meters (250 yards). I have used this in the past when kept back at night time from people disembarking an aircraft, and having to get that long distance shot; as well as at night time rescue operations in the middle of lakes and wide rivers. A housing for the sealed beam can be found at any disco lighting supply business (Par 36's are a standard disco light), and an engineering shop can adapt it for a spigot mount.

Scanner radio audio recording onto Betacam by Mark Hanrahan
Whenever I'm covering a major news event, where the emergency services are involved, I connect an audio line from a handheld scanner into my camcorder.
Additionally, by using a 3.5mm split lead into the earphone output of the scanner, I'm then able to simultaneously record the audio as well as listen directly through an earpiece. The mismatch in audio levels between the scanner and Betacam can be compensated if necessary by building an attenuation circuit with resistors into the XLR connector of the lead (a broadcast technician should be able to build this up for you).

Multi-Frequency Radio Mic Receiver by Mark Hanrahan
My little trick that comes in handy when shooting people that are using a radio microphone on a public address system ..... tune directly into their transmissions. I've found that the AOR-8000 scanner radio (receive range of 100khz to 1.3Ghz) has a Wide Band FM output. By finding the public speakers TX frequency (a frequency counter is the quickest method if the frequency isn't marked on the system), I can program this frequency into my AOR which then has it's earphone output plugged into my Camcorder. The quality of the recorded audio is so clean that it's embarrassing to use on it's own to air, so I mix a small amount of ambient sound from channel two under the clean feed to give that sound system effect

Filming without them knowing
A portabrace shoulder cover should be used when wanting to film without being noticed. Cover the Portabrace tape window with some black gaffer tape, this way if you are recording nobody can see that the tape is rolling. You should also switch off the tally indicators, the display light and, in extreme cases, pull out the viewfinder cable so that no light comes from there either. If you are not looking through the viewfinder and there are no lights flashing, and no tape can be seen moving, then people assume that the camera is off. But still, if the situation is too risky, use your common sense as to whether to film or not.

Camera Mic used as hand Mic
Always have on the camera a longish cable, either attached to the camera mic and taped to the side of the camera or plugged in the rear and taped to the back. This way if you need to use the camera mic as a hand held one you will have a long enough cable. If you are using a radio microphone receiver, connect it to the camera by using a long cable tucked and taped under the battery. In an emergency you can use that cable to convert the camera mic into a hand held one. This is only when, for some reason, you do not have a hand held mic to begin with, which should not happen in the first place.

Headphones for the Camera
It's disappointing to see cameramen not monitoring their sound. Sound is as important as the image. And as we use a viewfinder to see what we are doing, we should also use headphones to listen to what we are doing. Normal walkman headphones work well (the ones without head holders). Plug them in the jack-out of the camera, fold them and secure them somewhere on the camera (if you are using a Camera Shoulder Cover this is easily done with a Velcro strap) and whenever you need to monitor the sound, plug them into your ears.