Clapper
 

Anyone know where to find a good deal on a time code clapper?

Are you just looking for a slate or do you really need one with
timecode in it? I ask this for the following reasons:

1) slates with timecode in them are EXPENSIVE

2) there is no way to hook a standard timecode slate up to a DV camera

There might be some device that can take the timecode from the
firewire device and convert it to a signal the timecode slates
accept, but this together with the already expensive slate
puts you in the hundreds of dollars easily.

Thanks Rob. The reason I asked was because a friend of mine told me about a time code clapper that automatically starts the camera. I researched it on the web and there about a thousand bucks. I was wondering if anybody had any insight as to where I could pick one up a lot cheaper than that.

This might aid your search: this item is properly called (in the US, at least) a time code slate. In a book sense, the term clapper just refers to the hinged apparatus at the top, most commonly known as "sticks". Slates and sticks used to be separate objects until some smart fella combined them back in the day.

Filmtools (a.k.a. Cinema Supplies) have about the largest selection of slates I know of.

As Rob noted, the models that feature a timecode display are useless for nearly all prosumer cameras, which have no facility for synchronization to a SMPTE timecode generator. But, if you have a hot $1,500 and just want to be cool go for it! <g>