Camcorder 'kinda long'

[ollie]

Do any of you guys film your hunts or shooting? If so what do you use? I am looking for a nice one to use for hunting. I am comeing up on a personal goal of 100 deer and the plan is after i reach that goal i will be puting down the gun and picking up the camera.

Yesterday i was hunting with a 12 year old on his first deer hunt and we saw a 140 class buck at 101yds standing broad side. He needed to take 2 more steps to get into his shooting lane. And as it always works out he turned and went back into the brush with out a shot. To my angle he was wide open i was counting 6pts on the left and i could see 5pts on the right but could not see a brow tine from the angle i was.

I found that i wanted the camcorder instead of the rifle. I think i have gotten burnt out on deer and i like to hunt predators and varmints more now.

So back on topic, what do you use?

Thanks, Ollie

 

[Forum Boss]

Canon FS10. Records to flash memory. 48X optical zoom. Very good Image stabilization. Light. External mic jack. Very, very small,9.5 ounces, smaller than Coke can). This is the standard def version, about $350.00. The high-def version provides more impressive video on a big screen, but the file sizes are much bigger.

These cameras have no moving parts so battery runs longer. EZ transfer to your computer. Be aware that the high-def movies can NOT,yet) be edited by Windows movie-maker. The std. def. movies can.

FS10 has 8 gig internal memory with a slot. We added a second 8 gig card for about $35.

FS100 has no internal, but a slot for add-on card. It is $299.00 now on sale at B&H photo.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=544892&Q=&is=REG&A=details

 

[ollie]

Does the canon make any noise when you turn it on? I have been useing a jvc and in the house it seems quite but in the woods it is noticable to wildlife.
ollie

 

[Forum Boss]

The Canon makes a click and a beep, but I believe the "beep" can be cycled off via the preferences. There is also an "instant on" feature that doesn't have a click if I recall. But you should try one to make sure.

There is also the noise of the lens cover opening. I think that is unavoidable.

 

[ollie]

Thank you, you gave me a good start.

 

[Forum Boss]

I just gave it a try. Got the "beep" off, but the lens cover makes a "shlick" sound when you switch to record mode. This is about the same as the sound of the mirror lock-up you hear on a film SLR.

 

[kmitchl]

I use a Sony DCR-TVR-280 which is an out of date model that uses the Digital8 format. I also have a Sony that records directly to a DVD. Both work equally well. The 280 has 20X optical zoom which is the minimum I would consider for filming game at any distance. For deer at 100+ yds I usually set it for 40X digital zoom also. If you are willing to live with the trailing edge of technology there are some deals at pawnshops that may be worth considering.

Whatever you decide, keep in mind that the LCD displays are somewhat delicate. Last season I had my camera in a backpack and managed to impact it with something that broke the LCD. Since then I always have the cam in a padded case.

Keith

 

[LRSmoke]

I agree with the Mod's suggestion of the Canon FS-10. I just bought one of these about a month ago, and love it. I chose to go with the no internal memory version due to the fact that if anything ever happens to the camera, you can merely pull out the SD card and not lose any data. I bought the FS-10 and 2 16GB SDHC cards from B&H Photo, and the total came to $422. The cards offered a $70 mail-in rebate, so the total on everything came to $352!

 

[Tcon260]

All,

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I have a similar question regarding video cameras and shooting.

Bryan Litz compiled this video,see URL below).....sort of a "strawman" of how to show long range shooting on TV. I wish to do a similar video for training purposes. The camera would be on the flags instead of the target. I would still show the shot placement on the target and the windage used like Bryan did. Maybe a second camera looking through a spotting scope showing the mirage.

So what camera and editing software would you guys recommend? I would like to be able to film around 3-4 20-shot strings in a day,1 hours worth of shooting + or -).

http://bryanlitz.bravehost.com/index.html

Ted

 

[TheBlueEyedBear]

My wife bought me a CANON Vixia HF11 for Christmas. I can't wait to take it out gopher shooting and P-Dog shooting this spring. This thing produces crystal clear video in High-Def and has an amazingly long record time.

I use Image Mixer 3 SE to offload the video to disk. Then use Adobe Premier Pro CS4 for editing. Still don't know what I'm doing with the Adobe program. Too steep a learning curve for my old brain.