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Filming birds/wildlife (1 Viewer)

mark b

Well-known member
I have asked before but got no replies, Does anyone video birds and wildlife and if so what digital camcorder do you use and how effective is it.
I'm not interested in video scoping as I like to digiscope for still images, I just fancied trying to film some wildlife/bird footage.


Mark b
 
Using a camcorder

mark b said:
I have asked before but got no replies, Does anyone video birds and wildlife and if so what digital camcorder do you use and how effective is it.
I'm not interested in video scoping as I like to digiscope for still images, I just fancied trying to film some wildlife/bird footage.


Mark b

Hi.

I always take a Canon Optura 20 camcorder when I bird. I chose the model because, when I bought it, it was reasonably priced for a camcorder with a megapixel still function. It has a 16X optical zoom, which is generally long enough; it has a longer digital zoom, but the quality of all digital zooms is appalling.

I use it handheld and it produces excellent video and adequate (for my purposes) stills. I only use the stills for my personal website, to make small (6" X 4") prints, and to send to other people for help with bird ID. Their quality would be much better if I used a tripod, of course.

I use the video mainly as a way of recording bird behavior for personal viewing and to help me with IDing birds. It is so much easier to ID birds if you can see their behavior rather than having to rely solely on markings. It is great to return from a birding trip and to sit down, with my Sibley guide, to watch/freeze the video of an uncertain bird until I can ID it.

If I was buying now, I would look for something with a bigger megapixel still function. I'd also go for a longer zoom, although I'd have to use a tripod more to get any real advantage from this.

Jeff
 
Thanks Jeff

Some good info there, like you my footage would only really be for personal viewing, as you said stills are fine but to capture the birds behaviour would be fantastic.
The problem is choosing the right camera for my needs, there are so many great cameras around from standard to almost pro, I suppose I want a fairly portable camera that I could just use at an instant with decent zoom facility with clear results, I don't want to be trying to make out the blur on screen when I get back home, also something with a decent mic for sound recording.

I know I want the world but there must be a camera that fits the bill, I have seen the canon xm2 but I am worried that it is overkill for my humble needs, but I know it will produce good results.

anymore help.....please

Mark b
 
My wife use a Canon GL-1 with a screw-in doubler for a 40X magnification. This camera are amazing even in low light situation. Unfortunatly it have a bit of chromatic abheration in some situation cause by the doubler that is not of the same quality compare to the built-in Canon APO lens, but usualy and much of the time the image quality are very high. PS. forgot the picture fonction with this camera, it's of very low resolution.
 
I use a JVC GR-D240EK (pal - the GR-D250 looks like the US equiv) which has a good 25x optical zoom which is better than 8x bins, and will take a 2x teleconverter at the cost of some softness, contrast loss and CA

What is also nice is that zoomed right out to the wideangle setting, it is a perfect match for videoscoping with my Zeiss 85FL and 30x eyepiece, which gives a slightly gretaer magnification and a heck of a lot more image quality and light. So I have both options, but the JVC is a dead small and handy MiniDV birdcam on its own - and relatively cheap B&H link
 
mark b said:
Thanks for the replies, I am also looking at the Panasonic NV GS400, looks like a good all rounder.

Mark b

I think videoing birds will be the 'next big thing' after digital photography now that Canon and Nikon have made (I'm afraid to say) decent digital bird photography so easy and as bandwidth, storage media CPU and CCDs expand to allow just about anyone to film, master and produce competent DVDs and video for internet.

Most important piece of kit? Not the camera. IT'S THE TRIPOD!! If you're going to play with 20x or even 30x optical zooms you have to be ready for some shake - regardless of what you did the night before. Get it on the Tripod. The other thing that's crept up 'under the radar' AFA birders are concerned are the ease of transferring Digital Video tape to hard disc via video capture cards and the latest wonderful generation of programmes to edit video such as Pinnacle.

Me? I use a serious piece of kit - a Canon XL2 (about £3000) but (and here's the rub) I'm thinking about buying a small £500 DV cam for birding / ooportunistic shots. The XL2 is gorgeous but it needs carting about everywhere... and that's scary.
 
Touty said:
I think videoing birds will be the 'next big thing' after digital photography now that Canon and Nikon have made (I'm afraid to say) decent digital bird photography so easy and as bandwidth, storage media CPU and CCDs expand to allow just about anyone to film, master and produce competent DVDs and video for internet.

Crikey. "So easy" - speak for yourself, mate ;) I agree with you that video does add an extra dimension. And you're right on the tripod - holding a 25x zoom is like trying to handhold a scope. The JVC is light enough to mount on the tripod alongside the scope with a bit of DIY metalwork and a couple of Manfrotto QR adaptor plates.
 
Touty

Wise words about the tripod mate, As I said I was looking at the Canon XM2 but I think it is too much camera for me and my birding, XL2 looks like a fantastic bit of kit, What do you think of the 3CCD panasonic GS400 for opertunistic shots and birding footage, about £700.

Mark b
 
ermine said:
Crikey. "So easy" - speak for yourself, mate ;) I agree with you that video does add an extra dimension. And you're right on the tripod - holding a 25x zoom is like trying to handhold a scope. The JVC is light enough to mount on the tripod alongside the scope with a bit of DIY metalwork and a couple of Manfrotto QR adaptor plates.

Grab a bird book from the sixties... perhaps an Eric Hosking - a 24/7/365 photographer and look at the pics. Then move through to people using the large film format Hasselblads in the eighties (where they could already crop the negatives and retain quality) through to the pictures produced by high-end amateurs using Canon DSLRs and long lenses. The latter take 'better' pictures than any of them. Only Hosking's approach of 8-10 hours at a stretch in a hide, usually near a nest, produced great pictures with the technology of the day. He didn't have an IPod with mp3s of all the birds of the Western Palaearctic and a couple of battery amplified speakers either! ;)

The JVCs are a lot of camera for the money - maybe slightly less robust than the Canons (I'm thinking the high-end stuff). Have a check and see if the camera has a remote control (probably in their for people who <cough> 'like to film themselves' ;) but always useful not having to touch the camera for stop and start when you're at high magnification).
 
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mark b said:
I have asked before but got no replies, Does anyone video birds and wildlife and if so what digital camcorder do you use and how effective is it.
I'm not interested in video scoping as I like to digiscope for still images, I just fancied trying to film some wildlife/bird footage.


Mark b

Mark,

I sometimes use my older Sony DCR TRV730 digital 8 camcorder for getting quick and easy bird footage. This camera has an 18x optical zoom. I can get some pretty decent footage handholding (better with tripod of course). Here is a link to a short video of a Cooper's Hawk making a kill I shot a couple of months ago handholding this camcorder: http://media.putfile.com/coopers-kill-01.

Rick
 
Rick

Very good, and a difficult subject, Accipiters move very quickly, you were lucky to get the shot, well done.

Thanks for the info.

Mark b.
 
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