Filming Hunts - On a Budget - Thoughts?

[buckfever1974]

My oldest is gonna be 12 and on her third season this next fall and my youngest is showing interest in crossbow hunting which means very little individual hunting for me (nice problem to have).

 

I need to start filming hunts for them and for some friends. Any of you film hunts and if so do u have any recommendations to do so on a budget? I have no idea what we would be talking dollar wise but I do know that like anything else you could go way high and do cheap. I don't want absolute crap either.

[Zipper]

Film off a tripod for steady footage. Low light capability is a big concern. Get camera with best low light performance. GOOGLE Campbells filming hunts, for information and Prices on equipment, new and used.

[ub1243]

i have been filming for a while.

tripod is a must, in a blind.

in a tree, get a good arm.

for both, get a good head.

look at the Whitetail packages from Campbell's Cameras. those Canon Vixia's are great little cameras.

 

then you want to learn to edit.

[Matty]

What kind of finished product are you looking for?

 

I mean, I have been filming a lot of my hunts for years and years with nothing more than a handheld consumer video camera. The quality of them has gone up and can be pretty darn good. If you have patience, you can edit in windows movie maker...that's how I've always done it. hard disk drive type.

 

I'm not at all serious though, I rarely even show my footage to anyone, it's just for me and sometimes friends or family to enjoy.

 

All of my own hunts are self filmed. My friend made me a stabilizer mounted camera mount that I have been using for about 5 years...maybe more...before that I gypsy rigged a camera to my stabilizer....Unfortunately the last hunt I used my camera on the bow and shot a doe, the shock from the bow shut the camera off. That has never been an issue in the past, so might be time for a new camera.

When filming friends, in the past I had a cheap camera tree arm and a cheap tripod. Helps a lot to have something like that...the more money you spend, the smoother they are.

 

Few things I've learned too...

 

Bring extra camera batteries, extended life if you can.... (extra tapes if it uses them) or extra memory cards...Film a lot so you catch cool things, but edit out as much as possible. Tell an accurate story of the hunt with the footage. It's a lot of fun...

 

Oh and back up everything somewhere. I just got done cleaning off my video camera a few weeks ago and figured all the footage was on the computer...Well the frigging dog smashed the computer and I lost everything. It's happened before and it always sucks. I haven't learned yet...but trust me...back up your footage because it's upsetting when it all goes bye bye forever. I had some really cool footage that I miss dearly.

 

If you need TV quality, I couldn't help you, but I think there are a few on here that can. 

[Matty]

one more thing...manual focus is a big help. having an easy to use focus on the camera is a plus. a focus ring is nice and I think there are a few decent cams for under a grand that have them.

 

The name escapes me...jvc everio I think but anyway, my camera cost like $300 when it was new and I bought a used one for like $80 for my mom. If you watch the wounded warrior hunt, it's all filmed with that. I don't think you can complain about the quality at those prices. My hand tremors don't help though. lol

 

The technology has probably improved since I bought mine and you can probably get better for cheaper now.

 

I also wanted to add that my camera has a lot of digital zoom...but digital zoom seems worthless. Worry about how much optical zoom. Interested to see what others have to say about all of this...cause I'm pretty sure a few guys take this way more seriously. 

 

I was looking at cameras again before the season and the features I looked for mostly were...

 

- Writes to an SD card (possibly with a backup sd or hard disc drive). (I just want simple, no fuss something I understand)

- HD

- Manual focus ring

- CCD (not where you learned about God)...but the type that has to do with low light. I don't claim to remember anything, but it was important, look into it. 

- decent optical zoom

- easy to use

 

I wish I could remember the model, but I had narrowed down to a panasonic I think...it was pretty incredible for the price. Wasn't what I call cheap, but it was under $900 and was the choice of some low budget film makers. I watched a lot of ridiculous youtube videos to research the quality from some artsy fartsy loonies...Really was impressive footage though.

 

Another thing I remember leaning towards was DSLR with the option of video. Cause you can change lenses...but I really like "simple"...I don't want filming to get in the way of hunting....it's just another aspect that can add fun.

 

I know I type too much...hope this helps at least a little.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Matty

[buckfever1974]

Awesome input. Have to buy a video camera before buying any more weapons if I can. Cheers. Keep it coming.

[_X7]

There are some amazing Point and Shoot cameras out there that shoot HD video. More than likely at a price that you can afford. Many have features that midrange camcorders have. Super Optical Zooms, low light capability, mic inputs. stabilization  and the like. There are plenty of editing options out there that can stitch together footage to your liking. Depending on the format you might need the horsepower of a more powerful computer. You need to look at what you want to deliver to figure out what you might need.

 

This video was done with a Canon Power Shot 30IS back in 2011. Handheld with internal microphone. Edited with Vegas Pro and Boris FX for the titling Just one example The cameras have come a long way since then

[_X7]

Here is another all shot with the same camera. The 1280/720p HD resolution was as high as they had in those days.The best part is that it is a 14MP still camera as well. The tech of what is out there today blows this stuff away and the prices are a little higher but not out of reach.

 

[Rusty]

I'm probably the least qualified and least experienced one here when it comes to filming but I did film a couple of hunts just for fun.  I didn't want to break the bank because it wasn't something I was going to seriously get into so I just used a small hand held camera.  The quality is nowhere near what you would get with a tripod and a high end camera but it was a lot of fun.

 

Edited January 2, 2016 by Rusty

[Rusty]

P.S.  As one critic has pointed out in the comments section for these videos, make sure you include video of the recovery.  

 

 

Thanks Matty.       

[jerseywhitetails]

you can go crazy with this.

 

camera arm,  camera on and on.  i filmed three hunts this year with my iphone 5 the footage amazing.

 

i have a mount on my bow.

[Bucksnbows]

On the cheap:  GoPro with a remote and a Personal Camera Buddy.  The latter is made and sold by our very own ShootStraight.  The PCB allows you to be in the video as it attaches to your back via a built in backpack.  The remote for the GoPro or other standard video camera is essential so that you don't have to make a lot of movements to turn it on when game comes in or when you hook a fish.  

 

Here's a link to Will's Personal Camera Buddy.  I hear the guy that modeled the fly fishing video is a world renowned angler and sought after male model.  Just what I heard.......

 

http://www.personalcamerabuddy.com/

 

 

That said, I use a relatively inexpensive but excellent quality Panasonic Lumix digital camera with HD video.  My only regret is no remote.  As Matty said, editing can be done with a variety of software these days and is easy to learn.   

[Matty]

It was the Canon Vixia HF G lineup that I was looking at. G10, G20 and G30. 

 

The prices on them seem to be in the $500-$1000 range now. The quality appears to be pretty much pro level. They should all make amazing amateur hunting footage. They get a lot of great reviews and the footage looks awesome. Great in low light too, which is critical for hunting.

 

Remember like a few guys said too....It's a lot about the steadiness of the footage (tripod or camera arm), don't zoom in and out a bunch, and edit it down to just the good stuff. I tend to leave my footage way too long just because I want to see everything that happened....but it can be boring to sit through if you show others. Audio quality is huge too...my audio quality can be bad, so I drown it out with music mostly. 

 

Here's a review from a hunter on the G10:

 

 

Here's some examples of footage from the G10:

 

 

 

I am finding them for as low as $500....that's well worth it in my opinion. Eventually I will get one.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Matty