Cheap night video set up test stage,

[Retired Member southey]

Howdy chaps,

I have been playing with a Sony Hi8 Handy cam i was very kindly given some time ago, it has a simple but effective night vision ir sensor, which with the built in three led ir torch is fine if your blair witching up the place, but my intention it to film the night time activities of the local deer and fox population,

Soooo I ordered a 4mm ir filter from a hunting supplier on ebay it comes in a sheet 15cm x 10cm so this was cut to fit over the glass of a 2million candle power spot light torch i have, the kind sold from home base and garages, rechargeable and so far reliable holding about an hours worth of charge, i set up the camera upstairs, this video is through double glazing, no moon little or no star light, the focus takes an extra second to adjust but over all im very happy with the setup, over time i will try to reduce the size of the torch with out loosing the power, but as this is kit on a budget it wont be any time soon.

What do you think? sorry for all the zooming about, they will improve. the tree line is 130 meters away, I need to get a couple of decent batts for the camera as the two I have are U\S,

[video=youtube;zZCHosYKUwY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZCHosYKUwY[/video]

 

[Nagual]

Not bad at all, I reckon with some playing around you'll have a good set up there!

 

[Retired Member southey]

I need to play with the video capture and the conversion programme to get a smoother film to, but until we get broad band with upload speeds above half a Meg I think I'll stay with the mp4 for uploads. gonna have a play with some metal to make a mount for the torch on the tripod above the camera, then try to find the maximum workable zoom. it's good fun though, will be great to get it mobile when I replace the cameras batteries.

 

[Nagual]

For surprisingly good compression, I tried 'bink' video out a few years back. it can produce some remarkable results... simple to use too. Can't recall if there is a trial/ if it's watermarked etc. Google it, no doubt you'll find it etc. Total Video Converter is great too.

 

[lou1661]

thats pretty good mate, is there any visable light given off by the filter?

 

[Retired Member southey]

Only the very feint glow of the ir, but I couldn't see it standing across the road, I have a little bit of the filter left so will make a smallone for the little fenix p1d and see how that does over ten meters or so, need to find a decent flood light to i think, I think a flood would be brilliant for the set at lords wood.

Will also spray the torch with with BBQ paint, it gets quite hot to the front, and with the paint being matt to should look quite good. reckon I could rig a remote switch too, I have a couple of crashed remote control helos I could scavenge the servo packs from to get the torch closer to the action and zoom in from a decent distance with the noisier camera.

 

[lou1661]

that sounds ideal, im glad there is little visable light, you wont keep waking me up as you shine it in my bedroom window!

 

[Retired Member southey]

You might want to slim down the duvet though, it does kick out some heat, you won't see me, but you'll feel me.

 

[lou1661]

hahahahahaha

 

[PaulSanderson]

good setup dave...i like that mate...you can be a full-time stalker now, ghillie suit and everything!!

 

[Retired Member southey]

Cheers dude.I have a special bin with a one way panel for the stalking bit.

 

[PaulSanderson]

haha now that is a picture...i thought you'd go for the giant traffic cone option, but a bin...genius!

 

[Retired Member southey]

It looks like this....

but covered in diamonds.

 

[PaulSanderson]

hmmm you sure thats not a bushy-collapsible porta-potty???

 

[Retired Member southey]

In some ways it is, i have to stay in there for quite some time.

 

[PaulSanderson]

needs more ventilation...and maybe a disco ball...

 

[Retired Member southey]

The kit i'm using is:

Sony CCD-TRV228E PAL Hi-8
Universal tripod
High power torch
IR filter sheet
Pinnacle systems dvc 100 media transfer

These are just sellers selling the kit I'm using, other than the ir filter seller i have not bought from them and cannot endorse, the IR filter chap was prompt and it was well packed, other than that no link.

I'm using pinnacle movistar5 software for the transfer and [video]http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html[/video] to go from AVI to mp4.