Hey everybody. I am thinking about getting into recording my hunts for next year. My question is what is the best road to go down as a camcorder and everything? I know nothing about this stuff. If you could give me suggestions that would be awesome!
http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?t=44267 this will answer pretty much every question you have.
If you are self filming and new you definitely want to go with a camcorder. Canon G20 are great quality cameras and pretty reasonable price wise. With a camcorder LANC remotes are vital for quality of footage. Here is a list of all LANC compatible camcorders... http://www.aquatix.com/lanc_camcorders.htm Sony camcorders need a av/r adapter to use most LANC remotes. As it goes for microphones Rode makes great mics. Canon also has a line of mics that use the "hot shoe" accessory like the Canon DM-100. These are a little more money but definitely worth it. If you are going to have someone filming your hunts or want a dual functioning camera DSLR's are the way to go. I just got into the DSLR's this past year so I am still pretty new to them but I have learned a lot. Canon is the big name in the game but Nikon is just as good as Nikon. Look for something with a flip out screen or buy an external screen. This makes sure that the deer is in the camera picture. Shotgun mics will run good on these too. Lenses are a beast of their own. I don't know the area you will be hunting and whether it is open or a lot of woods. So to start lenses have a "f" value on them. This means aperture. The number following the "f" indicate how much light is let into the lens and body. The smaller the number the more light allowed into the lens (seems backwards but you'll get used to it). So most long range lens have high aperture values (less light). For taking trophy photos or doing interviews you'll want a lower zoom lens. What I mean is that each lens also has a zoom value (18-55mm, 75-200mm, ...) I use a 18-55mm for interviews and trophy photos. The 75-200mm I use for hunting. They make 18-300mm which would be ideal but are pretty $$ for me (college student). If you get a DSLR I found it very helpful to just go in the field with it and its manual and just play with it. You learn more this way than by reading what other people write. The forum _andrewgiles_sio posted contains a lot of info so go through that too. Never ever over look your camera arm and fluid head. For camera arms Muddy is the way to go. Cabela's was just running a sale on them. They have a bunch of different models based on the weight of the camera but the basic model should work. For fluid heads Manfrotto is the big name but also have a big price. Personally we use $35 fluid heads that we have compared side by side with the Manfrotto's and for our use they work just as good. So which ever way you go do some research first before making any purchases and then take it with you everywhere. http://www.amazon.com/YT-950-Tripod-Action-Shooting-Filming/dp/B00K81FI8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448551995&sr=8-1&keywords=yunteng+fluid+head
