I agree Justin. I have tried using my A6300 as a main camera and it does work, but making adjustments is cumbersome and not something I want to have to do in the heat of the moment. My NX80 isn't perfect but it's very easy to setup and run. I run a phantom powered shotgun mic, so I only have one battery to worry about and it generally lasts me the entire hunt. I carry two spares just in case but it's not very often I have to swap batteries. The screen is easier to articulate into a good viewing angle. The screen is the biggest downfall on the A6300. However, the A6300 gives me an awesome second angle camera. Coupled with a 10,000 mAH power bank allows me to just keep the A6300 powered on all the time and controlled with an old cell phone. I love having 2 quality cameras running. I was able to capture the kill shot of this years buck on both the main and second angle cameras.
And there's nothing better than that! Sometimes I enjoy the over-the-shoulder 2nd angle footage more than the primary camera angle. We're primarily using GoPro Hero 4's for over-the-shoulder 2nd angles with either at 6 or 12 hour battery pack on them and it works great. We leave them running the entire hunt. If nothing exciting happens we recharge the batteries, clear the card and proceed to the next hunt. I may try using my Lumix G85 as a 2nd angle at some point. Not sure if it will work with an external battery pack or not. I've been experimenting a lot with the Tactacam 5.0 wide angle coupled with the Tactacam remote and so far it's working awesome as well. I'm going to start using that on the ground to try and get a reverse angle back towards the stand. The remote is great and I've got it controlling cameras with ease that are 20 and 30 yards away. One click turns the camera on and it starts recording.
I've never used a Tactacam, but I tried that with my GoPros and always had problems with them losing connection. I finally gave up and haven't had a GoPro with me for the last two season. I did just pick up a clearance Hero5 Black and have been thinking about setting it up on the ground and just letting it run like you do for your second angle. I like having the A6300 for my second angle because I can grab it and take pictures if I need to. I've played with just about every option for a second angle camera and really like my setup with the A6300 the best. Easiest and most reliable I have found.
I've since sold that 7" monitor, but this is what my setup looks like. Sent from my LM-V350 using Tapatalk
Nothing "simple" about that setup Stephen ... I had a Sony A5100 during turkey seasons that I setup as a 2nd angle camera pointing back at me while in the blind. It worked well for that. I don't know that I'd want to do it in a tree though. But you are making it work. A lot to remember to get running. With turkeys I generally can see or hear them coming from a ways off so I have time to get everything turned on. Would be tough to do that in a tree on a deer and not get busted. I often run my old GoPro Hero 3's on a loop (someone on this forum clued me in on this). Then I can just deal with 20 minute clips. I have a love/hate relationship with GoPro's ... I love to hate them. They are awesome when all goes right, but generally I just want to throw them as far as humanly possible.
Nah, I leave the A6300 powered on and get around 5 hours out of the 10,000 mAH power back. I leave the cell cam locked in the on position and can get about the same amount of time out of it as well. All I have to do is hit the record button on the cell camera and the second angle cam is up and running. The A6300 is on a QD plate that snaps right into the ball mount and the arm snaps right into the mount that is permanently in the tree. I can have it all set and ready to go in less than 60 seconds. I could run the camera off a wired remote if needed, but I like having the live view screen for framing the shot since you can't see the damn screen from the front of the camera. I found that the monitor on my main camera was more of a pain than it was worth, so I have quite using it in treestand situations. So really, for the main camera, I carry it ready to just slap on the fluid head, flip around the shotgun mic, slide that cell phone on the cold shoe and I'm ready to rock and roll. Total setup time, including the tree arm would be less than 5 minutes. Probably more like 3 to 4 minutes.
What are you using for the tree mount? The screw in portion looks kind of like that screw in piece that Xenek makes. But the whole thing looks pretty custom ... if so, great creative thinking. Do you have this for all of your stands? I have somewhere around 20 fixed sets now, but I probably only hunt 10-12 on any given year as some are ag crop rotation dependent. Still that would be a lot of screw in adapters. I love seeing how others do this stuff. There are never any two setups that are the same.
Looks like the Morph Pro system to me. https://outrighthunt.com/morph-pro-bow-hanger-system/ I too have a love/hate relationship with GoPros. However the way we use them is very simple - extended battery, mount the camera above you, turn it on and let it run the entire hunt. I gave up trying to turn it on and off using apps, remotes, etc. Every now and again I'll use the app just to review what it's seeing and make sure the framing is what I want but that's not often. I try to keep it as simple as possible. I'll admit the remote for the Tactacam 5.0 is super sweet. I paired it to both of my cameras several weeks ago and that was all the setup required. 1 button push turns both cameras on without them needing to be in standby mode or paired via Wi-Fi. Then one button press to turn them off when I'm done. In terms of overall convenience I've yet to find anything better.
Justin's right. It's a modified Morph Pro bow hanger setup. I have a custom QD mount with a ball head attached to hit. It was an idea that I proposed to the owner of the company and he sent me a piece that I could make it work. They will actually be launching a very similar mount in the near future. I have two of these in every tree stand set I have. It makes setting up very quick and simple. https://outrighthunt.com/product/quick-connect-screws-bowhanger-screws/
Very cool. Thanks both of you for the input. Justin - how are you connecting your GoPro's to the tree? I thought I saw Todd (I think) or maybe it was you in a recent video clip with one of those mini Joby pods wrapped around a branch. I've done that a time or two, but you don't always have a small branch to grab onto.
I hear what you're saying! I miss the days of popping down my G40 and just letting it roll. I only had to charge the battery for that sucker once a week! It was a tank... I miss having it in the arsenal, but the quality of the footage was just lacking. I've gotten the a6500 rig down to what I call, "Roll-Tide Simple" here... It's just the camera with the battery grip, and the mic. Mic is powered off the camera, so no need for batteries. I do bring an extra lens with me, but that's pretty simple to just swap off, and I only use it in the first and last 15 minutes of the day... really, I think I could run it without the lens and be on par with the ax700 (I actually was testing this in my basement the other night, and I can definitely get them identical on a ghetto rigged test). I bought a bunch of aftermarket batteries that are almost 20,000 mAh, so it basically makes the battery grip 4x the battery power of the standard 10,000 mAh stock battery... and I like the way it feels in the hand more anyways. My LANC controller is already on my 4th arrow arm, so it's a pretty quick and simple setup. Bottom line - BUY AN A6500!!! You won't regret it!! BTW - I thought you guys might like to see a video that First Lite did on me and the urban hunting... enjoy!
That is pretty cool. There is a group of guys that I spend time talking to at ATA every year (they buy Magnus heads from us in huge quantities) and they do something similar in ... I want to say ... Virginia. Suburban bow hunting and they shoot hundreds of does every year. Cool stuff and great film.
Thanks bud! Sure did turn out awesome. Yeah, I think you could have been talking to some of the guys that I know in the bowhunting community up here. It's certainly a small world of hunters around here! I might have chatted with you about it as well at ATA - I've been going for the last 7 or 8 years. It's a blast!
One thing I did notice with the AX700 that I found surprising, was the fact that my LANC controller (Varizoom Stealth LX), wasn't able to toggle the camera between AF and MF with the standard button for that.... on my old Canon G40, I could hit the toggle switch and change focus. It was super handy for when deer were close, but you were navigating around a branch trying to film a certain buck. I was really surprised that it wouldn't work with the sony. I'd have to hit the AF/MF button on the front, and then that would allow me to toggle the actual focus, but at that point, you'd just be better off racking focus with your hand anyways!! Have you ever experienced this? Thought it was strange! I was super pumped about this camera mainly in part because of the LANC input - but not allowing AF/MF toggle remotely is no bueno!
