I am wanting to start filming my hunts and my families hunts. Ill either be self filming or filming with another person. Im completely new to this, so any advice is welcome. First things first, I need a camcorder. Whats a good starter cam corder that won't take food off the table?
Filming is great but very challenging. What's your budget or definition of not taking food off the table?
I want the challenge for the reward. i see so many camcorders starting at $1,000. Theres got to be something less expensive right?
you dont have to spend near that much for a decent camcorder for hunting. Any comcorder will get the job done but you want one that is HD. Check out cambellcameras.com. They have some great deals on some packages and new camera they just came out with starting around $350 i believe or something like that. it would be great. i use the canon vixia HFM50 and i love it. The canon vixia line of cameras are great. There are a lot of others that are nice to but that is just my personal preference.
ill say filming is very addicting and the more you do it the better you wont you filming set up to be. This is my first year self filming and i take my camera with me to the stand no matter what unless it is raining. Its a lot harder to kill one but its so much fun. I like the challenge
One of the big things I found is that your camera must be a good low-light camera or most of your footage will be grainy. Sony & Canon make good low-light cameras. I have also found that I need a tree camera arm mount...in the market for one right now so let me know if you find a good one. I see a bunch of Muddy's but they seem really bulky. Not sure though as I have had my camera mounted to my stabilizer mount...
I started with a Sony Handycam around $400. And have been accumalating from there, ive put about 700 dollars into the set up since then with the idea of buying higher quality stuff, that will be able to support a big camera when i have the money saved up to drop 4 grand on one. But the main thing is get a good quality fluid head and remote for filming out of a tree. The remote makes it so much smoother, you can buy a Sony remote(if you go with a Sony) for around 40 bucks on Amazon and its worth every penny. I use a Manfrotto fluid head to which also makes a world of difference in quality. 3rd Arm makes a great tree arm as well, my buddy uses a Muddy which is nice to. Good luck, its addicting once you get into it, check out Cambell Cameras like others have said, a great place to do research. But a good tree arm, fluid head, and remote will get you started in the right direction.
i use the 3rm bandit tree arm. It comes with a fluid head on it and for the money you cant beat it. Its not near as good as other fluid heads but once you play with it for a bit you figure it out. it supports my little handy cam perfectly too.
Unfortunatly buying a new fluid head is not in my budget right now So I have the 3rd arm Bandit tree arm as well, but I am not a fan of the head it came with( to jerky and to much plastic for my liking). But I also have the Archers choice tree arm that I have been using for 3 years( the one that weighs as much as a boat anchor ) as well and I really like the head on it so today I am going to try to put the Archers choice head on my 3rd Arm Bandit tree arm and pray it works.
Carl in Gifford , Hello from from just down the road in Urbana I can suggest you also visit your local retailers in Champaign such as Best Buy etc. You can find there opened boxes of video cameras, once they open the box it goes on a clearance shelf in the video camera area with the price marked way down. We found a $500.00 HD Video camera A Panasonic HC-V500M there in an open box marked down to $350.00 with no missing parts and no damage not a scratch on anything ( once they open the box it cant go back on the shelf as new ) the savings on the video camera were enough to buy a new camera arm We liked the camera so much I just got another one for Christmas. You can also check online and find from manufacturers webstores reconditioned cameras drasticlly marked down with warrenties. This is a link to my youtube video to show you an example of the quality of footage from the Panasonic HC-V500M from some of my recent bowhunts at Allerton Park in Monticello. http://youtu.be/Eq9SSvjX4g8
Urbana?!?! Awesome. Its a small world. I work at MTD. I got a good deal on a new Sony handycam. Im going to start my focus on filming next season with some practice this off season as far as set up in the stand and getting used to it. Cool to know your close. So you've ate at the apple dumpling, right?
Thats crazy. I live over in Champaign on campus and take the bus over to parkland every day. We are all really close together here. As far as the video camera i got lucky and my mom had a older one that she thought was "broke" since it would record on the little mini disc it takes. So i was like ill take it. All i had to do was use a memory card now it runs great. Its a little sony handy cam it will do the job for now since im just trying the filming thing out like you. Im hoping to get some good video either this spring with turkey. or next season in the fall.
