Looking for advice on what to use to shoo video of outdoor wildlife.

[QuinnNadu]

Hello,

I am rather new to photography and am interested in getting into it to take HD videos of wildlife such as deer, birds, etc. I have signed up for some classes on digital photography and have been working on reading some books about it. I really am leaning more towards a camcorder that can record good video. A lot of people have reccommended I get a DSLR, but will I have issues capturing moving birds in the sky with DSLR video?

I already have equipment such a tripods and microphones and what not purchased. Mainly interested on getting some advice for what DSLR or Camcorder you guys would reccommend? I prefer to buy used equipment to save on cost.

 

[QuinnNadu]

Hello,

I am rather new to photography and am interested in getting into it to take HD videos of wildlife such as deer, birds, etc. I have signed up for some classes on digital photography and have been working on reading some books about it. I really am leaning more towards a camcorder that can record good video. A lot of people have reccommended I get a DSLR, but will I have issues capturing moving birds in the sky with DSLR video?

I already have equipment such a tripods and microphones and what not purchased. Mainly interested on getting some advice for what DSLR or Camcorder you guys would reccommend? I prefer to buy used equipment to save on cost.

Anyone?

 

[brunerww]

Hi Quinn - I would get a $598 Panasonic G6 (w kit lens) or $998 GH3 (body only) with the $485 Panasonic 100-300mm lens, depending on your budget. Both cameras produce stunning video - and both have a 2x built-in crop due to their sensor size, plus a lossless 2.4x crop Extended Tele Converter (ETC) mode for even more magnification - at 300mm on the lens, you would be shooting at a 35mm equivalent magnification of 1440mm(!)

You will have no problems capturing moving birds or wildlife - these cameras have lightning fast autofocus.

Here is the G6 shooting wildlife with ETC (the GH3's results would be even better due to its higher bitrate and multiple codec options):

[video=vimeo;69864670]http://vimeo.com/69864670[/video]​

I'll post a birding video shot with the GH3 below, since the forum only allows one video per post.

Cheers,

Bill

 

[brunerww]

Here are the results you can get from the GH3 with the ETC mode:

[video=vimeo;67484916]http://vimeo.com/67484916[/video]​

Don DesJardin, who shot this video, says,

"I have been shooting with my XL H1 ($5800 Canon pro camcorder) for the last 7 years and will continue to use it in certain situations, but I have hardly used it since purchasing the GH3."

Hope this is helpful,

Bill

 

[grafxman]

I recently returned from a 2 week photo and video expedition. I mostly used my Canon 7D, 6D and my Canon XA20 camcorder. They both have their good points and bad points. I used the 7D for video much more than I did the XA20. That was because I had a Sigma 300-800mm SigMonster on it. Much of the time I had a doubler added onto that. It was very difficult to manage shooting out the window of my little Ford Fiesta. I added Canon's 1.5 teleconverter to the camcorder. The camcorder, being small and light, was much more useable than the 7D with a 2 foot long 13 pound lens. The really nice thing about the camcorder was that I could shoot through the closed window and windscreen when it was raining outside.

My most recently added photos to my photostream begin here:

ibis herons egrets feeding2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

From there you can scroll the thumbnails to the left then click on any that look interesting. You can't tell which were shot with a DSLR or a camcorder and I haven't found the time to label them. However any that have 1600mm in their title are definitely shot with the 7D and any shot through a window on a rainy day are definitely shot with the XA20. I bought the XA20 mainly because it can shoot infra night time video like this:

marsh rabbit munches grass | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This was shot through the windshield:

Armadillo crosses the road | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here's some 1600mm video:

1600mm turkey flock1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

1600mm red shouldered hawk eats live snake | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The first link takes you to photos and videos from Merritt Island. The subsequent links are to photos and videos shot at Dinner Island Ranch WMA.

FWIW I never use a tripod. I try to shoot out the car window if possible. The car can act as a moving blind. Animals are not usually afraid of cars but will typically flee at the sight a a person on foot. My best lens for wildlife photography and video is Sigma's 50-500mm. It focuses to under 4 feet which can be very important. It has about the widest zoom range available. That's also extremely important. You can check out more photos by going to my signature. I have nearly 14,000 photos and videos online now. I have another 5,000+ that need to be uploaded when I can find the time.