Hunting video camera

[6haase6]

Looking to start filming hunts and need a budget camera to start with. Anybody know of a camera with decent quality?

[vandeman17]

When do you plan to start? I have a Canon hd camera that I might be selling after our elk hunt in September.

[Houndhunter]

I got a Sony HDR-XR260v, has worked very well for the most part and it can use it with my macbook. I think it cost me 600$ but the hd looks great on big tv's, the only thing i don't like is i their is no manual focus. i can do some spot focusing on it but its not the same.

Now if i can figure out how to compress 1080p so i can burn it onto a dvd id be set, my first video was 35mins and 29 gigs!!! I was told by a few guys on here that film to shoot everything in hd, because you never know if you'll get that once in a life time shot. Hd footage has so far been a pain for me though because the files are enormous

[JPhelps]

What is your intended use of the footage?  For personal use or commercial use?

[6haase6]

I would be starting sept 1st. Just for personal use now would upgrade if I ever got into commercial stuff. Which is were I would like to end up.

[huntnnw]

Really depends on your budget...with more money come better cameras audio, low light capabilities, able to hook up LANC controllers, larger zooms and better lenses. There are some pretty good cams out now in the $900 to $1200 range now. I have a Sony HXR 50MCU and it works great and the audio is great. It has great low light capabilities with a 1.8-3.4 aperature thru the zoom. Another good thing about it for self filming hunts its small and only weighs 3.5 lbs!

The Canon Vixia is a good one too

[vandeman17]

Really depends on your budget...with more money come better cameras audio, low light capabilities, able to hook up LANC controllers, larger zooms and better lenses. There are some pretty good cams out now in the $900 to $1200 range now. I have a Sony HXR 50MCU and it works great and the audio is great. It has great low light capabilities with a 1.8-3.4 aperature thru the zoom. Another good thing about it for self filming hunts its small and only weighs 3.5 lbs!

The Canon Vixia is a good one too

I have the Canon Vixia and it is pretty darn nice. I don't have all the fancy microphones or anything but the then again it is only for personal use

[saylean]

I was looking into it myself....thanks for the info~!

[aaron]

I have a Canon T3i that I love. They run around $600 and up and the quality is incredible. They are photography cameras so not the easiest to shoot video with. Manual focus takes a lot of practice.  I would recommend some kind of shoulder rig to keep things steady when you're in the blind or stalking...and a good fluid head tripod for smooth pan shots.

Oh and an external microphone (Rode shotgun mic) or separate sound recorder (zoom h1/h4) will make a huge difference in your videos. Those on-board mics are terrible. 
For about $1k you can get a good camera and all the accessories you need. 

[elkh8me]

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