What is best camcorder/telescope for recording UFOs?

Hi everyone,

I'm new to ATS. This site is great, some serious discussions from people who seem very well informed.

Does anyone know what is the best device (e.g. camera, camcorder, telescope, night vision goggles) for recoding UFOs?

Firstly, I'm interested in filimg UFOs in the sky at night. I read on one of the threads that the best option for that is a telescope that can have a camera attached to it. But I couldn't find out anymore information. Is that the best option? If so, which models are best value fo rmoney? If not, please let me know what device is best.

Secondly, I am also interested about filming in day using a device that can use infrared in daytime (to view the 'rods' and 'critters' phenomena. I know some of you are probably just convinced that they are insects, but I'd like to investigate it myself). I have read up a bit on this before, actually might have been a thread on here, where it was mentioned about getting old sony camcorders with nightvision, (models made before august 1998) as evidently they had capability to use infrared in daytime. Problem is I have no idea what the names of those models are. Maybe some of you have better ideas of finding a device that can achieve infrared viewing in day light?

Thanks all of you for your time in reading this,

Cheers,

Aelf

reply to post by Aelfrede


Hi Aelfrede and welcome to ATS.

Some thoughts on your questions.

It is worth bearing in mind that telescopes of high magnification, ie celestial, will be extremly sensitive to any movement of the subject and of the telescope itself so personally I would not recommend these for this application unless you are looking at subjects above earths atmosphere.

I would suggest a camera or camcorder you can use with a zoom lens but don't forget that the more you zoom the more any camera shake will be exagerated so a tripod is essential.

All sony camcorders seem to come with nightshot and can record in the near infrared, there are several ways of achieving the performance of the older models, (produced before August 12, 1998) in the later models.

You might want to look at this link that explains this better then I could.

www.kaya-optics.com...

Something else worth bearing in mind is the standard zoom characteristcs on camcorders, they are often quoted as something like 10x optical and 40x digital or variations on that theme, the problem is that the digital zoom degrades detail the more you use it because it is like magnifying the pixels as opposed to enlarging the subject.

So make sure it is possible to fit an external optical zoom lens otherwise you will limit your distance shots with reduced detail and definition.

Regarding rods I think the only way you could prove them definitively is with a very high speed camera and I am sure they would be expensive so how much are you willing to spend.

I hope that helps

As Sherp said, forget a telescope for recording atmospheric anomalies.

And it does not matter what you use for a camcorder, as you will not capture anything other than blurry objects in the sky, lights against a dark background, and your imagination (which actually shows up on video, really, seriously go check youtube, lol)

I say the above, because there are no alien UFO's that can be caught on tape as of yet. Of the millions of cameras out there, and the THOUSANDS of crappy videos out there, you can't point to a single on that shows anything clear enough to even argue about. Now, we can find THOUSANDS of videos showing identifiable planes, hot air balloons, just about anything in the sky people point at, and they come out great on video. But for some reason, out of the thousands of "ufo" videos, they all come out crappy, or cgi. Yours will not be any different, and not matter how much you spend on a camera you will not capture anything that isn't really there anyway.


However, if you want to clearly capture 747's, lear jets, balloons, and anything else that is clearly terrestrial you can pretty much use any camera you want to.....odd how that works, huh?

red.com

the red one sports 120fps 64db gain and usage of normal digital camera lenses.

its expensive i dont know if you got that kind of money. but to all reading this thread i think it must be the perfect ufo hunters camera

Originally posted by skywatch
red.com

the red one sports 120fps 64db gain and usage of normal digital camera lenses.

its expensive i dont know if you got that kind of money. but to all reading this thread i think it must be the perfect ufo hunters camera

Nice kit but not very convenient if you want to buy know they say available early 2009.

Just how much are those puppies going to cost, the only price I found was for a lens at $6500.

Some pros though at 24.4x13.7 thats the biggest ccd I have ever come across and the whole thing is modular so any upgrades would be easy...as long as you have the money of course.

Lol.

17.5 K might be considered a tad OTT for a body only starter set don't you think?

Might it not be better to start off with a little spotter scope with a good chunk going towards a decent tripod?

After all the biggest problem with most of the footage normally uncovered on the likes of youtube etc is that the shooter seems to suffer from the shakes.

Absence.

Thanks for the responses.

Thanks Sherpa, your suggestion looks the only feasable one for me so far, other suggestion is way out of my price range lol

It's a shame there isn't just some definite model i can get that doesn't involve interfering with it.

Can anyone advise on any camcorders that you can buy with a reasonable price tag (e.g in the hundreds rather than thousands) that will allow infrared in daytime? So far, the next best thing I came across is a company that converts your camera/camcorder for you.

Cheers,

Aelf

I actually tried this same thing a while back (there is a thread on here with more detailed info called Sky Watch or Project Sky watch I think). I used a sony camcorder attaced to a laptop and pointed it at the sky for 30 days 24 hours a day+. Capturing 20+ gig a day AVI if I recall.

Each day I would watch the video, I parsed/watched it at 1 second of viewing would equate to every 60 seconds. I captured lots of birds, identifiable planes, insects, and the best time elapsed video of cloud formations (this was the best) and many sun rises/sets.

Didn't see any UFO's.

Good luck with your search. I will try and hunt down the thread I mentioned.

EDIT: Here is the Thread

[edit on 7/2/2008 by Stockburn]

UFO sightings typically last a few minutes but some only a matter of seconds, so you'll want a quick start-up time. Most detailed reviews will mention the camcorder's start-up time.

Most UFOs are seen during the night - either it's easier to misidentify mundane objects in the dark, or the UFOs prefer it - your choice! Anyway, that means you'll need a camcorder that performs well in low-light situations.

Usually, the bigger the CCD, the better the camcorder's low-light performance. A bigger CCD can capture more light. Most modern consumer camcorders are equipped with a 1/6" CCD - hardly suitable for low-light shooting. Aim for a 1/4" CCD, or larger if possible. Multiple CCDs are also good, three 1/6" CCDs are not equivalent to a 1/2" CCD, but they're not far off.

Camcorders with larger CCDs tend to be more bulky, but if you want a high quality image (mainly in low-light situations) size shouldn't matter.

Sony's Nightshot mode uses a small infrared lamp to illuminate the scene, however it is only effective over a few metres, so don't choose a camcorder based on its nightshot capability. Other brands may use similar "night mode", most of them slow down the shutter speed to let more light in, however this usually results in a sluggish, unclear image.

Don't worry about fancy formats too much. I would take MiniDV over most of the others. They're cheap, mostly reliable and durable. MiniDV may be at the end of its lifespan, but it's still a solid format. In my opinion most of the older camcorders are better than today's; nowadays it's all about size and style, rather than image quality. Newer does not equal better!

Avoid digital zoom - it won't help you. It only crops the image at the expense of quality, making the subject appear larger.
Optical zoom is what you need, fortunately most modern camcorders have plenty of it. However, unless you are filming dots of light in the sky, you won't need a huge optical zoom.

Something else very important is manual controls. The average user may prefer automatic settings - they are easier, but not always effective. In dark situations camcorder's find it harder to focus automatically.
This is where manual focus comes in, it allows you to specify where (what distance) the camera should focus on.

I may have missed a couple of things in my rushed post, I managed to lose the original while typing it, but it should still give you an idea of the core features I look for when choosing a camcorder.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by JH80]

Thanks for your post Stockburn and for the link

Aelf

Originally posted by Stockburn
I actually tried this same thing a while back (there is a thread on here with more detailed info called Sky Watch or Project Sky watch I think). I used a sony camcorder attaced to a laptop and pointed it at the sky for 30 days 24 hours a day+. Capturing 20+ gig a day AVI if I recall.

Each day I would watch the video, I parsed/watched it at 1 second of viewing would equate to every 60 seconds. I captured lots of birds, identifiable planes, insects, and the best time elapsed video of cloud formations (this was the best) and many sun rises/sets.

Didn't see any UFO's.

Good luck with your search. I will try and hunt down the thread I mentioned.

EDIT: Here is the Thread

[edit on 7/2/2008 by Stockburn]

Thanks JH80 for this informative post. Has given a lot of info to keep in mind. Many thanks for taking the time to write it,

Cheers,

Aelf
[
quote]Originally posted by JH80
UFO sightings typically last a few minutes but some only a matter of seconds, so you'll want a quick start-up time. Most detailed reviews will mention the camcorder's start-up time.

Most UFOs are seen during the night - either it's easier to misidentify mundane objects in the dark, or the UFOs prefer it - your choice! Anyway, that means you'll need a camcorder that performs well in low-light situations.

Usually, the bigger the CCD, the better the camcorder's low-light performance. A bigger CCD can capture more light. Most modern consumer camcorders are equipped with a 1/6" CCD - hardly suitable for low-light shooting. Aim for a 1/4" CCD, or larger if possible. Multiple CCDs are also good, three 1/6" CCDs are not equivalent to a 1/2" CCD, but they're not far off.

Camcorders with larger CCDs tend to be more bulky, but if you want a high quality image (mainly in low-light situations) size shouldn't matter.

Sony's Nightshot mode uses a small infrared lamp to illuminate the scene, however it is only effective over a few metres, so don't choose a camcorder based on its nightshot capability. Other brands may use similar "night mode", most of them slow down the shutter speed to let more light in, however this usually results in a sluggish, unclear image.

Don't worry about fancy formats too much. I would take MiniDV over most of the others. They're cheap, mostly reliable and durable. MiniDV may be at the end of its lifespan, but it's still a solid format. In my opinion most of the older camcorders are better than today's; nowadays it's all about size and style, rather than image quality. Newer does not equal better!

Avoid digital zoom - it won't help you. It only crops the image at the expense of quality, making the subject appear larger.
Optical zoom is what you need, fortunately most modern camcorders have plenty of it. However, unless you are filming dots of light in the sky, you won't need a huge optical zoom.

Something else very important is manual controls. The average user may prefer automatic settings - they are easier, but not always effective. In dark situations camcorder's find it harder to focus automatically.
This is where manual focus comes in, it allows you to specify where (what distance) the camera should focus on.

I may have missed a couple of things in my rushed post, I managed to lose the original while typing it, but it should still give you an idea of the core features I look for when choosing a camcorder.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by JH80]

I would look into a small schmidt cassegrain or maksutov telescope paired with a decent camera. With a camera or video camera alone, you won't get the necessary magnification and light grasp to capture distant objects and resolve them. Yes you can get some different lenses, although they will not be near the power of a decent telescope. You basically need more light grasp as you increase magnification, or as you magnify, the image will degrade. There are also small spotting scopes which can have a camera mounted directly to the output and can increase your magnification and light grasp. The schmidt cassegrain and the maksutov telescopes both yield non-reversed upright images, and most have the option to mount a video recorder or camera directly to the back.

Hi Freezer,

sorry I'm late getting back to you, I haven't checked this thread for a while. Thanks a lot for your post. I'm going to check out the products you suggested and hope the price tag isn't too extreme ;-)

Cheers,

Aelf

reply to post by Aelfrede


Hi Aelfrede their are alot better ways to do what it is you want to do for less money invested then stated here. I have done the same thing you are trying with pretty good results if you like you can email me a way to get ahold of you and I would be glad to give you more information. Good luck Gary [email protected]




[edit on 15-8-2008 by visionQuest101]

Hi,

thanks for your response. I would love to hear what results you had and how you got them. I tried emailing you on the address you gave but I don't know if you got it.

It would be great to hear what you have experienced with infrared.

Thanks,

Aelf

reply to post by Aelfrede



Having not had one for a while, i have recently ordered a new "intro" scope... just to get back into the swing of it.... can't wait til it arrives.
It's the skywatcher STARTRAVEL-102 SynScan™ AZ GOTO Telescope




Spec can be found here..Spec


I'll let you know what it's like when i get it.

[edit on 8/1/09 by blupblup]

Thanks Blupblup, looking forward to your report!

Aelf

Hi Aelf,

My name is Michael Hobby and I'm 46 years old and I live in Loxton, South Australia.

I have recently bought a telescope and a camera, I have captured a lot of UFO's activity flying above the moon surface, and I was using My Lenovo ThinkPad T530 Laptop Computer on the 15th of April 2014 at 6:51 PM and also the 8th of October 2014 at 9:48 PM to captured The Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse and also a few UFO activity flying cross The Moon Capturing at 51 Frames Per Second using The Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit to run The NEXIMAGE 5 iCap_V2.2 Software. And also I was using The ProStar 0.5X Reducer with The CELESTRON NexImare 5 Solar System Imager Camera, Model: 93711 On The Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro Mout Go-To/Dual Head Control and 10 Inch BlackDiamond Reflector. Model: BD25012P-OTA.

My next step is, I'm going to use the Image Intensifier Tube GEN2 or GEN3 on my telescope. You would need to come up with an idea to use the Image Intensifier Tube on the nose piece of telescope followed by camera so you able to see more details of the UFO's and more stars which is brown dwarf, using night vision, because the spaceship uses the anti clocking system to make it invisible, that's why people can't see UFO's in our sky.

I hope this was helpful, if you want to see what I've done so far, you can go to my YouTube channel Under the following URL:
youtu.be...
youtu.be...

if you have a question and you need my help you can leave a comment on YouTube.

a reply to: DeeJayMichaelHobby

Hello Michael, if you plan on publicising your video, ATS T&Cs require you to make 20 posts before posting a thread on the topic.

I've just watched the video and can't rule out the probability that the two objects passing across the telescope's field of view are birds, bats or bugs. Particularly the second one as it's blurriness and relative size is suggestive of a moving object close to the telescope rather than an object closer to the moon.

I also notice that it was filmed shortly after dusk which would favour bugs and bats over birds.

Incidentally, that's a cool set-up you have with the telescope. Quite envious of that and the sizeable record collection

originally posted by: IgnoreTheFacts
it does not matter what you use for a camcorder, as you will not capture anything other than blurry objects in the sky, lights against a dark background, and your imagination (which actually shows up on video, really, seriously go check youtube, lol)

That statement is patently false. Type in "white UFO orbs," or "cloud orbs" on Youtube, and see the clear resolution objects for yourself. On October 13th I saw a clear white orb UFO floating in the sky. I didn't even know these things were a bonafied phenomenon until I did research and found all the other videos. Had I had a camera on me at the time, the footage would have been phenomenal.

originally posted by: IgnoreTheFactsI say the above, because there are no alien UFO's that can be caught on tape as of yet.

That is totally false. Take a look at the Youtube videos. We have very good footage. Just because you have never experienced anything, does not prove all the accumulated eye-witness testimonies and videos of other people is false.