good video camera for ufo hunting?

I'm looking for a decent video camera to take with me on my expiditions ufo hunting. I need something with a decent zoom (i was told 40x or greater)... and something that has excellent night vision capabilities. IR sucks and i dont care about shooting a 50 foot ir beam when trying to view the outline of a house or ship 1/2 a mile away. So something with good moon light night vision capabilities. And finally something that has decent quality and stores the data on a large memory card. Trying to do all this for a used camera $400 or less. Is is possible? What video cameras do you recommend?

The night vision aspect is huge and currently we have to take our older cameras and place them behind our night vision monoculars to record anything at a distance at night.

Thanks!

I have a sony handicam and I have to place the cam and nightvision together.
I don't think it is possible to do it for under 400...my cheap set up actually cost me more then 400.
You get what you pay for as they say.

Don't get anything that uses HD/DVD media. Take one that uses a tape the reason being that the other compress the data which in these cases already might be of poor quality. Get one with good optics and large optical zoom. Make sure you only use optical zoom, don't use digital zoom at all, it's only cropping the image.

[Edit] Save enough money to get a decent monopod

[edit on 31/7/2009 by PsykoOps]

And please...

..for the love of god...

...buy a tripod!!!

If you go for a tripod instead of a monopod make sure you spend enough on it. Cheap tripods are useless junk.

reply to post by PsykoOps


One of my tripods is actually about 6 inches long and it has come in handy...no tripod is junk as they take out all the shakyness.

I am no expert tho.

Size doesn't matter, but quality of build does. Cheap ones are often so frail that they shake in the wind Not to mention lousy connections that slip etc.

sorry my question isnt mainly about cost more about nightvision capabilites. The ufo hunters camera act like traditional night vision scopes...how are they doing it?

reply to post by hiii_98


They are spending the coin.
If I had what they had i would get better shots.

spending the coin on WHAT?

make sure you get a video camera that records video

this article is a good start for a cheap UFO hunting set up..
also this thread has alot of info about digital nightvision.. I've heard it's comparable to generation 3 nightvision but a quarter the price..

reply to post by hiii_98


I meant that 400 bucks won't do it to get the quality of what they are using.You might have to do some research into what they have and spend the money on it.
I am not sure how to get that type of quality for little money.
My set up is cheap and so is the quality...its nothing compared to what they have.
Still works tho.

If you buy a video camera, the first thing you should do is learn how to use MANUAL FOCUS, for the love of God.

If you post some UFO video where things are going in-and-out of autofocus, you will be forced to turn in your UFO Hunting card!!!!

Originally posted by hiii_98
sorry my question isnt mainly about cost more about nightvision capabilites. The ufo hunters camera act like traditional night vision scopes...how are they doing it?

i believe they are using a AstroScope Generation 3 night vision adapter that fit on their camera, Astroscope make TONS of adapters to fit on any type of camera, the trouble is the cost... 5,000 to 6,000 for the adapter plus another 2,000 to 6,000 for a semipro camera and you can't export it out of any non-NATO countries-I think

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
...no tripod is junk as they take out all the shakyness.

Apparently you've never purchased a tripod from Thrifty/Rite-Aid. I'd say the cheap ones from Radio Shack are also junk, but they're nowhere near as bad as the ones from Thrifty/Rite-Aid.

reply to post by hiii_98


hiii_98 - I'm in the same boat as you. I'm currently looking for a camera for my own little UFO expedition.

What I've found so far is you can either get VERY GOOD zoom on some cheap standard definition camcorders OR decent low-light quality from various expensive HD cameras but either way you can't get both.

For me the zoom is more important so I'm looking at a Sony DCR-SR47 (60x optical zoom) or a Panasonic SDR-H80 (70x). They both come in at right around $400 and there's cheaper versions with less memory also.

But as for night-vision cameras - I believe JohnnyAnonymous is the right person to ask around here

Ok here is the setup i'm going to go for. I'm going to get a digital Yukon Ranger night vision scope, it has a video out which i will run to a mini portable DVR with a 8gb capacity. This way I will have gen 2 quality recordings in a light weight compact setup. Also the zoom is quite impressive on the yukons...

I dont understand why they cant make a camcorder that incorporates true night vision into it , instead of crappy NightShot...which to me isnt even real starlight amplifier tech.

Anyhow the setup i described above would cost $400.00 and you would have better quality than the majority of those ufo hunter shows imo. (you need to see how impressive digital night vision gen 2 is)

reply to post by hiii_98
I bought a Hard drive Sony dcr 35 I think about a year ago and while it's good in the day I wish I'd spent a bit more as it's only night vision plus, not the better night vision like on those of twice the price like £600. Anyway, when I next get the chance to get the orbs up close then it will be better than the mobile phone, but it's not that good to be honest. I've still not filmed anyhing better than on Super 8mm cine film in the early 90's, it was excellent even in the dark when using a lamp, I'd love to know if they would hook up to a night vision scope with the use of Ektachrome low light movie film.