cave, den shooting at night
 

hi,

I plan to left sony hc96 camera with IR light to dens, caves and some places to shoot night beahviours of some mammals. but longest shooting medium is 90 min minidv tape with LP mode. so whats your suggestion as recording media can serve at least 3 hours ?

and also how can I keep the batteries warm-at least above +5 C degree in dens, is there any tecnhique for this ?

thanks,

alkim.

Hi Alkim,

I will assume that you have thought about this but there is a considerable amount of responsibility that comes with putting camera equipment inside the dens of otters, lynx and bears. This responsibility is infinite if there are young or expectant mums using these dens/caves, just the scent and disturbance left/created by you installing the gear can be enough to cause the animals to abandon the place and possibly their only refuge in the area.

Many cave and den sequences are shot in controlled (i.e. captive conditions) and others are shot from outside the den with remote pinhole cameras, endoscopes and the suchlike. Other techniques involve creating film friendly dens with glass panels, fixed cameras etc before the animal moves in. I don't think that the idea of putting a loud camera inside the den/cave is very responsible, especially as once it is in it will have to come out, have tapes changed, batteries charged etc.

Better to go back to the drawing board on this one as even using IR gear the disturbance will be massive.

I hope that this is taken in the spirit intended but this is a really difficult and ethically charged area.

J

hi james,

thanks for your sensitiveness. but make sure that I m not a excited amateur that I rush out with my camera to dens and caves tomorrow. I m professional wildlife photographer and videographer, environmental inpector and ecological specialist for the past 10 years. my current project is about extend the ecologically sensitive areas at north-east part of turkey, supported and sponsored by United Nations Development Programme. so I am aware of all your worries and well beyonds of them.

but my question is about what people do during night shots and how they extend battery-tape life. the idea of putting camera or video camera is just for getting visual proof of that species lives there. in day time these dens where I work occupied by the local people or their livestocks. so the issue is not related with putting noisy camera to untouched, unexplored cave.

If I dont have any responsibility, Why I try to loose time by asking the proper ways of night recording at this froum, Who can stop me at the area at night time as the wild animals are been shot, and their habitats are been invaded by the unconcerned-disrespectful people ?

so if we came to technology and technique dont anybody know any resources, websites or experiences about night shots especially extending battery lifes and recording medias beyond 1 hour ?

thanks
alkim.

Hi Alkim,

Good that you have thought about all this. Send me an email off the forum and we can discuss this in a bit more detail and perhaps I can help.

James

james,
your email seems not to work or exist,
mine is working and send me through my profile
alkim.