Canon POWERSHOT SD3500IS- User Manual

www.huntinfool.com

16

Staff Tips

Staff Tips

2010 Digital Camera Review

—by John Petersen

—by John Petersen

IS IT TIME TO UPGRADE?

Technology changes so fast that if
your digital camera is over 3-4 years
old it is probably outdated. Yes it will
still work but even an inexpensive
newer model camera will generally
out perform a camera that is 4 years
old. When purchasing a camera this
year look for one from one of the top
manufacturers that is 12 megapixel or
more—preferably 14+.

HD VIDEO CAPABILITIES

Last year I mentioned HD video
advancements in point and shoot type
cameras. This year more than ever
I think that it’s time to upgrade to
a camera that will record HD video.
Plus, this year we are encouraging our
members to send us video clips of their
hunts that can potentially be featured
on our website to supplement their
story. Go to www.huntinfool.com/
video to see live footage of the buck on
this month’s cover! Many hunters have
wanted to combine their video and still
cameras into one for years and video
cameras, in my opinion, have always
taken terrible still photos. Unless you
plan on professionally editing your
hunting videos don’t even lug around
your old video camera, just take a
point and shoot type camera that will
take both high quality pictures and HD
video!

HOW TO TAKE GREAT VIDEO

WITH A POINT AND SHOOT

CAMERA

Point and shoot cameras with HD video
capabilities are perfect for capturing
live animal footage, kill scenes, and
kill interviews to share with your
friends and family. Although they don’t
perform as well as a true video camera
when it comes to refocusing while
recording and audio quality, I’ve found
the video quality on digital cameras to
be very good for hunting videos if you
follow a few simple techniques.

Point & Shoot Video Tips

1. Treat each video segment like a

still shot, get the shot completely

set up before you push record

2. Minimize camera movement while

you are recording

3. Don’t move from close up

objects to far away objects while

recording

4. Don’t zoom in and out while

recording

5. Take plenty of extra memory

cards

6. Send in your video clips with your

stories.

When taking video with most digital
cameras the exposure and focus are
set at the moment you start recording
each clip. Unlike video cameras, point
and shoot cameras don’t re-adjust
these settings in the middle of a clip.
To get the camera to refocus you need
to stop recording and start a new clip.

If you want to video an object that
is close, then move to an object that
is more distant, record two separate
clips. For example if you want to video
your hunting buddy who is glassing a
distant deer, fi rst focus on your buddy
and record a clip of him, then push the
shutter button to stop that sequence.
Then move the camera, while you
are not recording, to the live distant
deer and get the deer framed and the
zoom set before you start recording
the second clip. Try not to move the
camera around a lot while recording.

HD video takes up a lot of memory card
space, so make sure you have plenty
of high capacity memory cards if you
plan on taking HD video. A general rule
of thumb is you can record about 5
minutes of HD video for each gigabyte
of storage space. So if your storage
card is 4 gigabytes you should roughly
be able to shoot 20 minutes of video on
that storage card. Also make sure you
are recording the highest quality video
your camera is capable of.

M

ost of the draws are out and if you are like me you’re trying to explain to your wife how you ended up with 2 or 3
more hunts than you had mentioned. Last year I got away with a lot of time in the fi eld because I was scouting for

HER elk hunt, this year I’m just in trouble. My strategy is to suggest more “girl’s weekends” to gain some extra brownie
points before fall—we’ll see how that goes. All this means it’s time to go through your pack and determine what gear
needs to be upgraded. One of the main items you should look at is your camera. There are a few basic things that will
greatly improve your hunting photos that I will cover over the next few months, but the number one thing you can do is
to use a high quality digital camera.

staff

tips

By

John

Petersen

07-2010-v10.indd 16

6/11/10 6:53 PM