After uploading my first photos from the Bushnell, I was keen to try the video setting. I set the cam up in the same place as I had for the photographs, and a simple flick of a switch changes the camera from photo to video. You can set the time it videos for, the recovery time before it will video again and the size of video. I decided to start with the default settings which were a 10 sec video and a 720x480m video size.
I was watching my IR night camera upstairs and could see when the camera was triggered as the IR was picked up by this wired camera. I could see my image on my screen in the office lighten the area with the additional IR LEDs. The foxes do seem a little more wary than usual and I am not sure whether they are aware of the cam and whether it emits a light that they can see as well as the IR.
Yesterday, I retrieved the camera and uploaded the videos. They are saved as wmv files…. so play within Windows Media Player. I had several bits of video and some blank ones. Once again, the IR is too powerful when filming something so close and whereas with a photo, you can play around with the levels in Photoshop, it is more difficult in video. I will need to tape over some of the LEDs if I know I am expecting creatures within 3 metres or so.
Even so, the clips are not bad… too short though! Ten seconds was not nearly enough…. in some shots the fox is right in the middle of the shot, then the ten seconds was up and it switched off! The next problem I had was that my Mac would not read the movie files….. shame as I wanted to stitch them together in i-movie. This is the easiest package to use. I will need to look into that, as I want to use the Mac software to stitch these together.
Take a look…. several clips linked together…. but take a close look at the last fox to visit. This one is WAY bigger than the previous visitor. Very long legs which are all black at the front. Also, it has dark markings on its face. I don’t recognise this fox, but I am thinking it may be Bill. He was always the biggest cub by far and, as a youngster, he had darker markings on his face. Maybe he has set up a new territory and has come back briefly. The fox you will see on the other clips, I think is Tess. She is often there with Fern. Female cubs do sometimes stay on with the parents and even sometimes help out with subsequent litters.
It will be good to see these guys in the light again… they look so different in the IR.
I have put the Bushnell out again today, but this time set it to video for 45 seconds. I have also taped over a few of the IR LEDs, so hopefully the image will not be so burnt out…. we’ll wait and see!