Which camera to video bats at night?

JohnP113

Hi,
I want to be able to video bats flying at night. As they are fast moving I need a high frame rate so I can create slomo clips. I know this is a big ask as low light usually means slow shutter speeds. I need HD quality video and would also like the ability to take HD stills. The IR should preferably have a good range as some of the bats fly high at 20m plus.

Any suggestions please?

noiseboy72

I hope you have deep pockets...
https://www.proav.co.uk/panasonic-au-eva1-compact-5-7k-super-35mm-cinema-camera This will do everything you need. Couple it to a nice fast lens and some ir floods and you will be set for full HD at 200fps and the ability to capture good stills as well.

JohnP113

Thanks. Wow, about 5 times the cost that I was hoping but am worried that all the settings and tech would end up with me loosing the shot. If I was considering this outlay I would definitely need to see night time video in moonlit, starlit and cloudy nights with real time and slomo versions of the video. I am guessing this is the high end of the market.

Terfyn

I guess you are asking too much of any conventional cam. There are some with a (probably weak) IR light attached. The Panasonic HC-VXF1 is IR sensitive and has such a light so may record OK with the help of additional IR lighting.
I suggest you contact the BBC Wildlife Unit at Bristol, they would know the answer and may be able to help you with your quest.

JohnP113

Thanks. I will look at the panasonic and contact the BBC wildlife unit.

JabbaNut

Have read here, might help

NightShot Camera Recommendations and Tips

How to photograph bats :: Digital Photo Secrets

And bear this in mind Bats and the law - Advice - Bat Conservation Trust

JohnP113

Thanks that has focused my searches.

12harry

I though that doing anything with "bats" was probably illegal, unless you have special permission - which you didn't say.
Perhaps we should like to ask why you want/need to do this and why you expect them to be up to 20m away at night and expect to record them at high-speed?
If they are coming out of a cave, then there may be somewhere where a band of light (IR or otherwise) can be placed, so they fly through it enough for the camcorder, but then they are in darkness - If it's visible or IR I guess that might blind them - so only do this when they are leaving the cave opening.
Frankly, I think this is a dreadful proposition,  - unless as others have suggested you have deep pockets.... and a very good reason to be doing it....

If this is to recreate something for a film, then the audience won't know what bats look like so that give you more slack, I guess, meaning you don't need to film real bats.....
Wildlife footage at night is very difficult ( and it's cold), often it will be small animals in a wood. Whereas bats are particularly small and fast enough to catch insects. High-speed filming is difficult in daylight ( kingfisher diving ) and at night it must be near-impossible.... hiring a high-speed camera might help but you probably need to be a "known" wildlife Pro for this.   

Let us know how things work-out.

JohnP113

I am a member of a local bat group and am working toward a license. We get occasional glimpses of bats but nothing to the number the bat detectors pick up. The IR does not seem to affect the bats who navigate using combinations of sight, echo location and sound (especially in the case of large eared bats.)
The 20m distance comes from Noctule bats which tend to fly quite high and swoop down on food. The high speed part is simply that they are so agile and pipistrelles especially have a very irregular flight path so high shutter speed or frames per second are needed to get clear shots especially of wings.

noiseboy72

I think you would want a high sensitivity wide angle lens so that you could point it in the general direction required and then do some creative cropping - along with some pan and scan in the edit to tighten the shot up. This is the reason why I suggested a high frame rate, 5.7K native, 4K recording camera. Appreciate it's a lot of money just for amateur use though, and you would need to price in lenses, batteries and a decent tripod on top of this price as well.

A domestic or prosumer camera will probably still be quite sensitive to IR, but the "speed" of the lens will probably not be quick enough to allow for a relatively small aperture. This will make the footage both soft in focus and quite grainy as the camera will need a fair amount of gain to brighten the image up enough to see and the wide aperture will give a very narrow depth of field.

These guys -http://www.gowildlifewatching.co.uk/Wildlife watching IR Lights Night time filming CCTV .htm do a range of IR lighting and have some cheaper cameras that may work for you, as they could be mounted closer to the bat roost and possible left in situ. They would certainly be worth contacting for general information and what wavelength IR light to go for.