# Best Video Camera For Haunt Videos



## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Kaoru and I are considering buying a new video camera before Halloween this year and was wondering what are some of the best video camera for capturing the most vivid colors in a haunt video. I know a lot of us have to switch to the low light or IR setting which totally ruins the lighting scheme of most haunts. However some haunters out there (such as Casa Fear) have managed to capture the mood and lighting with their video cameras. I had asked about camera information in both the Casa Fear 2009 thread as well as in their YouTube comments but haven't gotten a reply.

Price is always an object but for giggles what are some of your best experiences and results and what equipment and settings were used?

Thanks,
-TM


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

The price probably isn't right if haunt videos is the primary purpose, but I'm a big fan of my Canon XH-A1. I usually open the iris all the way and shoot around F1/30 or 1/15 (sometimes lower if I really want motion blurs). That usually isn't enough in itself, so once I get the footage edited, I go in and boost the mids and saturation on each clip.

example from 2009:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Wow Chicken, :googly: just looked at the price for that Canon. Might have to trade in my van to get one of those hehehe.

Seriously though looks like its more of a settings thing from what I'm gathering - boost your gain and lower your shutter speed - ran across this site this morning:

http://www.videomaker.com/article/14280/

Yeah don't think our Sony has that so will be shopping around for those features.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

Last year I bought a *Canon HF11 *and am very happy with it. I was pining for the IR mode of a Sony Handycam, but since Halloween is only 2% of the video I shoot all year, I figure I better get a camera for the other 98% of the time I'll be shooting video.

I did a ton of research about quality and camera settings, considered the storage type (CD, tape, hard drive, flash drive), the recording type (HD or non-HD), and the price. I figured since all media is moving to HD, I should have a camera that goes with it. The HF11 is HD with flash drive, has a built-in light, and also a built-in flash for taking photo's, although the photo quality is lower than most typical camera's. The stereo microphones provide good side-to-side sound, but catch the typical "windy mic" when it's breezy - as most camcorders do.

There are a ton of settings for shooting various scene's, styles, and lighting. There is a low-light mode, but produces choppy video in extreme (make that almost none) low light. If the subjects are moving slow, it's ok. High speed (meaning terrified and running) subjects will be choppy. With the built in light though, it does fine.

It records in AVCHD format to produce DVD's, so I have to use a HD Converter program to convert it to a MPEG format for PC manipulating and YouTube uploading.

Here's one of the video's I recorded during my haunt. It was very dark in my back yard with very little lighting. The red and green lights are 100W floods.






If I had to do it over again, I'd have a USB IR camera put somewhere in my haunt that has the good scare, so I could record each group going through. Then, I'd follow a few key groups with my HF11 to get color, good picture quality, and good sound. In post-production I could combine the two recordings for a good video.

I'm very happy with the HF11 and would highly recommend it.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Well, I got mine lightly used, so it was significantly less expensive, but yes, a bit more of an investment than most.

A couple more notes...
If you're looking into HD, AVCHD is one of the least desirable HD formats. As I recall, it's because it is highly compressed, as opposed to, say, HDV, which, while compressed, is significantly less so. Less compression = better image quality.

You want to increase the gain as a last resort. First adjust your shutter speed and iris if you can. Increasing the gain is boosting the signal, and it creates a lot of noise (visually) because it's only working with what the image sensor has already captured. I believe it's better to do this in the computer because you'll have much more control over just how much you introduce. Again, this is just my understanding of the technology and may be slightly off.

I think what you're really looking for is the camera with the mot manual control over exposure settings.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

I would love to here more people chime in on this topic. I've pretty much got the still photo thing down, but video still kicks my butt. Anyone know what Pumpkinrotuses to film? He always has great videos.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

I had always used a sony video camera and have always been happy with the quality,the problem i had was with the darn eject doors always going bad.
Of course that is a thing of the past now. I recently just purchased a panasonic hard drive video camera, and i use a HP digital camera for my still pics. In the past (before the digital age) I USED A Cannon AE1 program and i just loved that camera. You cannot go wrong with Cannon.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Excellent feedback so far. Now that I'm actually price shopping I'm trying to find something in the $300 range... Budget Camcorder, decent quality, with the ability to adjust shutter and iris (at the very least shutter speed).

Best Buy has the Samsung SMX-F43BN for $249, but the reviews around the web have been few and far between. And the ones that do exist have been mixed 50/50 good/bad.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Hey folks. Still shopping for this. Hopefully will be able to pick one up next month. Also looks like a $20 price drop on the Samsung SMX-F43BN, which is now down to $229 at Best Buy. That's about the right price range for us. If anyone has seen or used anything better in that range let us know.


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

I went and bought a HD JVC last week. I am hoping it does ok. It is suppose to have a really good lux for dark.

This is the test video I did in HD. Have not tested in dark yet.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Anybody out there? I've just ordred a Nikon D7000 and some large apeture lenses. I hope to start this conversation up again. So far the 1.8 apeture lens hasn't been used on the haunt, but dang, it's been fun for no flash candid phtotography for the holidays so far this year. I also undertand that I shouldn't use an ISO over 1600 in low light.I'm going to spend a lot of time with still photography to get to know the process before I get into the video on my DSLR.


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## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

I want to do scare videos So I need night vision. Toys r us has a pretty cheap 50 one. Wonder if it would work? Lol


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