My experience is that the lenses on even supposedly high-end
consumer-grade video cameras are nowhere near as good as consumer-grade
35mm SLR camera lenses. For example, we do some image analysis work in our
lab, and we find the stock lenses on our "professional" Panasonic S-VHS
camera and camcorder are inadequate for serious work -- they just don't
have the resolution. When we put a Nikon 60mm macro lens on the video
camera however, we get nice, crisp images.

Another benefit of using a camera lens on a video camcorder is that you
realize a ca. 5-fold increase in effective focal length. That is, a simple
80-200 mm zoom becomes a 400-1000mm (ca 8x to 20x) on the video
equipment. So using even a short SLR telephoto will take you well beyond
the telephoto range of stock dedicated lenses on camcorders. Canon's L2
camcorder (Hi-8 format) can use Canon's EOS autofocus lenses; this is
the only consumer camcorder I am aware of that has a removable lens.
You could also get a Canon-mount adapter for a Kowa scope and shoot through
that, though at an effective focal length of 4000mm, 80x (w/ 800mm kowa
adapter) I'm not sure how crisp the image would be. You can probably
rent an L2 and autofocus telephoto from Glazers or one of the other big
photo stores downtown and check it out firsthand; maybe you could meet up
with Don at Ocean Shores and put his 600mm on the L2 and do some
full-frame footage of nasal grooves on tattlers...

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu

On Mon, 30 Oct 1995, Stuart MacKay wrote:

> I've read through the March archive on the subject of using video cameras.
> Anybody got any experiences since then, that they would want to share ?
>
> I want to video sanderling as they feed - that's all I'm saying for now ;-)
> I'd like to get a close as possible though this is likely to be about 100 feet
> to avoid scaring them off. I need a field of view of about '10-15 birds',
> roughly 10-20 feet. I'd really like to be able to see whether they swallow
> some prey - though not necessarily really close up.
>
> The videos will be for viewing in the privacy of my own home :-) I don't
> envisage a change in career , just yet, so editing is not important.
>
> Any thoughts, opinions ???
>
> Stuart
> --
> Stuart MacKay, Ravenna Ave NE, Seattle
>