MODIFIED
Our cheap night vision ghost hunting camera. It’s not the best, but when you’re on a budget and you don’t want to be lugging an expansive camera around in the dark. We recommend this for solo paranormal investigations or teams that want to add a cost-effective night vision setup to their kit.
Firstly, we’re under no illusion that this is anything high end, it’s a generic camera with an unknown branding. This will only be used in night vision mode (the normal camera mode is horrible and reminds us of a webcam from the 90s). It’s small plasticky and the batteries are a joke. However, it can run off a USB power bank so it can record for a lot longer., and power other devices attached to the camera.
Night Vision Video & Options
Though this is a 4K camera, never record in 4k, the footage is choppy, blurry as the bandwidth and codec cannot cope very well. In 2k and 1080p modes, it’s fine and the footage is okay after a bit of post-treatment. The night vision green is added in post as the natural colour is a mauve pink, desaturated in the camera, to greyscale. We haven’t tried out the Wi-Fi stuff yet, though this may prove to be useful for remote monitoring in the future.
It comes with a hot shoe mount and a 1/4 thread on the bottom to attach things with. The inbuilt IR lamp is rubbish and very harsh you need to defuse that thing and buy an additional IR torch. As you can see in the video without an addition IR light you lose features and definition after 5 m, and the quality of the footage drops considerably. Additional IR lights positioned around any location will give this camera a good boost in quality.
Like all camera’s the inbuilt audio is trash, it uses Automatic Gain Control (AGC), and is generally very noisy, so having an external mic and recorder is better than the inbuilt, we recommend the Zoom F1. This camera does come with an extra microphone, which is useable but not recommended as you’re still left with the cameras inbuilt noise and AGC.
Conclusion
This isn’t patch on a DSLR, Arri, or Blackmagic Cine Camera, the night vision capabilities make it a handy tool for any ghost hunter. Dedicated night vision cameras are notoriously expensive and can only be used at night. This camera can do most things okay and well enough for ghost hunting without breaking the bank or having to modify your expensive camera gear.
Also, we recommend getting an IR filter, so only the IR light gets into the camera. As none IR lights can be seen and below the image out, producing false positives, lens flairs, and other potential anomalies.
Night Vision Kit:
- ACTITOP Video Camera 48mp 4K WIFI IR Night Vision [link]
- WindFire T20 IR 38mm Lens Infrared Light Night Vision Torch [link]
- Efest 2-Pack18650 3500mAh Rechargeable [link]
- SanDisk Extreme PRO 128 GB SDXC Memory Card [link]
- SMALLRIG Microphone Holder – IR Torch Holder [link]
- Zhiyou Metal Triple Hot Shoe Mount [link]
- TYCKA 55″ Lightweight Aluminum Portable Tripod [link]
- EasyAcc 20000mAh Power Bank [link]
Also used in this video:
- Zoom F1-SP/UK Field Recorder Plus Shotgun Mic Pack [link]
- SanDisk Extreme 32 GB microSDHC Memory Card [link]
- Zoom Carrying Bag for F1-SP (CBF-1SP) [link]
More News
- Night Vision Camera Tests January 30, 2020We have done our night vision camera tests on our YouTube channel. The camera performs as well as can be expected considering the price range. It’s by no means high-end ...