16CASE STUDY 3Infrared Photography FunctionUse it for nature photography!We've come to understand the nocturnal habits of the screech owl.The observation area during the day. The Daito screech owl lives in dense forest. The camera is set up about 10 meters away from the nest.Researchers in the animal ecology field make extensive use of video equipment. It is important to keep a video record of animal behavior.Furthermore, it is now the accepted practice at academic conferences to incorporate video clips into presentations.The birds of Minami Daito Island, Okinawa, such as the Daito screech owl have evolved in distinctive ways. Researchers' work involve the use of several video camera-recorders. Most of them used to be Hi-8 models, but lately they have been transferred to DV.The video shot with the Hi-8 camera-recorders can not have sufficient definition to allow researchers to make out the colors of the birds. This sometimes made it hard to tell them apart. Whereas the superior picture quality of DV has really been a godsend.But there were still some problems remaining. Nature photography ofteninvolves setting up a nesting box, or the like, and then mounting a camera-recorder nearby. Ideally, it should be possible to leave the camera-recorder running for four or five hours continuously, without the need to change tapes. But using an 80-minute DV tape in the LP mode only yields two hours of video. This is where the Synch Backup function of the AG-DVC30 turned out to be a real lifesaver. When the CHAIN mode on the setting menu is selected, recording continues automatically on a backup DV device when the AG-DVC30 's tape runs out. This results in a continuous recording time of four hours.Using an Infrared Lamp to Photograph Nocturnal AnimalsThe infrared photography function and infrared lamp of the AG-DVC30 made it possible to shooting groundbreaking images. The Daito screech owl is a nocturnal creature, and it is difficult to observe its behavior during the night, when it is active. In the past, using infrared photography would have been a major undertaking. But with the AG-DVC30 all that was necessary was to slip the optional infrared lamp (battery powered) onto the camera-recorder 's mounting shoe.This image was shot with the optional infrared lamp mounted on the AG-DVC30. A Daito screech owl can be clearly seen in the nest hole. (The distance was about 10 meters, and the spotlight mode was used.) For use in nature photography, the ability to superimpose a date and time stamp directly onto the video signal (rather than adding time codes later on) is essential. The AG-DVC30 has this function with a resolution down to the second.Nighttime Daytime
