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IowaWhitetail.com Member Video

Critter

Life Member
As most of you already know, IW.com has some of the most dedicated and hard-core whitetail hunting members found anywhere on the planet. It’s because we don’t fall into the category of “weekend warriors” that makes us so special and makes this site what it is. Let’s face it, without the support of the PMA members, and the continual supply of questions, answers, ideas, photos, and controversy from all the site members, this site wouldn’t have grown to what it is today. With that said, I’ll get to the point of my post.
A couple years ago we toyed around with the idea of trying to create a video made up of hunts and educational segments from the members of the site. The idea was thrown around for a time, but eventually interest faded out. A fair amount of us had our own cameras, and were already filming different aspects of whitetail hunting including summer velvet footage, shed hunting and quality deer management areas. The only problem was that none of us had the drive, ambition, or technical experience needed to take the bull by the horns and step forward with it. Along comes Todd Pringnitz or better known on this site as The Lone Wolf. As some of you know, Todd is the owner of White Knuckle Productions and has already created and marketed his first DVD titled Beyond The Kill. For any of you that haven’t seen it yet, I for one will be the first to recommend it. If you’re looking for a-lot of kill shots, rehearsed lead-up and ending lines, and promotion of products the user doesn’t believe in, than this video probably isn’t for you. If you enjoy watching “real” whitetail enthusiasts, and hunters such as yourselves, than you’ll probably enjoy it as much as I did. Todd has the ambition, and technical experience as well as contacts that are needed in producing a video that is worthy of putting on stands. What we believe IW.com has to offer is an abundance of members that are willing to share their stories and videos in a way that reflects just what this site is made of, hunters with good morals and ethics keeping it real and untainted. Add the past experience, drive, and knowledge that Todd has along with the members footage and stories, and we could really have something unique here. The fact that none of us are professionals in this business is what is really going to enhance the video, and the fact that there really isn’t any “real” money in any of this will make it that much sweeter and enjoyable. No one is going to get rich here, but the one thing it will do is advertise the site and get the IW.com name out there a little more. The more members we have, the more this site will grow and become better than it already is.
There is nothing set in stone by any means, and really we have just started talking about it again, but we would like to know how many members are interested in submitting some of their current hunts or whitetail related segments.(i.e. shed hunting, food plot ideas, summer velvet footage). We’d also like to know how many members have upper level cameras, or have any experience sitting behind a camera. Any and all ideas or suggestions are welcome and will be appreciated.
Once again, done correctly this could be an annual production and something for all of us to look forward to each year. Please pm me if you think this might be of interest to you, or if you have any suggestions.
CRITRGITR
 
I'm open to help or suggestions from anyone.......no matter what state they are in as long as you're a member on the site.
 
I doubt if very many of us have top of the line equipment. How well will footage work on this DVD from the medium and lower end equipment?

Are we looking for 2007 footage only or do we already have some from the past that we can start compiling?

For the hunting sutuations, is there a way that we can assist in getting cameramen and hunters hooked up with each other?

For the hunting situations, bow and gun both, I assume?
 
I got some sweet shots on film, all archery but all bears nd caribou
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I doubt if very many of us have top of the line equipment. How well will footage work on this DVD from the medium and lower end equipment?

Are we looking for 2007 footage only or do we already have some from the past that we can start compiling?

For the hunting sutuations, is there a way that we can assist in getting cameramen and hunters hooked up with each other?

For the hunting situations, bow and gun both, I assume?

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Actually I'm surprised how many members have pm'd me letting me know they have 3CCD cameras already and are excited to help out. Unfortunately there is a difference between 1CCD and 3CCD cameras and the type of film they put out. As long as we can find enough interested parties with decent cameras we're going to try and limit the use of single CCD cameras.

Just because you don't have a camera doesn't mean we can't find someone to come and film. That's no guarantee though, most of us would rather hunt than film.
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I think we can use some "fill in" footage from the past, but I think the hunts should be current. (ie 2007-2008)

Yup.......gun and bow, as well as late season muzzleloader. Not everyone on this site is a bowhunter.
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Keep the questions up guys and gals, I'm sure Todd will jump in and give us his insight as well.
 
I'll do my best to answer some of these questions. First, as far as hunting equipment goes, whatever you have is acceptable. Part of the reason I started WKP in the first place was to get away from the product driven infomercials that most productions have become. Iowawhitetail.com has the same feelings as myself on this topic. If you haven't seen "Beyond the kill"; our first production, I'd highly recommend checking it out as it will show you what we're all about, and the type of production we'll be producing with Iowawhitetail.com.

In-regard to camera equipment and those types of questions. We can use a variety of footage, but obviously - we want to create a quality production. Generally, the poorer the footage, the less we'll actually use. So - if you're got hours of great footage, this is a good thing. If you have poor footage of say some "world class bucks", we may use bit's and pieces, but we need to make the entire production "flow", with the best possible footage.

The more footage from the past - the better storyline we can create about you as a hunter / and or a particular hunt. Shed footage, scouting footage, velvet footage, trail camera pic's and still photo's can all be used to help tie the ends together. Again, "Beyond the Kill" is the best example I can give you of what we're doing. We have a couple kill’s that didn’t actually have the impact, but – with footage of the animals from previous hunts, shed hunts, and trail cameras – we can tie some pretty neat stories together. As serious hunters, we all realize that the actual shot itself is only a couple seconds of a story that in our cases has hundreds (probably thousands) of hours of “work” leading up to it. It goes far “Beyond the Kill”…..

The concept behind what we’re trying to do here is show real hunters and what you do year-around to produce results in the field. If you have tons of footage from hunting and/or velvet footage but didn’t actually harvest the animal, there is still a chance for you to participate in the production. The beliefs and ethics behind the types of productions we are creating have more to do with the love of the hunt, and realistically showing hard-core hunters and they’re seasons. We are not a production that emphasizes the “Kill”. In our first release, I ate a tag in Illinois and Iowa Late season. We show this, along with the dozens of immature bucks I passed because I didn’t care about “a kill”. My good buddy Tyler Tisue (Talltines on this site) is also featured in the video passing some dandy 140+ bucks because he was determined to hold-out for a 160+ buck. He ended up eating his tag, but we also showed his season. We are trying to lead by example, and not be concerned with what everyone else has already done, and continue to do every year. There are already literally hundreds of productions / TV shows doing the outfitted type “Kill-Kill-Kill” productions. We are not, and will never produce this type of hunting video.

The typical “Iowawhitetail” guy isn’t exactly the typical bowhunter / hunter. We are simply trying to tell you’re story, so if you think you have some footage you would like to share, then we would love to see it. We still have many details to work out, but the first step was to see what kind of response we would get from you guys. Judging by the feedback we’ve been getting – we’ll be working on something soon!

Thanks again guys – and keep it coming!
 
Sounds cool...I like the idea that you showcased the passing of bucks and eating tags. I get sick of watching videos with little guys getting arrowed just b/c it makes a "kill".. Kudos to you, wish i could help you out.
 
Hey Saskguy - we are planning a Canadian Shed hunt (filming everything) next spring. If you want to get involved, we're into shed hunting as much as anything!
 
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we're going to try and limit the use of single CCD cameras

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Todd. I take it from that statement that you would prefer 3 CCD film. What about DVD or mini DVD
 
I dont know the difference between a 1ccd or 3ccd.
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where does a guy get a 3ccd and what kind of prices are we talking about? keep in mind it will cut into my 4-wheeler fund. and now that Im in my 40`s it isn`t as fun to drag them out of the wood`s , althought i think they taste better
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I kinda guessed that 3CCD camera were of the "professional" quality so I did a google search which turned up this:
From Camcorder info:

Sony DCR-TRV30
* MiniDV Recording
* Megapixel CCD DV Handycam� Camcorder (1/4"?1,550K Pixels)

Canon XL-1
* MiniDV Recording
* 3CCD 1/3" Pixel Shift (charge coupled device) 270,000 pixels (250,000 effective pixels)

1,550,000 pixels versus 250,000 pixels? Isn't it better to have more pixels rather than less? Isn't bigger better? And why the heck would I pay $4,000 for an XL-1 when I can pay $1,700 for a TRV30?

What the heck is a CCD, anyway?

To recap, a CCD is a "charge coupled device" - the part of the camera that accepts light from the outside world and translates it into the ones and zeros that form a digital picture or video. The more pixels you can get on a larger space, the better, but only until a point.

This is a classic case where the numbers don't tell the whole story. First let's break down the Sony numbers for a moment. Yes, the CCD has 1,550,000 pixels, but it's important to note that this number is relevant for taking still pictures only. When shooting video, it will only use around 300,000 pixels. This is simply because the imaging component of the camera (the part between the CCD and the tape) can only process so much information at a time.

Now, let's look at what it means for a camera to have more than one CCD.

It may interest most of you to know that while the image you see on your LCD screen is in colour, that's not original how your camera saw it. In fact, when it came into the camera through the CCD, it was in black and white. A specialized filter is used to translate the particular shades of grey into red, green and blue, and the combinations of these colours make up the entire colour spectrum. With one CCD, there's only so much detail the camera can take in and some concessions have to be made so that one colour doesn't wash out another.

With a 3-CCD camera however, there is actually one CCD devoted to each of the red, green and blue colour spectrums. A special prism is set up to convert the light entering the camera into the three different colours, they are processed separately, and then combined into a final image. The result is superb detail and accurate colour representation. So what you're paying for is basically, three different cameras put into one.
 
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With a 3-CCD camera however, there is actually one CCD devoted to each of the red, green and blue colour spectrums. A special prism is set up to convert the light entering the camera into the three different colours, they are processed separately, and then combined into a final image. The result is superb detail and accurate colour representation. So what you're paying for is basically, three different cameras put into one.

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That's about the jist of it Randy.......I bought one off of E-bay for 1500 two years ago. Not only do they make a great hunting camera, they're great for filming your kids also. (just in case any of you wanted to use it as an excuse)
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thank`s for the info !now that I got my ccd`s figured out , where do i find a cheap 3 ccd mini dvd that works good.
 
A good professional grade camera for guys who are pretty serious about getting involved in filming professional grade stuff is a Canon GL2. You can pick them up for a decent price on Ebay or from other guys on these sites for usually between $1,200-1,600.00ish (used). New, they run about $2,200.00. One of my team members just bought one on Ebay for $1,600.00 and it had less than 10 hours of use. The GL2 has some issues, but for the most-part, it’s easy to use, has a 20X optical zoom (which is sweet), and takes great footage if set-up correctly.

Below the Canon GL2 - I'll be completely honest, I'm not that familiar with all the cameras out there. There are hundreds of them, and I don’t have much experience with many of them. The biggest issue with the lower end cameras is poor low-light capabilities and lack of a good usable manual focus, which is absolutely critical when filming a hunt (you must focus through the tree canopy). The standard in the video industry is usually a Canon GL2 or a Sony PD-170. The big shows and production companies are using production type cameras (big and $$$). I’m not even going to get into this because it’s outside the realm of 99.9% of the guys filming (myself included). The Sony's are known for holding up better in bad conditions and being a bit more durable, but cost about twice as much.

All format styles would be best in a Mini DV format (small tapes). These are the standard, and what we would like to receive. Any technical questions that I can’t answer I will discuss with my editor, and get specific answers for specific questions if you have them.

If anyone has any Canon GL2 questions, I can answer pretty much anything about this camera. It’s the camera I’ve used most, and have taken lot’s of footage with it in a variety of conditions. My cameraman is the guy to ask about the Sony PD-170. I have minimal experience running this camera, but it is a sweet little rig that takes some beautiful footage.

Keep any questions and/or comments coming!
 
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