Hello! I have some questions in regards of using infrared video cameras. I wonder if there are some portable inrared video cameras for the shooting in the total darkness in 150-200 feet? I need such camera for shooting wild animals and birds in the forest. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[MarkE19]

AFAIK you will not get anything that will work in total darkness. With wildlife you should have at least the light from the moon & stars etc, if not surrounding street lights (if in the town etc). With a bit of luck this should be enough to give some form of recording when useing say a Sony camcorder with its nightshot mode. I've never used this feature (not on my cam plus no use for it) so have no idea as to how good (or bad!) it is, but some others have used it and say the newer models are getting better - just don't expect it to be anything close to what you will see on TV.

Mark.

[wicket]

I have just got the Sony DCR HC18E which does have the night time plus function on it. It allows you to film in darkness but only works effectively when you are only a few feet away. No good if you trying to capture animals at a distance.

Sure, if you can afford FLIR IR camera's for that range in high detail, way beyond the capabilities of a domestic camera (only a few feet with built in
IR led's), look up FLIR with search engine but you may get a knock on your door from the CIA!

Night mode on most consumer videos is poor, especially colour. Results in only jerky, blurred images. Years ago consumer vids had infra red which was reasonable but current models replaced this with night mode. Only solution for what you want is what is called night vision cameras. VERY expensive.