Recording The Shot Member John Klosenski
hunt, or a particularly good shot? Well, it is not all that diffi cult. For the past few years I have been
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using a video camera in conjunction with my rifl escope with fairly good results. The secret is in the mount. Currently I am using a mount de-
signed by my friend Tony Souza. This mount is a variation of my own design, which was improved upon by Tony, as this is what he does for a living. He designs small mechanical applications and this was just a simple matter for him to adapt my design to his. I like the feature of the built-in recoil absorption system, which saves wear and tear on the camera. If you are interested in a similar mount he can be reached at
tony@benchtopdevices.com. Some of the problems with
mounting a video camera on a scope is to get the camera to “co-witness” the scope, so you are looking at the same thing you are shooting at. The other concern is recoil, depending on what you are using for a fi rearm. I have used the camera on a PCP air rifl e for recording shots of pigeons and rats at a local farm, and in this instance recoil is not a problem. On my shotgun it is a whole other matter and I will get to that in just a minute. The camera I am currently using
is a Sony DCR-HC36 that uses the small tapes (mini DV) which are the same as used in some of the professional camer- as often used to shoot hunting and fi sh- ing shows. The quality of the video is excellent and the camera utilizes a 25x Zeiss lens in the “optical” mode. I have not had much luck with the “digital enlarged” images on some of the cam- eras that advertise up to 700 power. A camera with the largest “optical zoom” is much better for my purposes. When you get into digital enlargement, the picture gets real “grainy” and looks like something shot from a police car video. I designed my fi rst camera mount
from an old shotgun saddle mount by cutting part of it off and mounting a scope ring to the rifl escope on my rifl e
The author's Benjamin Marauder air gun is shown here outfi tted with an early camera mount that still gets used when shooting the air rifl e.
www.varminthunter.org Page 135
ave you ever wanted to have a video of a great prairie dog
The author selected a video camera mount designed and constructed by Tony Souza for recording his shots on prairie dogs or predators. One of the features is a built-in recoil absorbing system. (No camera is mounted here.)
with the base portion facing the left side. In effect, you have three mounts on your scope. Two that hold the scope to the rifl e and the third mount that points to the left so that you can attach
the camera mount. I still use this sys- tem for my air gun shots and it works great on my Benjamin Marauder. If you set the recording specs to “Sports” on the camera, it will record at 60 frames a
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