Owl Photography and Videography in Your Backyard: Part #1

It will take quite awhile to go through all the digital photo and video documentation of the 2012 Screech Owls. Thought I'd share some cute owl videos for now. Backyard birding and photographing and videoing them go hand in hand. Having taken up photography again as a hobby after many years the owls make the perfect subject. Owls are unique in that they are quite evocative and you get to know them as individuals and realize they are each unique.  I've found that since my last serious foray into photography technology has evolved to where "point and shoots" and "bridge" cameras can rival much more expensive cameras and dedicated video equipment. This video was shot with a Canon SX40 HS 12MP 35X Optical Zoom Digital Camera superzoom bridge camera which is about the size of an SLR, but has an all in one 24-840mm lens. This is an amazing camera if your expectations are realistic and you understand the limitations of auto focus and stabilization. Price is around $400.

Shorter Version

A little more drama in the extended cut!

Red morph and grey owlets - two obviously distinct personalities!

These HD videos were taken on May 8th before dusk at the full zoom 840mm setting. If you try and get too close to the nest box they get nervous and retreat or act unnatural - at a reasonable distance they find you fascinating to observe - always an ego boost, and act more natural. This requires zoom power. The area in the video is roughly 6 inches by 8 inches - in the original 1920x1080 it looks amazing on a large HD TV. This video is reduced in size for uploading to the web. However, you must use a solid tripod to get these kind of results. I'm impressed with the low-light capability of this camera and the sound quality from two microphones on the front to provide stereo audio. The bird calling in the distance is very clear.  My point and shoot Cannon SX230HS that most of the photos and video documentation was taken with is almost as good, but the zoom only goes to 14X, or about 400mm.  Cannon has just come out with the SX260HS with 20x zoom capability at about the same price point. 

Many people complain that the pictures taken with these super-zoom cameras are not as clear as expected - the reality is that no amount of image stabilization or auto-focusing is going to completely overcome handshake and hunting for a subject at high zoom levels. More on amateur photo/video in your backyard in future blogs.