sound track use music & original sound & make your own, bite an apple swish your hand to & fro on a soft brush keep it low volume & it goes unnoticed but it adds to the ambiance.

Your cam looks good bit of kit!
I'm still using old cams, I think..... New HD cam?..... then I think .....Trip?....Trip wins every time!
Darn it now I have to buy a new monitor!

Hi Vee:

I've never had a camera that used infrared for night vision, but one of my older cameras allowed me to do night videoing. I found that when I used this function the picture became very grainy when showed.

Kipper is far more expert on this than I. I just take videos of things that mean something special to me and I am sometimes lucky to get some good shots.

I don't know the circumstances of your upcoming trip. Will you be traveling alone in a vehicle or with a group? I know there is nothing more aggravating than when one member of a full vehicle slowly stands up and extends a full-sized tripod and then takes their time when the rest of the people in the vehicle are ready to move on. Play it by ear. If there are only one or two of you it will be fine. I never use any tripod or monopod. I've found that most of the vehicles have a bar around the top of the vehicle and I just use that to lean my camera on. One thing I do is string both cameras around my neck and as soon as we've pulled up to a sighting I get a couple of quick still pictures first and then grab my video camera and get shots with that also. In that way if the animal starts to move off, you can still get it on the video where the still pix would be blurred.

Even at the lodges/camps while relaxing I have both my still and video camera right beside me. I'll be sitting on the sun bed reading, see something interesting and grab the video camera. That is how I got the elephant mating interrupted segment of video.

Try to take a towel or old t-shirt with you to cover your camera equipment when you are under way in the moving vehicle to keep the dust off. And be sure to take a blower and soft cleaning cloth to clean the lens regularly.

If you are taking both a still camera and a video camera make sure you have enough batteries!. Remember, some of the camps/lodges have decreased the times their generators are on. I take about 8 batteries with me and three chargers so I can charge more than one at the same time. I don't like the idea of leaving my entire camera to charge as some people do, so I just take the battery from the camera with the charger and charge them separate from the camera. At least if they are stolen I still have the camera and film. Also be sure to take enough film. I've filled up as many as 10 tapes on a trip.

Also, be sure to take the camera instruction booklet with you. I've accidentally bumped buttons on the camera before and knew something was wrong but didn't know what I had done. It was not until I opened the instruction booklet that I was able to figure out what to do to rectify the situation.

Don't worry a lot about your videoing. You will do just fine! Then when you get home and are sitting on a cold snowy day you can get out your tapes and feel you are back on safari.

[color=green]Hot Video Tips Only here on Bushdrums![/color]

If you are in bush country or forest & you can see an animal & you are trying to point it out to your companions,

"See the big tree with the forked branch, go left a bit & theres a bush like a balloon, now go beyond that &...."

[color=red]Forget all that![/color]

With the screen open let your companions watch the screen as you zoom in to the animal then zoom out again!

[color=red]Hey presto! [/color] Everyone knows now where to look!

[b][color=green]Remember! Only Here on Bushdrums![/color][/b]

Hey kipper, have you found a new job at an advertising company? Or simply watching too many commercials?

Decided to make the tip stand out a bit.

I spend hours trying to show Lady Kipper animals & birds & found this the best way.
If other mere males have the same problem thought it may help.

Thank you all again for the tips. I bought the new battery - charged it up, ran it down and lived life through the viewfinder yesterday. Plan to repeat the process this afternoon and play with the nightshots tonight (I got caught up in an Anthony Bourdain marathon last night) We took our larium last night and so far we haven't gone psycho.

Jan - about our trip. Its all Botswana - people & predators tour I call it. We have two days in Maun visiting with friends and the good folks at Children in the Wilderness - then on to Chitabe Lediba - from there to Duba Plains where we lucked into a private vehicle (yes we're paying - but we got a deal)
then back to Xigera for the romance of the camp and to visit with some of the folks we consider friends from last year's journey.

Carsten - I will be very discreet when getting shots of bad behavior. I wish I had done some last year - I have some stories...