My parents got me a JVC Camcorder with a Hard Drive (no tape) for the safari for christmas. I am so excited to use it. Any advice?

Dr Andrea

Advice....Tape everything!!

I like to capture my whole stay on film,from when I have my coffee in the morning,the sunrise everyday,morning drive,lunch,afternoon drive finishing with the evening meal.

I label my tapes for ex Mala Mala day 2 on so on.

I am going hi-tech for my upcoming safari with Sony's HDR-FX1 Handycam® Digital HDV.

Enjoy your time at Royal Malewane.

Agreeg with safarinut, tape every last little thing! Bring three times as much tape (or storage space) as you think you'll need.

I ended up not taping nearly as much as a should have. I had enough for about 3 hours a day. I ended up using an hour or more in the Masai Mara and Serengeti, but some of the lesser places only a few minutes.

Not much happened at Treetops for instance

Interesting. We planned on not taping everything because we figured no one would ever want to watch it all.

I tape a lot, I also have a tripod, on which I have one leg between my legs and two on the floor of the vehicle. Then when at a long sighting I will tape the whole thing, then edit it on my return. That way you don't miss the moment of action that invariably happens just after your hand gets tired. What is the capacity of the hard drive?

The hard disk drive is 30GB. Normal quality gets 14 hours, economy gets 37 hours.

14 hours should be plenty, I would not compromise by going to economy quality, without trying it our at home first. Even then 14 hours is a lot of film.

I hope this doesn't sound patronising but it's the biggest thing that makes amateur footage unwatchable for me (my own included as I'm an awful video camera operator):-

When you're panning do it much more slowly than you think is necessary.

Same when you're zooming in or out - do it slowly not as fast as the camera will allow you to do.

Obviously, avoid jerky movements of any kind as much as possible.

Don't mumble into it too much and don't breathe too heavily - I like to hear the photographer briefly tell me what I'm seeing but I hate the ones who mutter over the entire thing.

Instead let the camera capture the sounds of the bush - the birds, the wind in the trees, the lions yawning, the water etc.

As others have said, don't just get the animals - get the camp, a meal or two, the bars, the staff, the morning coffee stop, the outdoor showers even (nothing XXX rated please!)

Ooh, that last bit was meant to have a wink by it!

I took (still) pictures of my hub enjoying the outdoor shower but, oddly enough, didn't upload those into the shared albums!

Second Kavey's advice.

A lot of my early efforts are spoilt by too fast pan's and zooms.

I try and avoid zooming in and out, rather I stop recording, use the zoom, get in focus and then start rceording.

As for panning - go very slowly.

I don't add a commentary, I just catch what is going on. Often the guide will provide a perfect background commentary.

Remember try and cover the mike when in windy conditions.

That was very helpful!!! I practiced a little bit yesterday. Definitely need to do it more!