AR15 target shooting with a Sony HD camcorder mounted to the stop of the stock and directly behind the scope. I am sighting my shots through the camcorder viewfinder and NOT directly through the scope itself. I am using the Sony Nightshot setting, which replicates true nightvision but ONLY with available ambient light. This will not work in total darkness without some form of light source; video was filmed just after sunset. Distances of 175 to 200 yards on AR500 steel (plus one sacrificial soft steel target) and water jugs. You will catch a glimpse of the camera setup at the 1:26 mark in this video posted May 2011: www.youtube.com SAFETY NOTICE: Filmed on an ample tract of remote private property, surrounded by huge tracts of uninhabited property. I was the only person on the property and backstops are confirmed. Targets are setup along a hillside. Bushmaster Varminter: .223 Remington/5.56 mm NATO; 24" barrel, 1:9 twist. Scope: Leupold Mark III, 4.5 x 15 x 50mm. Zero was set for 200 yards, maxed to 14 power on the video. Ammo: Hornady SUPERPERFORMANCE MATCH 53 gr V-MAX, 3465 fps 24" barrel; 2775 fps at 200 yards. BACKGROUND MUSIC: "Interloper" by Kevin Macleod Utilized via a royalty-free Creative Commons license arrangement. incompetech.com incompetech.com creativecommons.org CAMERA: Sony HDR-CX560; recorded at 60p, 28 mbps, 1920 x 1080 HD EDITING: Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10; converted to Sony MP4, 30p, 16 mbps.
Two recent thrift store finds, both working perfectly: a Sony Handycam Vision CCD-TRV32 standard Video8 (not Hi8) camcorder from 1997, and a Toshiba Satellite 105CS laptop, also from around 1997, with a 75 MHz Pentium processor, 40 MB of RAM, 4 GB hard drive, 640x480 color "dual scan" passive matrix LCD, and Windows 98 -- but no CD-ROM drive or sound card.
Sony's top-of-the-line analog Hi8 camcorder from 2001, with a huge 3½-inch LCD. Too bad it only has monaural audio, but for the price I paid, I can't complain! The CCD-TRV98 also makes an excellent low light camcorder, with the best ever sensitivity of 0.4 lux, and a powerful built-in halogen spotlight, as well as NightShot.
The DCR-TRV350 was one of Sony's most full-featured Digital8 camcorders, with a Memory Stick Pro slot, live streaming video capture from S-video/composite inputs to FireWire, analog Hi8/Video8 playback, and more -- but there's one drawback, which is why I didn't keep it (and actually made about a profit on reselling it!).
A full overview and demo of the Sony Hi8 XR stereo camcorder, model CCD-TR940, circa 1998. This model basically has all of the goodies Sony ever put into an analog camcorder for the consumer market, except a flip-out LCD screen. The XR system records 440 lines of resolution on Hi8 tapes, and 280 lines on standard grade 8mm tapes (as compared to 400 and 240 lines, respectively, for non-"XR" 8mm camcorders). Sony only offered Hi8 XR camcorders for a few years (around 1998 to 2000) before they eliminated all high-end analog camcorders from their lineup, in favor of their Digital8 series.