A night vision camcorder is nothing short of amazing. It’s so simple to use, and of such quality, that it’s the perfect tool to help you make professional videos.
If you wish to get from amateur to real pro, producing videos of high quality, you need to sit down and think of a plan. You have to write down all the steps that will lead to that polished professional looking product.

In order to make such a video, be it for fiction or documentary purposes, especially if you wish to make use of the night vision feature, you would be well advised to first get acquainted with your camcorder.

Night Vision Camcorder – The Different Steps

Settings and Controls

Night Vision Camcorder The very first thing to do, when you get your night vision camcorder, is to learn how it works in detail, in auto mode as well as in manual. With so many settings and controls available, you can’t possibly hope to create the best work you can without first being familiar with all its features.

Step number 1: RTDM! Yes, get the damn manual out of the box and read it in full! And while you read it, take the time to try the different controls one after the other to be sure to understand it all, as it’s one thing to read it and quite another to try it for yourself. Moreover, if you’ve used the settings once, it’ll be much easier for you to remember where to activate them when you’ll need to switch (as it’s difficult at first to find the options on the small screen).

Step number 2: Once you’ve determined the different settings that you will be using, you want to take a piece of paper and jot down those settings to have a cheat sheet at hand for when you need it. The last thing you want is to have to go through the whole manual, once again, to find how to activate that option you had read about 2 hours earlier.

Step number 3: Try to learn how to go from one setting to the other as quick as possible and also what other devices you might have a need for in order to shoot when the lights are out. You know, shooting a video with a night vision camcorder is another thing altogether from shooting during the day. Same thing if you use infrared illuminators to get the job done.

Story Telling

OK, now that you got the hang of your night vision camcorder, let’s talk about the second part in making a pro video, i.e. creating a story worth telling. As I said, it doesn’t matter whether you’re shooting a documentary, a movie or whatever, if you want it to succeed you have to organize your thoughts into a whole. You know the saying: failing to plan is planning to fail. So, you want to take your project and divide it into 3 parts/acts: the beginning, the middle, and the end. And for each part, you want to lay out all the scenes you will be recording with your night vision camcorder, as well as the effects you will be adding should you have any. That will give you a perspective on the work that’s waiting for you ahead. And that will make sure that you have your story straight in your head before you jump too early into filming (believe me, that can save you a lot of time and a lot of pain).

Concerning the shoots that you will be doing during night time with your night vision camcorder, don’t forget to practice so you’ll be up to par with the quality of your work during day time shoots. This is extremely important especially if you’ll be switching from light to dark in the same scene without a cut. That transition is quite hard to get right.

Final Words on Using a Night Vision Camcorder

It goes without saying that the tips I just gave you are just basic advice. On your road to mastering your night vision camcorder, you will have to spend a lot of your time to study your art. As I heard, it takes around 10,000 hours of practice for one to become a master at doing something, be it playing chess, programming, or filming. So, how many hours have you dedicated so far? Get your butt up and start filming!

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