Paranormal Investigations UK
Professional Paranormal Investigation Team
As a contradiction, we will suggest that the best policy for any serious investigator is to avoid the use of mobile phones for capture. Phones can and will play havoc with other equipment such as EMF meters and Pods. One thing that many do forget when using a phone for photos and movies, is to always use the highest possible bit rates when using them for photos or movies. Low quality photos and movies make enhancement impossible and often the low pixel rates mean the images break up when cropped and then enlarged. If you have to use a mobile phone, always go into the phones options and select the highest possible quality option or bit rate. I would suggest a minimum of 10 mega pixel and a frame rate of a minimum of 30 frames per second with movies.
How to ensure your images and movies are not questioned as possible FAKE.
Cameras are expensive and you also have to carry them on investigations. We can break down the different types of cameras into three types:
1. Normal.
2. Infra Red (night vision)
3. Full spectrum.
A simple compact camera which you can also use for your holiday and family photos are ideal. Small enough to fit in your pocket and very capable of taking excellent photos. Look at 10 mega pixel as a minimum and ensure the camera is set at it's maximum quality using the cameras setup options. Rechargeable cameras are more cost effective. Ensure you have a memory card large enough to store all your photos and always set the cameras date and time so your able to stamp each photo with important data. Also consider having with you spare memory cards.
One advantage of mobile phones is the time stamp will be the same as the mobile phone, with a stand alone camera you will need to set the date and time and again should the battery be taken out for storage reasons.
This type of camera is often spoken of as 'Normal' due to the camera using our normal sight spectrum. When taking photos at investigations you might wish to try a number of shots without the flash. You can capture interesting photos with and without flash. Without flash, your able to take quick fire photos, a rapid burst of photos. Also consider turning off the bleep when using the camera at investigations.
INFRA-RED - NIGHT VISION
The use of night-vision CCTV has been common for for years in paranormal investigations. Costs have come down which means your able to take four or more cameras into locations and monitor multiple rooms and review possible footage of captures later.
Humans are built for living in the daytime and sleeping in the dark. The retina (the light-sensitive part of our eyes) has cells called cones (for seeing colored light) and rods (for detecting movement and dim light). We have 20 times more rods than cones (120 million rods and only 6 million cones), yet we're still not very good at seeing in the dark.
Other animals are built differently. Creatures that live in the dark tend to have much bigger pupils (holes in front of their eyes) to let in more light. Tarsiers, for example, have enormous eyes relative to their body size. Like other nocturnal creatures, their retinas contain many more rods than the human eye. Cats, which also spend much of their time hunting at night, are among creatures whose eyes contain a tapetum. This is a natural mirror that reflects light back out of the eye. Its job is to bounce the incoming light twice through the retina so the animal has double the chance to see things. That's why cats are so good at seeing in the dark—and why, when you shine at torch at them, their eyes reflect light straight back like mirrors.
Humans can't use any of these tricks. Our pupils open wider in dim light, but not wide enough to help us that much at night. Our eyes don't have enough rods—and we don't have a tapetum. So what can we do to see at night? We can reach for technology.
The original purpose of night vision was to locate enemy targets at night. It is still used extensively by the military for that purpose, as well as for navigation, surveillance and targeting. Police and security often use both thermal-imaging and image-enhancement technology, particularly for surveillance.
During the day, when the lighting conditions are right, security cameras work perfectly and are able to capture high resolution images at full color. However, when darkness sets in, surveillance cameras require a source of lighting. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye, but visible to the cameras.
Many CCTV Cameras now have the ability to project infrared light using an array of LED illuminators. CCTV security cameras with night vision capabilities allow you to see in total darkness. Your now even able to buy a portable movie and photograph camera with built in night vision (Infra Red) for as little as £75.00. The advantage of portable devices is your able to walk about in complete darkness yet still see where your going using the monitor LED screen.
An advantage of night vision is it will show up even the smallest of light anomalies which have often been contributed to paranormal activity. A big disadvantage with night vision are dust orbs and insects, this is due to the dust being highlighted by the infra red and making it look 'ghostly' as it floats about the room. Know what is dust is one of the first things you will need to learn when using night vision.
The 'Besteker FHD 1080P ' camcorder also has built in night vision options as well as normal functions you would expect with any camera and capable of excellent results despite it's low cost of less than £80.00 and can produce up to 24 mega pixel images and footage.
Full Spectrum
You are able to purchase a modified compact digital camera for around £165 that will take still photos, if you want to also use it for movies you will need an additional IR illumination which allows full spectrum movies to be captured. These type of cameras are of no use for normal photographs to be taken.