It is important to set your camera so that you are ready in an instant to record an event, so setup before venturing on your Skywatch session. Always have your camera ready at short notice incase you need it in a hurry, which you sometimes will, when you become aware of the UFO video capture possibility you are now involved in.
Focus - Set to Manual Focus, and never use Auto Focus. Auto focus will try to “search focus” on small points of high contrast light [especially at night] and automatically zoom in-and-out, resulting in footage that is useless. Even daytime footage, if filming a small distant or high altitude object in a clear sky may fool the auto focus setting.
You want to be able to get clear focus on an object immediately you have it in frame, and keep it focused. Sometimes you only have seconds to film an object, so good instant focus is a must. There is already too much out of focus footage out there.
Many are ‘fooled’ by the common “Airy Discs”, resulting from out-of-focus cameras, and falsely claim they are true UFO’s.
Experiment with different lighted objects deliberately out-of-focus, so that you learn what they look like, therefore establishing a database of knowledge of your own.
Always test your manual “Infinity” focus first thing on the most distant object you can see, usually a Star at night, or the horizon during daytime. Most cameras have an auto infinity focus switch, use this if you are unsure, and then test it on distant objects. Once you have this done you are ready, and can be assured anything you film will be in instant good focus. Even closer objects will be OK on infinity focus.
Shutter Speed - Normal shutter speed is set to 1/50th of a second.
Use this for all night time filming. Higher speeds at night result in ‘jumping’ images. If filming in daytime, you can adjust to the highest setting of 1/10,000th of a second if you wish. Use this setting especially if you want to mount your camera on a tri-pod and let free roll if trying to capture the so called “Rods” [insects?] or fast UFO flyovers. Fast shutter speeds stop motion blur, and result in better image enhancements during analysis.
Aperture Settings - Most video cameras have a feature where you can change aperture settings for different light conditions. These are either auto pre-set by the turning of a dial to adjust, or a full manual adjustment or a combination of both. Get familiar with this setting on your own camera, so that you can adjust for best lighting conditions at the time. Day time is easy to adjust, however, night time adjustments are more critical. Find the setting that allows the most light into the camera at night. You will see this in the viewer.
On the zero light lux cameras, you may find too much light available for clear filming and the viewer shows background ‘hash’. If this is happening, adjust the aperture back just until the ‘hash’ reduces to a nice clear dark screen. Test while viewing faint Star Clusters is best. This also applies if using the infrared night vision feature.
Camera Viewer - Even though your camera may have a fold out side viewer screen, only use this when tracking a slow moving object already framed and easy to follow. Otherwise, always use the main viewer that is mounted parallel to your camera. This allows instant locating and framing of an object, especially small or fast moving objects.
You can raise the camera to your eye while looking at the object and instantly find it. By keeping your other eye open, you can increase your chances of instant framing onto it, and may also see it in real time to see any changes in colour or brightness. A B/W viewer will not show any colour changes.
Audio - Try to record as much important detail of your sighting as you film, by speaking clearly enough to understand when you play the tape back. Record details like, direction of approach of the object, its location in relation to known ground based objects, mountains or towns etc. Note any visual features or changes in appearance, or direction change the object may take. If it passes a Star that you recognise, name the Star or Constellation. Basically, record all useful information that researchers can study in future analysis for identification purposes. If the object is lost behind a tree or cloud, say so on the video audio. This establishes why the object suddenly ‘went out’. Also record your feelings and thoughts at the time.
Time and Date - These are important details to record at the time of a sighting. You can leave the time and date display on at all times if you wish. This establishes a date of the event, and time duration of the sighting. Duration between any strobbing and flashing features from the object can be accurately calculated. All this information can assist identification and analysis of your footage at a later date.
At night, it is best to turn on the time and date display and record this for a few seconds, then turn them off. After you film an event, then immediately turn the time and date display back on and record another few seconds identifying the time with the previous recorded object. This will establish sighting details. Not having the time and date displaying while filming an object at night, gives you a full dark screen when previewing the event, without the brightness from the time/date display, yet you still have it recorded for identification purposes.
Now that you have your camera ready, or just want to see if there is any UFO activity, go to your chosen observation location and start observing the sky. This is the very first step you have successfully made in observing UFO’s, and becoming a successful Skywatcher.
Best Time - When checking for activity, just after sunset to around 9 pm are the best times. Start your first observations in the early evening, because you will see any dull illumination moving in the darkened sky that will be the first signs of possible UFO activity.
Once you have a little practice in adjusting your eyes to the various altitudes by varying your eye focus, you will be gaining a more controlled viewing skill that you will notice improve over time. If you do not see any “indicators” between these times, then the chances are that there is no activity around your location at this period of time. But, do try again later in the evening, because the UFO may be overhead only once in a night. It is being outside in ‘their’ environment that heightens your chances of seeing them. Try again to-morrow and again the next night, and the next, and the next etc, etc, etc.
When you do see signs of UFO activity, then you will see them any time of the day or night. When you see one, there is usually more about.