External lights for Z9 / nighttime wildlife

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N

NatureBoy

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Can someone tell me where to start when it comes to light / flash units / hardware for wildlife @ night?
Z9 body and Im wanting to get images of flying squirrels and the occasional other nocturnal animal. Im really starting at zero knowledge on this..
 
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The problem is being able to focus on the subject in the dark. At closer distance the IR autofocus assist from the speedlight helps although the response time is much longer than normal. A LED flashlight may work to help the camera focus and then have a speedlight to provide the light for the camera. There are LED light panels that mount on the hot shoe of the camera but their lightput is limited and their range.

There are cameras that have been modified by removing the filters over sensor to enable them to record infrared light and there are special IR lights, including the Sony HVL-LEIR1 that has both visible light LEDs and IR LEDs so it does dual duty.

I recently purchased the Sony AF-700 14MP camcorder that has a night recording mode where the filter is moved to allow the sensor to record using IR light and this works for stills and for video. I bought it along with the Sony LED hot shoe mounted light to get video of bats and barn owls on my property. It comes with a remote control so I can set it up outside my bat house or my barn owl nesting box mounted on a tripod or pole.
 
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