Equipment

This is my personal equipment. Each investigator brings his own. As you can tell we have all of the standard ghost hunting gear and more. One of the reason's my wife's nickname is "Gadget Girl".

We now have a Full Spectrum Digital Still Camera that shoots Visible, Infrared, and UV light.

Qty	Device	Picture	Use
1	Sony DCR45 HDD  Night shot Camcorders		This Camcorder uses an internal hard drive rather than tape and can store 12 hours of video. Has Sony infrared Night Shot. Manual
1	Panasonic 3ccd camcorder		This is our 3ccd camera. Has great color for daylight shots. Will not shoot in 0 light.
2	Sony DCR28 and DCR-26 Night shot Camcorders		The Sony Camcorder comes with enhanced Night Shot which enables it to record in total darkness. Cameras that may advertise 0 Lux will not record in total darkness. This camera uses Minidv tapes for recording and is fire wire compatible for downloading your footage to computers for editing.  This is also very handy when used in Jeff's HSSU (Hot Spot Set UP) for recording straight to a notebook hard drive. Manual
1	Kodak SLR Digital Camera		8 Meg Digital Still Camera
1	Sony DSC-H9		8.1 Megapixel Digital Still Camera that can shoot in the Infrared Spectrum Manual
2	Sony HVL-IRM Infrared  Illuminator		The Infrared Illuminator is used in conjunction with the Sony Night Shot Camcorder to widen and extend its range. This uses AA or ION rechargeable batteries. Haunted Texas Review
1	Battery Charger for IR Illuminators		We use rechargeable batteries in our Sony IR Illuminator for longer life. This is used to recharge the IR battery.
1	SIM SL-20IR Infrared  Illuminator w/ Charger		Rechargeable Infrared light. This has more LEDs than our Sony and acts more as a Floodlight than a Spotlight. disadvantage is a very short battery life. Haunted Texas Review
2	Olympus 4100 Voice Recorders		These are used to record EVP evidence and keep verbal notes for later review and transcribing
2	K2 Meters EMF Meters		These respond to EMF fluctuations with flashing lights which comes in handy in the dark. Use a plastic pen cap shoved in the "On" switch or a coin to keep it always on.
1	Digital EMF Meter		This EMF meter provides extreme accurate measurement of EMF fields down to .01 milligauss
1	Lowel Infrared Can Camera		We Use these with Jeff's HSSU because it plugs into 110v and we do not have to replace batteries overnight to keep the infrared running.
3	Laser Levels		One theory is objects such as mists will interrupt the laser beam thus identifying activity.
1	Omi Directional Microphone		These record sound from 360 degrees and are used to enhance the voice recorder but also comes into play with Jeff's HSSU.
4	Midland Two Way radios		Helps us in communicating with other team members at large sites.
4	LED Flashlights w/ Red and White Beams
2	Tripods
5	Equipment Bags
2	Notebook Computers	Dell and HP
1	Adobe Premiere Pro		Video Editing Software
1	Camtasia	For adding EVP reviews to our Movies. (Use a double male audio patch cord to record the best sound.)	Desktop Video Editing software
2	Audacity		Audio Editing Software

 

Audacity Simplified - A short how to video demostrating this audio editing software.

Windows Movie Maker is a free movie editing software which comes included with XP and Vista.

Jeff's Hot Spot Set Up

It is difficult to leave a Minidv camera running in a static spot overnight. Tapes and batteries need to be changed out every hour. The Hot Spot Setup solves this by linking the camera to a notebook computer so the data is streamed to a hard drive. The camera is plugged into a wall source of electricity and a infrared light is also plugged into the wall so batteries do not need to be switched out. Sometimes a external hard drive is also used.

In addition to this a microphone may also be set up to record audio from a nearby location. Remember the camera ia also picking up audio so this provides a second reference source for the data.

This is better than the traditional multi camera DVR setup seen on TV because it scans more lines of video has a DV frame rate of 30 frames per second and picks up audio.

Used Equipment

Often used equipment can be picked up from eBay and Yahoo auctions. Below are examples of prices from 11/20/2008 for various infrared Camcorders and Digital Cameras which I was following. Not all of these were equals with the same accessories however they were all similar. 

When following an auction do not bid on anything because you think it is the last opportunity. These cameras often come up. Preferably bid on a item being offered that has been refurbished and has checked the working of the device. 
Also do not bid until the item is about to close. Bidding early or setting bid maximums will only drive the price up. Finding items which are closing in the early hours of the morning should be no problem for steely eyed ghost hunters. At 3:00 in the morning there are a lot less people waiting to pounce on a item.

Often, the price is much lower when bidding on incomplete sets, such as missing chargers, batteries, etc. These can be bought as separate items on ebay.

Remember cameras with built in hard drives do cost more however you will save on not having to buy Minidv tapes and will not have to change tapes every hour.

When buying a used camcorder it is a good idea to pick up a Minidv cleaning head tape.

Examples of closing prices on Ebay.