Whether it’s teaching, entertaining, documenting, or simply spreading the word, video is the communications tool of the 90s. It’s a format used by artists, journalists, advertisers, story tellers, and consumers alike. VCRs are in over 80% of America’s homes and we all at least know someone who owns a camcorder.

In my occupation I’ve shot children, puppies, puppets, lawyers, in-laws, NASCAR racers, nuclear reactor interiors, CEOs, Rachel Ward, aerials, animation, soap star bo-hunks, rock groups, rock formations, mineral deposits, microscopic parasites, and other assorted living and lifeless objects, but many of my most enjoyable and often challenging subjects have been fish.

Videotaping your Koi can add another facet to your hobby, or your Koi business. A few Koi dealers are already taking advantage of video by shooting footage of their season’s selection. A dealer can provide a customer with detailed footage of a specific Koi and have a tape sent to them the next day. When video compression technology catches up with the Internet you’ll be able to see that footage the same day. With video a customer can get a close look at the Koi from all sides, which is better than a photo and less expensive than flying out to the dealer’s location. The customer can see how gracefully a Koi swims in the dealer’s pond, and how it compares to the fish around it. I know a couple of dealers who are taking camcorders with them on their buying trips to Japan. For those of us who haven’t yet traveled to Japan, video lets us visit the facilities and mud ponds of Matsunosuke, Isumiya, and Torazo. This is a tremendous contribution to the promotion and appreciation of Koi.

In addition, video tends to be fairly honest with color reproduction if it hasn’t been tweaked in any way, unlike photos where the shades of red can vary greatly depending on the brand of film or the mood of the printer.

I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from shooting footage of my Koi throughout the year. I don’t need to bowl them or stress them in any way to document the changes they are going through. I’m able to shoot close shots of questionable areas of Hi, Sumi, or injuries just to see how they are improving. In the dreariest part of winter I can pull out a tape I shot in July and be taken back to summer for an hour or two. A simple way to get Koi TV is to set your camcorder up on a small tripod aimed at your pond, press record and just let it run. Now you can enjoy your Koi and pond anytime day or night. You may also notice some things you didn’t see before such as which wild critters are visiting your pond during the day, or how your favorite Sanke got the scratch on it’s head.

When I first started shooting fish I learned two things very quickly. They are hard to keep up with, and they tend to go out of focus easily as they change depths. Large graceful Koi are much easier to shoot than the quick and zippy small ones.

Here are some tips on shooting better video. The first thing you must do is glue a large rat trap onto your zoom controls. This will keep your fingers off them. Zooming is an obnoxious and unnecessary toy in the hands of an amateur. Use your zoom to get from a wide shot to a close-up shot with the record button OFF. This will eliminate a lot of unnecessary footage and will provide you with a pleasing edit from wide to close.

Also, plan your shots in advance and roll only on what you want. This helps to eliminate the unnecessary footage of your feet as you walk around to the other side of your pond. You’ve seen the footage I’m talking about in your friend’s wedding video. That’s the point where you start yawning and thinking that the video could have been two hours shorter.

Keep your videos interesting by eliminating the rough stuff. You and your family will enjoy watching your movies over and over if they are more entertaining. Try to keep your shots smooth, and stay on a particular fish for a few seconds or more. This eliminates the darting around never finding a shot effect. Concentrate on one fish or group of fish then slowly move on to another. Soon your camera moves will become smooth and professional looking.

Most camcorders come with an auto focus. It’s best to switch to manual focus because ripples in the water, leaves, and fish swimming at lower depths will all cause the auto focus to switch from object to object never finding an acceptable focus. If your camcorder has a manual iris use this also. The black or dark bottom of your pond causes an auto iris to open up and overexpose your fish. Simply point your camera to a wide-shot of your yard, switch the auto iris to manual and you will be exposing for the fish correctly when you point your camera back to the pond.

Don’t be afraid to get close-up on your fish. Close-ups are generally more interesting. You’ll see your Koi’s eyes shift, look at you and wink as they swim by or stop to beg for a treat. You’ll glow with pride when you see your Sensuke Kohaku’s straight, sharp, beautiful Kiwa up close.

Most camcorders have auto white and black balance functions. If yours has an optional manual white balance, hold a white piece of paper in front of the lens near your pond and get a white balance. This will help ensure the colors are accurate.

Glare is always a problem when shooting ponds. Sunny days with clear blue skies will offer the best results. Cloudy or overcast skies cause heavy glare. A polarizing filter will help fight glare but only if you are locked down on a tripod. When you try to move the camera the polarizing effect will change also. Shaded ponds tend to photograph well if you shoot in only the shaded areas. Many times you can eliminate glare by shooting straight down onto the fish, or by testing different angles until the glare is lessened. Very contrasty areas, (shots that include very light and very dark areas in the same shot), will wreak havoc on most all consumer camcorders. Try to stick to more flat evenly lit scenes for better picture quality.

For Koi keepers who are considering buying a camcorder, buy the best you can afford. A little extra money can go a long way when buying a camcorder that produces quality images, as you will most likely be watching your videos for many years to come. The new Digital camcorders produce near Broadcast Quality images and CD quality sound, though sound is not a critical consideration when shooting your fish. The most important things to look for when purchasing a camcorder are the quality of the lens, the ability to go manual on most functions, and the number of lines of horizontal resolution the camera is capable of reproducing. The lens should have quality optics, have at least an 8 to 1 zooming capability, and preferably be able to go into macro focus for extremely close shots. As we mentioned earlier, the ability to use manual iris, manual focus, or manual white balance will result in better looking images, and more professional looking home videos. Any consumer camcorder that is capable of reproducing 400 or more lines of horizontal resolution will give a very pleasing image. The picture will show more detail, be less grainy, and will be more enjoyable to watch. As a reference, a 35mm motion picture image offers over 1400 lines of horizontal resolution. When you are shopping for a camcorder put a few cameras side by side and decide which picture looks the best to you. Generally, if a camera produces a nice looking image in low light situations it’s a quality camera. Again, the better cameras will cost a little more.