Capture a UFO Image on Camera

If you should happen to Observe a UFO that you cannot readily identify as a fixed wing aircraft, helicopter, blimp, satellite, meteorological anomaly, meteor, comet, or other phenomenon, the following tips will help you record the event.

Steps

  1. Check whether the angular size of the object is sufficient for you to spot distinct geometric detail. For example:
    • Is it unmistakably spherical, discoidal,[1] shaped like a cigar or torpedo, diamond shaped or triangular? Are there any other features or configurations such as a cupola on top, port holes or landing gear?
    • Does it have a distinct color or color scheme?
      • "Angular size", refers to the angle that the physical extent of the object subtends at your eye: this can be expressed in degrees or minutes of arc, in mils,[2] or most conveniently and particularly in the heat of the moment, in terms of the size of your thumb or fist any number of your fingers held together and held at arm's length.
  2. Be very certain about your observation. In the vast majority of sightings, if the object described is no more than a mere pinpoint of white light in the sky, day or night, and there is nothing really unusual about its movement, assuming it even has any, then the chances are superbly large that it is a misidentified rather than an unidentified object and is really not worth recording nor reporting. The annals of investigative groups are saturated with such "sightings" and they do nothing but waste investigative time and expenditure or resources.
  3. Remember four keywords: date, time, range, and azimuth.
    • Date and time. A good UFO sighting/recording is one that contains accurate date and time for future investigation and correlation. Try to condition it into a reflex that when you're busy grinding away camcorder footage of a particularly interesting or strange form in the sky, you hit the date/time button on your cam without even thinking about it.
    • Azimuth. Use azimuth.[3] Azimuth refers to the angular bearing with respect to either true or magnetic North; it is almost universally given in degrees but still often enough quoted in points of the compass as "East Northeast" (ENE) or perhaps at times but very rarely "Southeast by South", etc. This information is as important as the range: while you are recording footage with a camcorder of an unidentified or "unconventional" aircraft in the skies, with the date/time group on the screen, you could be periodically calling out the azimuth to the object so that it gets recorded on the tape, disc or flash card, or whatever recording media, as you shoot in real time. This would be of tremendous value during subsequent investigation and evaluation. It goes without saying that two observers, suitably separated in distance from each other and calling off azimuths, can pinpoint fairly accurately where the object was, and its Compute an Earth Moon Spacecraft Trajectory across the landscape.
    • Range. The range (or slant height) to an object in the sky is extremely difficult even for trained observers to ascertain.
  4. Learn about different aircraft and their sizes. If you know the wingspan or the length of the fuselage of a certain aircraft design, you can, through training, develop a very good idea of its distance from you. But what about an aerial artifact you have never seen before? You really don't have much of anything to go on. That metallic looking disc you saw in the sky one afternoon over the desert could be thirty feet in diameter and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} away, or it could be a monstrous {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in diameter and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}, or almost three miles distant. Did it cast a shadow on the ground? At what position was the sun in the sky that day? That knowledge alone might be of immense help in fixing the more or less exact position of the disc, or whatever it is in the sky when you observed it.
  5. Invest in the right equipment. If you happen to reside in a region where such sightings of UFOs seem to be the norm,[4] purchase something like a Rangematic 1000 or similar, or stereoscopic rangefinder that will measure distances up to about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}, within a reasonable accuracy range. This is not only a good investment but it is really a necessity if you are to be a good UFO observer or investigator. If you already have a laser type range finder, then so much the better, but these are costly and their very impressive accuracy is arguably not warranted in most UFO observations. Nonetheless, if you do have one, definitely make use of it.
  6. Learn how to judge size. You should also familiarize yourself with the mil relation, touched upon previously. It goes like this: if you know the size of a distant object, and you also know its angular size in mils, as read from the mil scale in many pairs of binoculars now or by using your thumb, fingers, palm of your hand, dime, quarter or whatever held at arm's length, then range to object = 1000 X (size)/ mils, and the result will always be in the same units as the size. Thus, if you know the size in feet, the result will be in feet, yards size will be in yards distance, etc. Your thumb held out at arm's length is probably very close to 40 (forty) mils, so this would mean that if, say, you spotted a disc in the sky that was {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in diameter and your thumb at arm's length just barely covered it, then its distance from you would be 1000 X 200/40 = {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
    • Conversely, if you can determine the distance with your rangefinder, radar data, Adjust the Laserex Internal Laser on the FN P90/PS90, etc., and have the mil reading from the scale on your binoculars, then by simple algebra, the size = MILS X range/1000. Most binoculars on the market today have a field of view of about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} at a range of {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}--this is about one eighth of a radian or 125 mils, which allows you to estimate the angular size of what you are viewing if your binoculars don't have a mil scale baked into the eyepiece.
  7. Familiarize yourself with angular measurements and estimating the same and particularly with the mil scale. Understanding how to estimate this is an extremely useful skill.
  8. Use a camera with manual focus. It should be noted here that for shooting UFOs, make it a hard and fast rule to use a camera or camcorder that has manual focus (MF), as there is nothing more infuriating than seeing footage of a very blurry gob of something in the sky that keeps drifting in and out of focus (if ever in focus at all) while the "i.r." or sonic range finder on the cam keeps "hunting" back and forth. Many professional videographers keep their equipment on "infinity" focus and leave it there unless compelled to do otherwise. Infinity focus is usually found when you turn your camera to manual focus (see the image). Whatever else you do, remember that manual focus is still the best way to go.

Tips

  • Hint: Measuring the azimuth to a UFO to the nearest ten degrees is very good and close enough for investigations; any even marginally reliable compass will adequately serve here. Don't underestimate the value of a good compass, not only for UFO sightings, but for analyzing Visit a Crop Circle. In fact, even if you venture into a crop formation with no other instrument whatsoever, don't even consider doing it without a compass.

Warnings

  • Keep your original photos and videotape. Retain the original footage and/or negatives in a secure place and never entrust them to anyone outside of your immediate family.

Things You'll Need

  • Camcorder or still camera with manual focus
  • Reliable compass
  • Rangefinder (an inexpensive model will work just fine)
  • Binoculars with mil scale embedded in lens

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  • UNCONVENTIONAL FLYING OBJECTS, Paul R. Hill (1995)
  • UFOs AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, Richjard M. Dolan (2002)
  • THE HUNT FOR ZERO POINT, Nick Cook
  • The written works of Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958)
  • The Books of Charles Fort....Lands Beyond, The Book of the Damned, Lo!, and Wild Talents (1932 - 1940)
  1. ↑ A flat, circular form; disk-shaped.
  2. ↑ For those not familiar, the term "mil" is a unit of angular measure developed long ago by the military and used in their binoculars, range finders and battle sights for ranging distant objects--if a stake in the ground is exactly five feet in height and is {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} from you, then its angular size is one mil. A mil can also be defined as one thousandth of a radian which is itself about 57 degrees of arc.
  3. ↑ Wikipedia, Azimuth
  4. ↑ Wikipedia, List of UFO Sitings

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