Area 51 filmed from the mountains [video]

Hey everyone, i have not posted here in awhile but i found this cool video while surfing the net.

Here is the link:

www.livevideo.com...

Enjoy!

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ckrules]

Thats interesting :] i have absolutely no idea what we're looking at. Its big, though - I assume those moving things are cars?
Its funny how there are places where you may not go, in no circumstances, because other persons think what they are doing there is - apparently - not suitable to be known to others. In a universal way, its really funny.

lol

but i think its area 51 because you can tell by the buildings and structures, well at least to me anyway.

[edit on 5-5-2008 by ckrules]

reply to post by ckrules


That is really unfortunate. I doubt Steve authorized his video to be hacked up like that with a sound track added. He sold it for peanuts (near the cost of duplication) a few years ago. Just the raw video on IIRC 4 CDroms. Anyway, it is the real thing. Funny though those jerks didn't use the SU-27 video, which Steve was first to document.

I photographed the SU-27 flying out of Groom in October 2004, so this video would be older than that.

su-27

Very interesting video nonetheless.
Such a shame these are the best images now possible to obtain of the base, as going any closer gets you arrested basically.

Still you can make out quite a bit going. Anyone know where to get a better quality version or is it copyrighted?

Sorry i dont know, i just found the video while surfing the net for area 51 videos.

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


You can try to buy them from Steve Hauser. I think I paid $20 for 4 cds. I suppose I can bring the video gear next time I do a Tikaboo. What you do is attached a CCD carmera to the back of the telescope, and use a camcorder to record the video. THe CCD video camera is powered with 8 AA cells.

Ahh okay I just thought he was using a very expensive telescopic lens or something.

That probably explains the low quality then. I mean he's recording an image that has been reflected off a dozen mirrors inside the telescope and then compressed into a video format.

Why not attach a wireless CCTV camera, one of those miniature, spy-type ones and then have it transmit to a laptop or something, that way you could record it a much higher bitrate or whatever and possibly give you a better quality reproduction.

Some interesting footage, assuming we can confirm that this is in fact Area 51, but on gut instinct I think that it is looking at the buildings and the fact it was passenger jets landing there; it's no airport that's for sure.

The dramatic music kinda makes this footage a lot more intense than it actually is I thought, without the music it's just shots of buildings and people driving around!

reply to post by gariac


Good score on the SU27! Very cool to look at

reply to post by GrooveCat


It is Area 51.

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


IIRC, Steve used an 8 inch reflector telescope. Most people only haul a 5 inch reflector or 3 inch refractor up Tikaboo. For a small CCD, a reflector and refractor would be similar quality. [Refractors tend to be sharper at the edges. The video CCD is so small that the effects at the edge don't show up ] The particular images were taped when the thermal disturbances were present. The quality would be better if done early in the morning. I suppose I should search for the CDs to see if any were shot in the early morning. To be honest, I've seen the base live from Tikaboo enough times that the video wasn't all that interesting except for the SU27.

There are two ways of shooting video through a telescope. One is to use a relay lens that screws into the camcorder lens. Two vendors come to mind. One is Scopetronix, which makes adapters that use eyepieces to act as a relay lens. The other is Willian Optics, which make lenses for this purpose. The other technique is to place a CCD camera at the focal plane. This requires a camcorder that accepts external video. In either case, focusing is tough since you don't have a real optical path but rather a LCD to view.

Scopetronix

Dont forget the base is 23 miles away.

Interesting, I didn't know you could get lenses that fit right into telescopes which you can attach a camera to. But they'd probably be model-specific right?

While I agree the video isn't extraordinary in what it shows, there aren't too many recordings of the base out there, there are a lot of high quality photos but no recordings. And it's hard to get any closer than this really.

The only way I could see anyone getting better resolution videos of the base is to mount an enormous telephoto lens (+500mm) onto an SLR that can record video and then film. But lenses that can produce decent quality shots beyond a few kilometres away cost literally ten's of thousands of dollars.

[edit on 8/5/08 by The Godfather of Conspira]

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


A 400mm lens is not exotic, nor is it sufficient to photograph the base. I have a primer of sorts in the works on how to shoot the base:
telephotography

The problem with video is you can't tweak the image very well with most video software as compared to what can be done with photographs.

Great video! Best footage that I've seen of Area 51. You can tell they are well established out there, what with all the runways, warehouses and such. I enjoyed the satellite image at the end. Shows you the real scope of the place. Bigger than I'd imagined.

You could do night videography and photography with this amazing regular camera to infrared conversion:

www.lifepixel.com...

Imagine the qualitiy!!!

Hello and welcome OP!

I want to interject my views on Area 51...

...S-4 probably is not active with E.T. projects...

Check out south of Tucson, or Government land in central Colorado...

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


People get IR and night vision confused all the time. The IR camera will not be very useful for photographing the base from Tikaboo because there is no IR source illuminating the base. Don't confuse the IR camera with those video cameras that have IR LED illumination. Yes, if you have IR on the subject, then the IR camera will work.

Night vision is amplification of mostly visible light, but NV does respond to IR as well as visible. Thus older generation NV gear has an IR illuminator attached. [In real life, you would be shot if you had an IR spot light on your NV because the enemy can see the IR as well.] However, you can use NV without the IR source. For example, the NV will show an airplane silhouette if it is close enough and back lit by the night sky. I had a blacked out chopper approach me and the NV worked like a charm.

Unless you have gen3, night vision is pretty low resolution. I shot this a few years ago with Soviet era gen2.
night vision of Area 51

At the bottom of this page
cedar pipeline ranch
there is a NV video of two C130's flying over the Cedar Pipeline ranch area. It appears they had the solid IR beacon turned on.

I understand that gariac.But the craft will be giving off their own intrinsic infrared radiation in order to better see the shape. Kinda like this:

image.automobilemag.com...

Great website by the way...been visiting it for years now whenever I'm in my Area 51 mood. Thanks.



[edit on 11-5-2008 by THE_PROFESSIONAL]