Photography hides??

[wrogers]

I was wondering how many people use a hide when photographing wildlife...

I have been toying with the idea for a while and I have seen many photo's taken from inside portable hides but what do people on the forum do??

if you do, what hide do you have and what do think of it?
if you don't use a hide, what do you use instead??

[JeffH]

I use a portable dome hide supplied by Wildlife Watching Supplies and, though not cheap, I think they're excellent. I'm now on my 2nd one having had the original stolen some months ago .

Most of my work is done from this hide but on some sites (where I expect to work over a fairly prolonged period) I've erected semi-permanent hides/screens made out of windbreak material and camo netting.

When not using hides I tend to wear full camo gear, including head net and gloves.

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Avocets, Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Meta menardi]

I find a hide is unecessary, as I mainly photo plants and invertebrates, but I find hides at RSPB places can be quite atmospheric, if there are not too many people and they are not talking loudly about the route they drove to arrive there.

[larachmor]

I too use Wildlife Watching Supplies’ hides. I have a 5ft dome hide, and one of their long low hides. The latter comes complete with a sewn-in groundsheet. They also do a smaller dome hide with a groundsheet. I use the dome hide for (amongst others) our Capercaillie monitoring, which requires a “sleep-over” for which it is just about suitable (unless you’re Peter Crouch). The hide goes in for about four weeks, and takes all sorts of Highland winter weather in its stride. The low hide is certainly low – and only suitable for lying down.
Having said all that – though the quality is excellent there are certain downfalls: The opening is secured by Velcro tabs and loop ties – as are the windows – and this means that water can enter with driving rain. This probably does not present any problems unless you’re using it long-term and have a groundsheet pegged out within, when water can pool. Why they cannot just fit zips I don’t know. I e-mailed Kevin Wheatley at WWS and asked him to consider a combination of a dome-hide with a low sleeping extension tunnel – but he declined, suggesting that I could marry up a dome hide with one of their tunnel tents (which needless to say was prohibitively expensive) Good quality - extensive range – expensive – but still not perfect.

http://www.wildlifewatchingsupplies.co.uk/

[pressld2]

I have an Ameristep Outhouse pop-up hide and was recently asked, via PM, what I thought of it. This was my reply...

"I have to confess that I've only used it a couple of times. To get the best out of any portable hide you really need to get it into position under cover of darkness, that or be able to leave it up for a period of days. I don't get up early enough in summer for the first option and am not happy about the second option as I don't have access to any private land where it would be safe. I'm expecting to use it much more in winter when I can get set up in darkness about 7am instead of 3am!

It is a well made piece of kit though. It's lined with a dark material so your shadow won't show up if the light shines through it, unlike the small two man tent I originally bought to use as a hide. It's reasonably spacious inside - bags of room for one and could take two people if they were a) careful and b) good friends! It's not too heavy if you need to lug it for any distance, but chances are you'll also be lugging your camera gear, a camp chair, food and drink, etc., so the best places to use it are those you can park reasonably close to.

It does pop-up in seconds and there's a knack to folding it down again which, once mastered, also takes just a few seconds. The one thing it lacks is any kind of scrim netting at the windows but that's fairly easy to rectify with a trip to your local army surplus store.

Overall, I'm very pleased with it in spite of the lack of opportunities to use it so far."

Dave P.

[FUDGEY]

I use a hide for certain subjects. I started of with a bag hide, but soon ditched it at it was far to stuffy & too hot at times, I have now just purchased what's called a pop-a-bivvy. Being a fisherman for many years I had one many moons ago. Not designed for using as a hide, but it will be easy to modify. The beauty of it is that it's pretty sturdy, waterproof & the best thing about it is that it's extremley light, easy to carry and erects & dismantles in 5 seconds, very handy indeed. The price is also excellent at around £50.

[larachmor]

Originally Posted by larachmor

Having said all that – though the quality is excellent there are certain downfalls: The opening is secured by Velcro tabs and loop ties – as are the windows – and this means that water can enter with driving rain. This probably does not present any problems unless you’re using it long-term and have a groundsheet pegged out within, when water can pool. Why they cannot just fit zips I don’t know.
Wildlife Watching Supplies - Wildlife photography, Nature photography, Photo blinds

Since my post, I have checked the WWS website, and, lo and behold, zips are now available on the dome hides - but rather than being available as standard, they come at a premium of an extra £28.75 on top of the (already relatively expensive) price.
Clearly, others have identified the velcro fastenings and ties as a weakness, so why don't WWS just abandon them, bite the bullet and fit them in the name of progress??

[FUDGEY]

Sounds like a total rip off! I'll stick with my £50 job :-)

[wrogers]

well it seems so far that quite a few people have got hides!
I think a hide will be on my lsit as well as an upgrade to a canon 400mm 5.6L, but I think the hide comes first!

does anyone use these hides:
www.ultimatenaturegear.co.uk

also how eefective are hides... as in what focal length do you end up using most (and what crop factor is your camera) as I am using my lounge window and my tree is 4-5M away and so my 150-500mm on my 1.6x crop camera is just about ok, but sharpness is not that great hence why I want ashorter prime (Canon 400mm F/5.6L or 300mm F/4 L IS)

thanks for the replies everyone

Will

[wrogers]

I have just found a UK Ameristep retailer..

www.deben.com
they can be found under Field Sports, and they are near the bottom of the drop down box.

and even better for me is they are located just 20Mi away form me, between my house and my grans house, where I am going this weekend! looks like I may be making a visit!!

Will