paranormal investigation equipment

6th

Ok i know alot of people on here have an interest in going on Investigations and theres already a few who i can see getting more involved in the future and even doing there own. Seeing as i have only really gotten into it in the last year or so I have decided to buy some more kit, thing is what should i buy and where?

I've checked out ebay but am weary buying from US and the likes due to bad experiences but anyone here seen any other sites that might be good?

http://www.tomsgadgets.com is great and i've just ordered a couple of items with them but do the what do the wonderful people on here think?

I know some here are in a position to possible make there own equipment but i just aint that techie.

6th

stevenmu

Good idea, I'd be interested in hearing any suggestions people have for suitable camcorders ?

6th

Actually the Sony MiniDv handycams are good, I have one and it has night vision. Its nice and light and i just ordered a infrared light that fits to the hotshoe to extend the night vision to 20meters. www.tomsgadgets.com have a few on there site so that will give you an idea what people are using.

stormkeeper

I'm gonna try to get a digital EMF meter, and maybe a video camera. I was entertaining selling paranormal equipment at some point seeing as it wouldn't be a bad idea, saves people having to go look for everything...

6th

Well for the moment Andy, check out tomsgadgets. I emailed him with a equiry and he rang me from UK. Great service. I cant think of anything they dont have.

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

Well for the moment Andy, check out tomsgadgets. I emailed him with a equiry and he rang me from UK. Great service. I cant think of anything they dont have.

That's pretty cool... I'm ordering something from him soonish... one of those digital voice recorders for use at uni, though I may have other uses for it as well...

6th

Well i just bought:

http://www.tomsgadgets.com/products/details.aspx?pc=CELL1-1

http://www.tomsgadgets.com/products/details.aspx?pc=IRTN2-3

and this:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/GENUINE-SONY-HVL-IRM-INFRARED-HANDYCAM-CAMCORDER-LIGHT_W0QQitemZ7620789070QQcategoryZ43440QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

for my Sony HandyCam.

Will have it all by the time of the investigation!

stormkeeper

Same EMF meter I have... Themometer has a much lower range than mine does, mind though still is decent enough. I want to get a digital EMF Meter so I can get a more accurate reading if needed.

stevenmu

Did you find any good IR torches yet ? Just ordered myself a camcorder so I need to pick up all the bits and pieces to go with it. I'm not sure if it has a hotshoe or not, so it may need to be duct-tape compatible.

6th

Ebay have some good torches but what model did you buy? I just got my thermometer and emf reader delivered to work. Happy days!

6th

This is the camcorder I have: Sony TRV14 miniDV HandyCam

and this is the light I just bought on ebay: Sony hvl-irm

stevenmu

Nice. It's a DCR-HC44, Sony's site says it doesn't have a hotshoe, but some of the UK sites selling it say it does. Meh, I'll find out soon enough I suppose.

6th

As far as i knew that model has one? Anyway you think you might have it by the 3rd?

stevenmu

I think so, it's coming from the UK via UPS so I'm hoping I can have it for next tuesday or wednesday to give me some time to play with it first. I went the bodging route for IR torches and got 2 of these. They're supposed to have a 10m range which should be plenty. I might consider one or two of these at some point in the future.

stormkeeper

Are those torches any good?


(They're prolly better than my trysty Energiser torch!)

6th

Andy those are infrared torches.

Steven that big light looks great and would propable light a room not problem. Obviously not to the human eye but the nightvision camera will pick it up.

stormkeeper

6th wrote:

Andy those are infrared torches.

I'm guessing they give off a red light then, while still managing to make things visible?

6th

They dont give off any visable light. Its infrared light not like a red light bulb.

stormkeeper

I know the ones you mean now... brain wasn't quite fully there, heh.

stevenmu

There's something important I think we've all overlooked with our fancy EMF meters and night vision cameras.

I think every investigator should have an accurate watch and a pen and notepad.

6th

Yep, i know it sounds funny but we should have all our watches set to the same time on investigations to.

New_Departure06

You should have a digital dictaphone for EVP. I got one yesterday.

stormkeeper

stevenmu wrote:

There's something important I think we've all overlooked with our fancy EMF meters and night vision cameras.

I think every investigator should have an accurate watch and a pen and notepad.

But everyone knows it's about the fancy stuff! How do you expect to be taken seriously without fancy gadgets?


Seriously though, the watch and pen/paper thing is very important... all the more considering that the past two investigations didn't use them at all. Make sure to remember to take baseline temp and EMF readings for each room as well..

6th

Ok well i just picked up a compass and a couple of bits i needed to make up a few of these:

stevenmu

Anybody know what types are suitable ? As cool looking as the laser pointer ones are, I don't think they measure air temperature at a particular point. I was looking at some in maplins earlier and there was some with probes, does anyone know if they can measure air temperature or do they need to be stuck into something ?

6th

Good question. I bought a lazer one but as you said it measures surface temps as opposed to air temps.

stevenmu

I checked out those IR LED torches I mentioned above and they work really well. Even one dramatically boosted the range and clarity of the picture. The batteries (3xAAA) got really hot with just a few minutes usage though so I don't know if there's some problem with it or if they just suck a lot of power out of them, I'll have to try one for longer and keep a good eye on it.

stormkeeper

I bought a stereo audio jack cable so I can record the output of my MD Recorder and analyse it through a spectrum analyser, or something like Audacity. I'm actually looking at Audacity now from time to time and it has some sound going on, but not a lot. I wouldn't be able to hear that myself, or if I did, I'd fall asleep listening to it!

Either way, when this is finished recording, I'll be definately interested in looking at those sound spikes. I also want to, at some point make a few little gadgets for use in investigations...

6th

I want this:
http://www.imaging1.com/razir.html

why can I be approached by a mysterious crazy millionaire?!?

my_house

i got one of those call sensors - handy little things.

kshiel

sorry guys only noticed thread on this already. Thanks


Ok guys was just woundering what equipment is neccessary for an investigation and where is best place to buy. Saw some more or less box sets on ebay for sale. Dont want to go over the top as only starting out

Really appreciate some help on this.

6th

ok kshiel would like to help on this as much as I can, great to see more groups forming

Obviously there are certain practical things that are needed for most investigations and some other more specialist equipment, but none of this needs to break the back. Heres what I like to bring along on an investigation:

Warm Clothes
Lighter
Note Book
Pens and Pencils
Torch
Canon Powershot 1.3MP Digital Camera
Pentax Optio 50L 5MP Digital Camera
Pentax K1000 fully manual camera with flash gun
Sony TRV14 miniDV HandyCam with Night Vision
New unrapped Tapes
Tripod
Walkie Talkies
Batteries
Charger for batteries and video camera
Crystal
Snacks
Matches and Tea Light Candles

Obviously some of this depends on the location.

Another point liek Steven said is what really is your reason for doing them? Is it to experience and document paranormal happenings? Or is to Investigated and research the Paranormal. Their can be a world of difference for some people between the spiritual and the scientific but theres no reason you cant get a good mix of the two.

best of look and if you want a recommendation for where to get equipment or any other advice just pm or mail me

junkyard

I've seen stuff advertised in the ads pages of the Fortean Times, some types of meters and stuff I have no idea what it does.

6th

I recently bought two new items for my kit:

A Cell Sensor EMF meter & A Laser Thermometre. To be honest the Thermometer wasnt the smartiest buy as it measures contact temperature i.e. surface of a wall, table etc. It would be best to have something to measure air temperature in a particular area to pick up cold spots.

6th

Ok just bought a few more bits'n'pieces:

BIG Infrared torch:


New battery & charger for my camcorder. My current one only lasts 2 hours and this one will last maybe 6:



A motion detector:


And a Olympus Digital Dictaphone:

stormkeeper

I need a new dictaphone...

Coincidentally, a PDA that supports an SD/MMC Card, and a camera with an SD/MMC Card are useful... take pictures and view them on a bigger screen!

Get a decent sized CompactFlash card as well, and save them to the PDA, and keep on taking pics!

6th

6th wrote:

These just arrived on my desk so I am very happy

cavedave

The number of things you might want to record is massive

Basic environment
-some sort of weather station for pressure,temp, humidity etc.
-Geiger counter

Electomagnetic spectrum
-magnatometor, capacitance meter there are many things like this you might want to record

Sound
-ultrasonic and subsonic
bat detectors would do for ultra, Some sort of modified seismagraph for subsonic might do.

A control would also be needed. Would this be the same equipment in another known non paranormal place or just some base readings in the same spot? Depends on whether the paranormal phenonoman is based in one place and at one time.

Actually pretty much every measuring device could have uses in paranormal investigation, i.e. strange goop on the walls, get a gas chromatographer to test it.

6th

This arrived yestherday and is perfect!

6th wrote:

6th

Infrared torch arrived and this thing is a monster! its not like the picture i bought it based on ... its better.

Stoner

Nice job 6th, looks like we could use it to pop a few rabbits in Ross

I'm expecting one of there in the post next week, this will allow us to take actual readings and not just fluctuations
http://www.trifieldmeter.com/trifieldnat_indepth.html

6th

Just bought this for holding all my bits and pieces - only cost €21.49 in Maplins.




You just cut the foam to the shape you want - easy enough. Should stop me bashing everything around in a sports bag.

They have 4 left if anyone wants me to pick one up?

stormkeeper

Hmm.. I'm in town tomorrow (as well as today)... maybe I should pick one up for my gear, seeing as the Superquinn bag doesn't work so well lol

Stoner

6th, show us a few more pics of that new case you got, just so we know exactly what you bought:D

6th

Stoner wrote:

6th, show us a few more pics of that new case you got, just so we know exactly what you bought:D

Cheeky bitch!

Anyway just got this delivered today, and i'm not buying anything else for a while!

fiddlestick

cavedave wrote:

The number of things you might want to record is massive

Basic environment
-some sort of weather station for pressure,temp, humidity etc.
-Geiger counter

Electomagnetic spectrum
-magnatometor, capacitance meter there are many things like this you might want to record

Sound
-ultrasonic and subsonic
bat detectors would do for ultra, Some sort of modified seismagraph for subsonic might do.

A control would also be needed. Would this be the same equipment in another known non paranormal place or just some base readings in the same spot? Depends on whether the paranormal phenonoman is based in one place and at one time.

Actually pretty much every measuring device could have uses in paranormal investigation, i.e. strange goop on the walls, get a gas chromatographer to test it.

In what situation would you need to measure capacitance?

6th

Anyone think it would be worth having a strobe light for Investigations?

Strobe Light
The use of a strobe light in a paranormal investigation is helpful in slowing down the visual frequency of any manifesting apparitions, since ghosts and spirits tend to function on one much higher than ours in the physical plane.
A strobe light's flash can simulate the effect of a camera shutter by isolating that which otherwise moves too fast for the human brain to perceive. During an investigation it can be beneficial to turn on a strobe in a hot spot on high speed while observed.

ladybirdirl

6th wrote:

Anyone think it would be worth having a strobe light for Investigations?

sounds like a cool gadget to me but if there's anyone who is epileptic/has a brain injury?

Ladybird

6th

As I'm sure you read on the Ross thread I always ask for people to come to myself or Steven if they have any medical conditions and I specifically mention epilepsy.

Also everyone signs a waiver

ladybirdirl

6th wrote:

As I'm sure you read on the Ross thread I always ask for people to come to myself or Steven if they have any medical conditions and I specifically mention epilepsy.

Also everyone signs a waiver

That's why I asked dufus - not everyone will admit on boards that they have a condition but might tell one of you two on the night! (at which point it might be a bit late if you've already got it going)

6th

Well its put on the thread so that people will tell us before we confirm that they are going. People are free to email or pm either of us and leaving medical details til we arrive at the location will be frowned upon.