Homebrew Trailcameras

[gkowen]

These Sony cams do a good job.  I was driving down the freeway today and stck the camera out the window and got this picture.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii258/gkowen/DSC00078.jpg

Now here is where I put my camera.  I could have camoflauged it better but its in the deep woods. And the flash will give it away anyway.  I can't wait to pick it up next weekend. I wonder what settings everyone is going to use to take their trail cam photos. What do you use BobR? If you have said before and I missed it I am sorry.

[bigdave]

Well, A few minutes ago, my cam was in the hallway happily snapping pics of my family as they went about their lives. I have a few little details to finish up but hopefully it will be outside soon.

I need to make some adjustments to either the camera or the control board settings to see if it will go a little faster. I currently have #6 turned on the control board and its taking a pic every 10 seconds. I'll read some more and get it tuned up. This is a very fun project and with the help of the folks on this board, very doable no matter your expertise. If you're interested, give it a try!!

Thanks again Bob! 

Dave

[ORDoubleLung]

Bob,

Thanks for the info.  I thought that was it but I wasn't positive.  How many pics do you get with one full battery.  I just want an external because my cams will more than likely be a 6-8 hour round trip to retrieve them so I want to make sure they will last a long time.  Like a month or two.  But I still want to have it set up on a rapid pic mode.

My Nikon S600 seems to be doing well minus the toasted flash.   I will post some pics of critters when I get them.  Even on the Whitetail board it seems to take some quick pictures.  I know your hooked on the W series but I really think the Nikon will be a good alternative as well.  Especially if the prices stay so high. 

[bow4elk]

Do you have a hack "build-along" for the S600?  Just curious...

[gkowen]

The w80 that I put out today has filled the 2 Gig card with 650 plus pics on one battery charge.  Most were with flash.  I don't have an exact percentage. Just a guess is that 80% were flash pics.

The w80 goes from full off to first pic in about 2 seconds for flash. Quicker without flash.  I have my switches set to just number 4 on.  I have to experiment more for the best timing/best photos.

[ORDoubleLung]

Bow4elk,

I don't have pics yet but I will.  Right now I have a 3 wire with a jumper across two of the posts on the shutter switch.  I'm going to redo it with a 4 wire and see if I can hook it up to the focus terminal on the board and see which one works the best.  The three wire is fine but it's a little tricky.  I used the same wire since it's such a tight squeeze.  It's a pretty simple hack though. 

That was the first camera I hacked.  After that I did a Sony S650.  I just did a W90 a couple minutes ago and I would say they are about the same with the Nikon being a little easier.  I don't think I would toast another flash now since I won't be messy with it with the battery in it again.  The Nikon was a bit of a pain to figure out the jumper but I got it.

[Grizzly95]

Well I went and got my case today and I got a clear one, I thought it might make it a little easier to see all the drill locations that way. It doesn't come with the foam in the lid. My buddy is gonna get me the stand offs from work tomorrow; so if all goes well I will be putting it to work next weekend.

[BaseballStud20]

Thank you very much BobR and Gramps, really appreciated all the helpful insight you provided the other day. And thank you Dave for letting us use your shop as the meeting place. The moose chili was delicious and so was the corn bread. I'm confident that ill be able to put many cameras together from now on.

[Grizzly95]

BaseballStud20 as long as it isn't an old 22

[Grizzly95]

I just sent some pics of the trail cam I am building to some friends and I think we will be building a few more in the coming weeks. They want to test mine and then they said they would attempt the build.

[Machias]

And the addiction spreads... 

I got my case and board from Yeti today, Yippeeeeee

[BobR]

Fred,  You have no idea how addictive this is, and wait until your friends see your pictures and find out you can build these cameras. I put a new LCD in the W200 that my son gave me Saturday, and the camera is wired. It will be in the field Thursday.
Bob

[WASHBCBOOK]

anybody tried to hack the w150

[olsy]

Thank you very much to BobR and Gramps for all the help on Saturday, and thanks to Dave for providing the shop.  It was great to meet everyone.  I got the Bondoglass put on my cam today.  Nowhere close to how good Bob's camera's look, but it will do for my first go-around!

[bow4elk]

anybody tried to hack the w150

gkowen did...pretty similar to the W80/90.  He can tell you more when his sees this thread.