Making a game camera

[TheDanishDanger]

Hey everyone, especially bond because I see you are always sayin that we could make our own camera's and very good one's. I was wonderin what you need to accomplish this and if you had any information on how-to-do all this. Thanks.

[dogdoc]

http://www.hagshouse.com/Hags%20Hous...TION%20SENSORS

[Bond]

Well first you have to decide what camera and sensor board combo you want to use.

I'm assuming you want to go digital(let me know if you want to make a film setup or a video setup) so the four most popular digital cameras people use are:

Sony P41 4mp - this is what I use, very fast, one second trigger, flash is good, 2AA batteries take about 200 pictures, easy to modify - you don't have to solder to the actual camera. You can find these on E-bay for about $125 and up.

Sony P32 3mp - same flash as p41, little bit slower - about 1.5 to 2 seconds, modified just as easy as the p41. Also on ebay for about $100 and up.

Olympus d-380 2mp - This is can be modified for an instant trigger, or if you want longer battery life, trigger speed is about 3 seconds, easily modified by soldering, you can find them on ebay for $50 to $100.

Olympus d-360L 1.3mp - The main advantage to this one is you don't have to open up the camera to modify it, you just plug it in to the board. I've never used one of these so I don't know much else about them.

And HERE
is a list of links and information about all the different sensor boards to choose from.
I used the snapshot sniper board and would highly reccomend it, it comes with everything already soldered to it and is super easy to set up because it has an LCD screen that tells you what your settings are and there's just 2 buttons that you press to set it up.

Ok so you got your camera, your board, now you need:
A case - once you choose your camera and board, you need to figure out (or ask) what size case you need and you can get those at lots of places - casesforless.com, ebay, snapshotsniper.com, trailsendcams.com, there are a lot more.
Some kind of connector to hook the board to the camera- stereo plug, servo connector, phone plug, etc.
Glass to cover hole over shutter - you can get it at pixcontroller.com snapshotsniper.com trailsendcams.com, other places
Glass or lens to cover hole over flash - most people use a flash enhancer that you can get at any of the previous places
Fresnal lens - to cover hole over PIR sensor, can also get at any of the previous places
Stand offs and mounting screws - to mount the board to the case
Something to mount the case to the tree - most people used U bolts so they can use a python lock to lock the cam to the tree, I used a bungee mount from buyezweb.com
Battery holder
Motion kill switch - If you buy the snapshotsniper board, the battery holder and switch comes with it.
I think that's a complete list of what you need, it'll a lot easier and clearer once you decide on a camera and sensor board, until then you don't really know exactly what you need.
I bought everything on this list from Pixcontroller.com and snapshotsniper.com


For detailed instructions on how to do this, go to pixcontroller.com, click on "manuals and camera modification" then find the camera you chose. Also, on the top of that page is a step by step camera building tutorial, click on "how to build a d-360L trail camera." Even if this isn't the camera you choose, the instructions are generic enough for all cameras, it's really easy to understand. Also keep in mind that there's not only one way to build one, I looked at a lot of other people's homemade cams and a lot of commercial cams and decided what I like best from each.

Let me know if you have any questions, also there are a few other people on here that build their own cams, I know Gus does, I forgot who else.
You can also try these forums:
Jesses
Hags
real deal
Those forums are where all the genius' that actually make these boards and figure out the modification hang out. They'll answer any question no matter how dumb or how hard.
Good Luck, you won't regret it

[bowhtr1]

I think Bond covered it all. I just finished my 3rd digital using the 4.1 mp Sony P41. I used the BG1 board on the Sony. I have two with the Olympus D-380's. I used the HH1 bouard for them. I also made a 35 mm camera with a Canon Owl PF. I used the pixcontroller on this one. The only problem is that when you make one you cant stop. I think my next one will be a video game cam or maybe an IR rig. Maybe both. See what i mean.