In the late 1980 I had heard of game cameras and that people were starting to make their own. So I jumped in and at that time we were using old Kodak Brownie cams with a solenoid to push the shutter release. We also jury rigged an old type of flash bulb outfit from a Kodak 110 cam with 8 flash cubes in it. Those were fun days and we tried everything imaginable. We mostly used a "trip wire" arrangement to trigger the shutter release.
In the early 1990s we got more sophisticated but we were still cavemen. We had moved up to motion detectors but many of us struggled with reliability. Still lots of fun.
Then rumors started about digital cameras. And in no time at all Sony was the digital camera of choice. They were the best digital camera to hack into and re-wire for a solid state electronic trigger device. We usually designed our game cameras with the ability to remove the camera and use it like any digital point-and-shoot cam. Guys were creating new types of electronic trigger PC boards almost every month. For a while it was very competitive to design, build and sell your stuff on line. I'm sure thousands were sold and most are still in use today. Very reliable and extremely well built with no cheap components. Man, I'll bet you we went through 50 design types on the electronics and optics from 1997 thru 2000. During the early 2000s we became very sophisticated with infra red photo sensors and IR lights. I discovered that , even though the big bucks did not usually run from the flash, over a period of time they slowly started to stay away from areas where the old electronic strobe flash units were used. So I started experimenting with IR lighting and IR LEDs for illumination but I also had to switch from conventional digital photography to IR digital photography to make all this stuff work. Things got very complicated with lots of electronic options on the trigger electronics, IR digital photography, IR illumination systems. Prices began to soar also. I sold several IR set-ups for $900 to $1100 US.
In late 2001 I had a stroke with a long recovery time. I lost touch with the game camera building scene and during the next three years I developed hand and head shakes so that doing any type of tedious electronics inside those tiny cameras and electronic trigger boards is impossible.
If you are interested in home-brew game cameras just Google it and you will find several discussion groups on this topic with tons of great information. Most of the inventors are very open to sharing their "secrets" and then there are some jerks who won't tell you anything.
Try:
http://www.hagshouse.com/
http://realdealhuntingchat.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=4fc075e654e5b87e720102b09bd6731d&act=idx
http://www.snapshotsniper.com/
http://www.arkansaselkhunter.com/Trail Cameras.htm
http://www.prairieimages.com/homemade_trail_camera.htm
There are others but I cannot remember the names. Enjoy yourself.
ETA: Caution - this little hobby can become very addictive. Just like raising chickens
In the early 1990s we got more sophisticated but we were still cavemen. We had moved up to motion detectors but many of us struggled with reliability. Still lots of fun.
Then rumors started about digital cameras. And in no time at all Sony was the digital camera of choice. They were the best digital camera to hack into and re-wire for a solid state electronic trigger device. We usually designed our game cameras with the ability to remove the camera and use it like any digital point-and-shoot cam. Guys were creating new types of electronic trigger PC boards almost every month. For a while it was very competitive to design, build and sell your stuff on line. I'm sure thousands were sold and most are still in use today. Very reliable and extremely well built with no cheap components. Man, I'll bet you we went through 50 design types on the electronics and optics from 1997 thru 2000. During the early 2000s we became very sophisticated with infra red photo sensors and IR lights. I discovered that , even though the big bucks did not usually run from the flash, over a period of time they slowly started to stay away from areas where the old electronic strobe flash units were used. So I started experimenting with IR lighting and IR LEDs for illumination but I also had to switch from conventional digital photography to IR digital photography to make all this stuff work. Things got very complicated with lots of electronic options on the trigger electronics, IR digital photography, IR illumination systems. Prices began to soar also. I sold several IR set-ups for $900 to $1100 US.
In late 2001 I had a stroke with a long recovery time. I lost touch with the game camera building scene and during the next three years I developed hand and head shakes so that doing any type of tedious electronics inside those tiny cameras and electronic trigger boards is impossible.
If you are interested in home-brew game cameras just Google it and you will find several discussion groups on this topic with tons of great information. Most of the inventors are very open to sharing their "secrets" and then there are some jerks who won't tell you anything.
Try:
http://www.hagshouse.com/
http://realdealhuntingchat.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=4fc075e654e5b87e720102b09bd6731d&act=idx
http://www.snapshotsniper.com/
http://www.arkansaselkhunter.com/Trail Cameras.htm
http://www.prairieimages.com/homemade_trail_camera.htm
There are others but I cannot remember the names. Enjoy yourself.
ETA: Caution - this little hobby can become very addictive. Just like raising chickens
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