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Archive for March, 2014

Canon 400D DSLR catches an elephant’s trunk

Sunday, March 23, 2014 posted by Bruce 6:46 PM

A new location waiting on tiger…!

Elephant crossing log - Canon 400D

Elephant’s trunk right next to the SSII sensor hidden at the base of a tree.

It has taken awhile to get this trail cam working but it’s finally tripping well at a well-known tiger trail with plenty of battery life left in the cam and flashes after some two weeks in the field. This elephant was the first creature to cross in front of the external sensor set close to the log, and the Canon with two hard-wired SB-28s seems to be right on. I think the 400D with a Nikon 50mm ƒ1.4 manual lens looks perfect for tiger  (settings: ISO 400 – ƒ8 @ 1/125). I have since added a third flash to help reduce any more shadows but that will have to wait till my next field trip next week. I look forward to checking this cam and evaluate if the third flash is really needed, and to readjust composition up a tad. Enjoy.

Canon 400D hard-wired flash retrofit

Canon 400D in an ‘elephant proof’ aluminum box with three Nikon SB-28 hard-wired flashes.

Me at Canon 400D setup

LBK testing the sensor and focus..!

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Sony A-500 traIl cam catches Asian deer

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 posted by Bruce 11:26 PM

Some first images of a sambar stag and doe off-trail

Sambar stag -Sony A500 DSLR

A sambar stag in mid-stride.

Sambar doe -Sony A500 DSLR

A sambar doe with the tell-tale lesion on the neck.

A couple months ago, I finished my Sony A-500 trail cam housed in a Pelican 1120 and mounted horizontally. There is no battery grip but two 18650 4.2 volt lithium batteries are used as externals. The camera is fitted with a Sony 28mm lens and a Snapshotsniper SSII sensor is hooked-up. At first, I tried a radio trigger for the two flashes but they did not work efficiently so I hard-wired the two Nikon SB-28s, and they have worked great ever since. I have also hard-wired the sensor with a 10 meter cable and set it on the side of the trail. I also use the sensor in the box in case the trail sensor does not pick-up an animal, and both work in tandem. It seems to be very sensitive and these sambar were both off-trail along a stream that is quite far away. I’m hoping to catch a black leopard that frequents this area plus tiger and other exotic species such as tapir. The 28mm lens is perfect for the large giants like elephants and gaur. The cam was working real well when I left it a couple days ago…!!

 

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Nikon D700 captures ‘big foot’

Wednesday, March 5, 2014 posted by Bruce 9:26 PM

A wild elephant passing the log…!

Last month was a quiet one for my Nikon D700 trail cam…all I got was a big elephant going over the log…these are the two shots….I think the second one is unique and a bit abstract…!

Elephant crossing log - D700

Elephant crossing log - D700

The D700 is at a new location where I previously got tapir, tiger, gaur and elephant plus sambar and barking deer. Enjoy….more to follow.

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