Posts Tagged ‘Canon DSLR trail cam’
A pair of Canon DSLR trail cams…!
A Canon 400D-Nikon 55mm and a Canon 600D-Nikon 20mm
Canon 400D with a Nikon 55mm ‘Macro’ lens on the left, and a Canon 600D with a Nikon 20mm lens on the right.
Working in the Western Forest Complex in Thailand has been extremely satisfying with loads of wild animals passing my cams. This forest is one of the greatest tiger reserves in the world and I look forward to every visit checking my DSLRs…! After the great results from my Canon 400D last month catching a tiger plus yellow and black phase leopards, I decided to finish off these two cams that had been on the bench for sometime.
Both cams in Pelican 1150s with 8-volt SLA external batteries.
As I wanted to leave these cams in the forest for several months over the rainy season, I added an 8-volt SLA battery and hacked into the battery grip (I will do a post on this mod very soon). It was a fairly easy task and both cams fit in the Pelican 1150 with ease plus the SLA battery lying horizontally in the case. After charging up the cam’s batteries and hooking up the externals, they will stay on for months, and just what I needed for a long soak. Time will tell and the 600D is now set-up on a known wildlife trail frequented by the big carnivores including black leopard.
600D showing connections to external sensor and flashes.
I’m using a Snapshotsniper SSII external sensor on the 600D and 400D with both cams set on ‘continuous’ mode. Both sensors are on 10-meter 4-conductor shielded wire housed in ‘Tupperware’ type boxes and hooked up to the cam with 3-prong quick detachable plugs and the sensor boxes with cable glands.
400D showing connections to external sensor and flashes.
The flashes are a mix-pot of Nikon SB-26s and 28s also housed in Tupperware type boxes and hooked up to the cam with 2-prong quick detachable plugs and 10 meters of 2-conductor shielded wire and cable gland on the sensor box. I am standardizing all my flashes with two-conductor shielded-cable and eventually, will be able to inter-change my flashes with all my DSLRs in the field. That way, if I have a problem with a flash (stomped by elephant or some other failure), I will be able to quickly change one out and replace it. That will also go for the three-conductor external sensors…!
600D with external 10 meter hard-wired sensor and flashes.
As usual, I built ‘elephant proof’ boxes that I have made-up for these two Canons. Python 10mm cable locks are used and 3” stainless steel lag bolts are screwed into the tree from inside the box. The faceplate is bolted to the box using six power-torque 10mm machine screws. Camouflage is made up of spray paint (earth brown and army green) plus ‘morning glory’ plastic leaves wrapped with thorny branches to keep the elephants at bay.
400D with external 10 meter hard-wired sensor and flashes.
Hope this helps those people on the forum wanting to build a long-soak Canon ‘Rebel’ sized DSLR home-brew trail cam. I normally don’t use Canon but really like these cams for capturing wildlife. They are quiet and quick enough. The 600D has good file size so cropping is a plus.
600D and ‘elephant proof’ aluminum box.
Actually (don’t tell anybody), I’m changing out two Nikon D300 bodies for Canon 550D or 600Ds…they just seem to work better. But, I’m still sticking to my Nikon lenses with a Canon adapter. Real glass and metal materials are the best lenses for trail cams…but that’s just my opinion…!!
Indochinese tiger ‘eye lash’ speed…!
A Canon 400D trail cam catches a male tiger
Old green eyes’…out on a ‘night prowl’…1st shot…!
A couple of days ago, I was checking my cams and got to my Canon 400D on a forest road somewhere in the Western Forest Complex of Thailand. When I got to the cam, it was still working but only one flash three feet above the cam was firing hence the ‘eye-shine’ . The other two flashes were dead…! Life on two Canon Lithium batteries in 30 second power save mode is excellent so I left them just to see how long they would really last….!
Tiger squinting…..2nd shot.
The flash that fired was a SB-26 which I normally set for slave but somehow the settings was on full-power…needless to say, I was delighted and did back-flips when I saw a tiger again, in about the same position as the female back in June in two shots. In both instances, the tigers had their eyes open on the first shot and squinted by the second in almost the same positions. This reaction time is measured in milliseconds…!
Last month’s female tiger…..1st shot.
Then they both jumped out of the frame before the camera could shoot again. This is 100% luck….also shifted the 400D over a tad to the left for better composition. I have included last month’s female tiger shots so a comparison can be made without having to flip back to the old post.
Female squinting…..2nd shot.
All I can say, it boggles the mind but shows how fast tigers can react……Enjoy…!
Canon 400D set to continuous
Nikon 50mm ƒ1.4 manual lens
Nikon SB-26 set to full power.
1/125 – ƒ8 ISO 400.
SSII sensor #6 chip – Pelican 1150
1st shot – cropped and the rest normal size.
Canon 400D DSLR catches an elephant’s trunk
A new location waiting on tiger…!
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 in an ‘elephant proof’ aluminum box with three Nikon SB-28 hard-wired flashes.
LBK testing the sensor and focus..!