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Homebrew cameras?

After being somewhat disappointed in a few store bought cameras (Cuddeback), I started thinking about trying to make my own. I'm not to good with technology so I dont know how it will turn out. Is it worth the time, effort, and money to build one? Do they last a long time? Are they easy to use? Easy to build? How much will it cost to buy everything needed to make one? Anything else I need to know to pull this off?

Thanks
 
I own 3, picture quality is incredible. I'm not real techno savvy either so I bought all 3. Cheapest one was 140 bucks off archerytalk.com, takes fabulous photos.
 
I built my own for 6 years with a techno savvy friend at work who could do the wiring. Plus a friend from Canada designed a board (which sells at whitetail feed and supply.com) Great pics, but the problem was cost and time. We had to find a Sony camera on the web, then wire it, cut out the Pelican box. Great reward when they work, but we had no video option. It would cost us over $200 to build a camera not counting our time. Then I found out about the Scout Guard Camera. Since I have a business I started using them, loving them and finally started selling them too. For the same price of building my own I have these great little cameras that take great pictures and videos and have not failed me yet. I'm not saying this in order for you to buy a camera from us, just letting you know what I went through. You can buy them from any dealer that sells them. There is some reward for building your own, but for me it was not worth my time and effort. Check out Trail Cam Pro.com too. They have a lot of good info on home builts and production cameras. Good luck!!
 
If you don't have a problem with opening a camera up and soldering to small contacts, or sliding in a shutter assembly, and have time to do some reading on the subject before attempting, it is well worth it in my opinion. I went through my share of commercial cams years ago and started to build my own homebrews. I'll never go back now. I have 7 so far and one IR video unit. One good thing is the quality of photos, and if any of them have problems there are a few good homebrew forums around to ask questions and do the repairs yourself. Rather then sending it back and not seeing it for weeks.

After doing it once, opening up that camera to hack it is alot less intimidating. The rest of the wiring to the board is very easy and straightforward. I don't do the small soldering myself, i usually send it to someone else to have them hack the camera for me. Another thing i like is that you can view the pictures right in the field so you can make the decision right then and there whether to move it, or leave it there. You can also take the camera out and use it as any normal camera for harvest photos.

I will admit, the commercial cams have made great strides in price and quality from the last couple years. I just have more fun building my own, a little more satisfaction when i see those pictures.
 
If you don't have a problem with opening a camera up and soldering to small contacts, or sliding in a shutter assembly, and have time to do some reading on the subject before attempting, it is well worth it in my opinion. I went through my share of commercial cams years ago and started to build my own homebrews. I'll never go back now. I have 7 so far and one IR video unit. One good thing is the quality of photos, and if any of them have problems there are a few good homebrew forums around to ask questions and do the repairs yourself. Rather then sending it back and not seeing it for weeks.

After doing it once, opening up that camera to hack it is alot less intimidating. The rest of the wiring to the board is very easy and straightforward. I don't do the small soldering myself, i usually send it to someone else to have them hack the camera for me. Another thing i like is that you can view the pictures right in the field so you can make the decision right then and there whether to move it, or leave it there. You can also take the camera out and use it as any normal camera for harvest photos.

I will admit, the commercial cams have made great strides in price and quality from the last couple years. I just have more fun building my own, a little more satisfaction when i see those pictures.

What do you mean by hacking the camera?
 
The PIR board needs to somehow control the camera to turn on, shutter the picture, and turn back off again. There are 3 or 4 wires coming from the board to the camera. These wires go into the camera through a stereo jack and plug or a servo (quick disconnect plug). They are soldered to certain spots on one of the boards in the camera to control all this. There are pdf's out there on most all of the popular cameras and can be done by anyone with a little soldering experience, a very small tip on their soldering iron, and some steady hands.

Some cameras are easier to hack by just sliding a shutter assembly (basiclly a ribbon cable wired to the board), In behind another ribbon cable on the board. The shutter assembly hack can be done by just about anyone. Very easy.
 
A homebrew is a homemade trailcamera. You use a regular digital camera (some Sony's are the best) and wire it to a passive infared sensor board readily available on the internet. There are a few places that sell kits. All you have to buy extra is the camera and hack it first.

They are not complicated at all. The hardest part is hacking the camera, and in some cases don't even even need soldered inside the camera.

Here are a couple links to some tutorials.
http://www.shomeoutdoors.com/Trailcam.htm

http://www.pixcontroller.com/Tutorials/HowToBuildD-360L-TrailCamera.pdf

Here is a good info page
http://www.d.umn.edu/~shall/Homebrews.htm

Kits are sold on these sites. They also have the pdf files showing how to hack the camera.
http://www.whitetailsupply.com/index.html
http://www.snapshotsniper.com/

Any more questions, i would be happy to answer.
 
Here is the best site IMO to go when looking to learn how to build cameras. http://homebrews.forumwww.com/

I knew nothing about wiring or anything like that and I started reading and talking to people on this website and have now built three cameras. These cameras blow commercial cameras out of the water IMO. Here are some pictures to prove it.
Here is a picture of the build...made out of clear pelican case that I painted on the outside only.

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Here is a day time picture off the W220..

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Here is a night time pic off the W220..I since fixed the flash bleed in the top right corner :grin:

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Here are some more pics off my Sony W220 Build (There is some water on the lens from all the rain we were getting)

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In the rain
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Build done for less then $250 Sony P32
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