Anyone used digital camera trapping? (1 Viewer)

Has anyone had any experience of digital camera traps versus 35mm? We've used 35mm for assessing great currassow, jaguar and puma populations, with great success, and now have the opportunity to obtain new camera traps. Digital seems much more instant in terms of results, but I've heard that there are problems with shutter delays and camera burn-outs...anyone used a digital camera trap? Did it work OK? Recommended manufacturers?

Thanks for any help on this!!

Wildtracks

Question..whats a digital camera trap ?

Henry

I could be wrong but I think Wildtracks means a pressure pad which when trod on activates the shutter on the camera.

Regards Steve.

elgin5050.fsnet said:

Question..whats a digital camera trap ?

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Some cameras can be set up so that a picture is taken when something(animal, bird etc) moves into a preset focus zone. It doesn't need any trip wires or pressure pads but works on the sensors within the camera body to detect the movement.

Is this the kind of thing that you had in mind, Wildtracks?

AndyC

I would think that digitals would be very power hungry and slow to respond ( auto focus ). But that sentence is limited to my knowledge of consumer camera's.

alan_rymer said:

I would think that digitals would be very power hungry and slow to respond ( auto focus ). But that sentence is limited to my knowledge of consumer camera's.

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I have no experience myself, but I think you are probably correct. Though I suspect you could deal with those issues to a large degree.

You could preset focus. Digicams tend to have a large DOF. Slow autofocus is - as you suggest - what really slows down most digicams. You'd probably want to keep autoexposure operating. Turning off the LCD display reduces battery drain substantially. Combine that with a gel cell auxillary power supply and I imagine you could operate for days at a time. You might even be able to operate longer if you used a solar panel. This would depend a lot on the location and time of year.

AndyC said:

Some cameras can be set up so that a picture is taken when something(animal, bird etc) moves into a preset focus zone. It doesn't need any trip wires or pressure pads but works on the sensors within the camera body to detect the movement.

Is this the kind of thing that you had in mind, Wildtracks?

AndyC

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Yes - the ones we've used to date have been Camtrakkers, and have given good results - but these were 35mm film, working on infra red and heat detection. There's a lot of anticipation involved in having to wait for the film to be developed, not knowing whether you've managed to get shots of passing wildlife (we had an interesting rear view of a tapir with huge scratches, presumably from an old encounter with a jaguar, and another time, a series of shots as a tapir moved closer and closer, until only the eye and ear filled the picture - very inquisitive...as werethe large congregation of currassow, and the jaguar that growled at the camera). I can see a digital being much easier to use, though as someone mentioned earlier, I've heard they can be power hungry and slow to power up. I've not yet managed to find anyone who has used one yet, though...still trying!...wildtracks