Hello,
I am a keen amateur nature photographer and I happen to live in the beautiful British countryside where badgers and foxes are rife, as witnessed by the infrared photos I took with my trail camera. Not satisfied, I decided to build a DIY camera case for wildlife photography with my Pentax K10D DSLR.
You can buy ready DSLR cases, but my aim was to match quality with economy.
As regards cases, Pelican is the brand most in fashion for this genre of photography; however, I thought that PANARO MAX235H155 (IP67 waterproof) would suit me perfectly for 1/5 of the price. To support the camera inside, I needed a tripod, small but steady. Or actually 2 tripods: one inside the case and one outside.
My choice was: 1) SmallRig BUT2664 tabletop mini tripod and 2) MANFROTTO 496RC2 Compact Ball Head combined: head of the SmallRig inside; Manfrotto ball head supporting the case screwed on the legs of the SmallRig outside.
RC2 Quick Release Plate is to be screwed outside on the base of the case to be locked onto the Manfrotto Ball Head and to keep the case steady and upright. One 3/8" hole through the base of the case: outside you have the RC2 Quick Release Plate screwed to the SmallRig BUT2664 head.
Then you have to think what DSLR you are going to use, and draw a map inside of where the lens is going to be: in my case it is a Pentax K10D with a 24mm or 28mm Pentax lens. I used Wolfcraft 86mm diameter Hole Saw connected to my drill to make the big hole for the lens, diameter 86mm. I glued an inexpensive 86 mm UV filter with silicon from the outside. I also made a hole with 1" diameter for the motion sensor.
The fun part is also painting the outside part of the case: I chose military brown, olive and bright green, starting with the darkest colour first. I actually took lessons from my son who is a graffiti painter! I then screwed the 10cm diameter ventilation duct flange around the 86mm hole in order to avoid sun glare and rain onto the 86mm UV filter.
Snapshot Sniper SSII type 6 motion sensor which I bought from the US. Gary from Snapshot Sniper will give you plenty of advice should you need to adjust your gear, like in my case where they had tested Nikon and Canon but not Pentax (basically same settings as for Canon). On their website http://www.snapshotsniper.com
you can find the info on the wire connections between various cameras and the motion sensor board.
I sacrificed the cable and plug of a cheap Canon 2.5mm remote control to connect the motion sensor with the remote control terminal of my Pentax K10D.
I use now a Pentax K-30 which is in my view ideal for camera trapping: light, small, fairly cheap, has LiveView, is weather-proof, comes with a dummy which may be connected to Sony NP-F batteries or even Li-Po battery 7.4V 8000mAh.
Last edited by strixaluco; 01-28-2022 at 12:12 PM.
The truth is I’m really on a budget and Pentax 2nd hand is still quite affordable: I have to work out solutions that do not deplete my wallet too much, even in case of theft, although they may not be the latest fashion!
One of the problems I have with my gear is the autonomy of the Cactus transceiver V5: it works brilliantly with all I need but I'm lucky if the 2 AAA batteries of the receiver last for 2 days, even Eneloop Pro. I’ve bought on eBay also Cactus V6 and V6ii but they don’t seem to work so well. Obviously I refuse buying the non rechargeable alkaline ones.
I see Camtraptions transceivers accept external power source so in the end I may cave in...
I have worked out settings that I'd like to share that seem to be ok (for me) which I describe in the photo attached (taken in my backgarden in Cornwall, UK):
the camera trap box (DIY), the camera (Pentax K-30), the lens (Tamron 24mm f2.5 MF Adaptall-2), the sensor (Snapshot Sniper II) are the same as above, as well as the flashes.
Cactus V5 transmitter is inside the camera trap box, connected wirelessly to the 1st flash (Metz Mecablitz 48; 1/4 power) by means of the Cactus V5 receiver. The 2nd flash is on slave mode (Pentax AF 500 FTZ;1/2 power) at roughly 45 degrees from the camera, like the 1st flash on the opposite side.
The 3rd flash (Sigma EF-610 DG; 1/4 power) also on slave mode fills out the background.
I use 400 ISO; f/11; AV mode.
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