Lets see....
The camera i got on ebay for $150. The case i got on ebay for $20. The control boardkit i got from
www.pixcontroller.com for $56.00. So, for all the parts to put it together, it cost around $230. I'd say after i bought misc supplies like glue and solder, it was around $240 tops.
As far as putting it together, it took me about 4 hours. Now that i know how to do it, im pretty confident that i could get one together in less than 2 hours if everything was all laid out and ready. The hardest part is taking apart the camera and wiring in a control cable. After thats done, its just a matter of drilling some holes and lining the holes for the sensor with a plum bob. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the hardest, i'd say for the average person it would be a 7. I've done 2 so far, and its alot easier the 2nd time around. If you do decide to do it, dont let the wiring scare you. The part inside the camera is actually the easiest part. Soldering the thin wires together on the outside for the plug is the hardest part, but its still not very hard.
The way the camera setup works is like this:
1. Motion detector on motion board detects heat & motion and triggers the PIR (passive infared sensor).
2. Camera control board sends signal to camera. By wiring into the camera, you basicly 3 wires. Power On/Off, Ground, and Shutter. On the sony, the camera control board makes a connection between the ground and the power on/off to power up the camera. The advantage of the Sony P41 is the startup time. The camera can be powered up and ready to take a picture in about 3/4 of a second, which is blazing fast compared to most digital cams.
3. Camera sends signal to take picture, but creating a connection between the ground and the shutter connection.
4. Camera powers off. Control board has built in dip switches to control delay between pictures, anywhere from 10 seconds to around an hour.
The beauty of it all is the camera will power up, take a picture, and power down in around 3 seconds, meaning you will almost always get what triggered the sensor in the picture, and since its only on for a few seconds, the battery life is awesome.
My cam will run on 2 AA nicad's for several days to weeks, depending on how much action is taking place. If im only getting 5 pictures a day, it would probably last 2 weeks. During the late winter when alot of deer are moving by my feeder, like last year, i got over 150 pictures a day.
If cost is the only thing holding you back from switching from a 35mm film camera to a digital, consider this: A 24 exposure roll of 400 film is gonna cost you are $2.00 for decent stuff. Batteries for that camera are gonna cost you $1.00 for each roll of film appx. Developing 1hr photo, which was a must for me because im impatient, was around $7.00. You are paying around $10 for each roll of film. It doesnt take long for that to add up. And if you've ever had a film game cam, you know that some, if not half, of the pictures are false triggers or missed shots. I'd say out of every 100 pictures on my homebrew setup, i have maybe 5 that have nothing in the picture.
Homemade Deer Cameras
