Old Wildview trail Camera

[fasteddie]

I was going through one of the file cabinets in the garage and came across one of my 1st trail cameras ever . It's a Wildview STC-TGL1 model . I think I bought it in 2000 or 2001 . No date and time stamp . Put new batteries in it and it still works . I was quite surprised .

 

[ny hunter]

It's amazing how much stuff we buy and forget about...

[fasteddie]

I had 3 of the Wildview cams and two of them crapped out . I was surprised that this one worked . 

[landtracdeerhunter]

I still have some that had the 35mm camera inside, that still work. I was always going to turn one into a "home brew" camera. I don't remember the name of the person that always talked about the home brew cameras on here.

[Lawdwaz]

10 hours ago, fasteddie said:

I was going through one of the file cabinets in the garage and came across one of my 1st trail cameras ever . It's a Wildview STC-TGL1 model . I think I bought it in 2000 or 2001 . No date and time stamp . Put new batteries in it and it still works . I was quite surprised .

 

Holy cow, you caught someone sitting at your desk??

Is that a digital camera?

[Otto]

44 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

I still have some that had the 35mm camera inside, that still work. I was always going to turn one into a "home brew" camera. I don't remember the name of the person that always talked about the home brew cameras on here.

I don’t remember seeing that on this site, but on myhuntingforum.com there was a guy that had a long thread about the many cameras he built.  He would also sell you parts so you could turn your old cameras into trail cams.   That site is down to just a few members and posts, most are long gone. 

[nyslowhand]

Probably 13-14yrs ago I bought a retail home-brew trail cam that was highly reviewed and the cost was comparable to the lesser quality Cuddebacks or the Scoutgards that were just introduced. Could have been a Wildview, IDK? Use to be able to buy all the parts or kits for a DIY'er cam. Not sure if that is still the case!?! Any more it's probably just a hobby project for those with some electronic background and the tinkering desire.

Edited March 6, 2018 by nyslowhand

[Woody Meristem]

All but one of my 20+ camera traps are homebrews, some have been out in the woods continuously for at least six years with no problems. They take better photos than any commercial cameras I've seen and, for the few that have had problems, I have been able to fix them myself.  Although I've never kept track, I don't think any have cost me more than $100 to build. By the way, I started all this when I was completely illiterate about electronics. All of those cameras have been run on rechargable batteries so, other than the initial purchase, the cameras cost pennies a year to operate -- just recharged a set I bought in 2010, they're still going strong. There are two suppliers of parts for homebrews: http://rcdavisgamecamerasolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.snapshotsniper.com/

Edited March 6, 2018 by Woody Meristem

[landtracdeerhunter]

2 hours ago, Woody Meristem said:

All but one of my 20+ camera traps are homebrews, some have been out in the woods continuously for at least six years with no problems. They take better photos than any commercial cameras I've seen and, for the few that have had problems, I have been able to fix them myself.  Although I've never kept track, I don't think any have cost me more than $100 to build. By the way, I started all this when I was completely illiterate about electronics. All of those cameras have been run on rechargable batteries so, other than the initial purchase, the cameras cost pennies a year to operate -- just recharged a set I bought in 2010, they're still going strong. There are two suppliers of parts for homebrews: http://rcdavisgamecamerasolutions.weebly.com/

http://www.snapshotsniper.com/

Thank you for the useful info.

 I would like to try to build a homebrew this year.

[Woody Meristem]

17 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

 I would like to try to build a homebrew this year.

If you're going to build your own, I think the Nikon L11 is the easiest camera to hack (they're inexpensive on Ebay), any of the available control boards will run that camera (just order one programmed for the L11). The L11's photos are better than average of the cameras used for homebrews, although there are cameras with a better flash and that produce better photos they're also more expensive and harder to hack. The L11 uses SD cards and AA batteries which are great advantages.

Check these websites, they have directions for building cameras and links to Charles Garrett's and Ralph Davis' videos on hacking cameras:

http://camtrapper.com/

http://www.diytrailcams.com/

Edited March 7, 2018 by Woody Meristem

[turkeyfeathers]

The Smithsonian called.  They want their camera back 

[fasteddie]

I have one of the old 35mm trail cams . It got to be expensive to process film and get pics of absolutely nothing . 

 

[landtracdeerhunter]

On 3/8/2018 at 5:53 PM, fasteddie said:

I have one of the old 35mm trail cams . It got to be expensive to process film and get pics of absolutely nothing . 

 

That's the nice thing about these homebrew cameras, the camera takes SD card.

[fasteddie]

I was looking at some of my non-working trail cams last night . I have at least 8 . I might post them on Craig's List and see if someone might buy them to use a decoys . I also came across one of my original cams that uses a Compact Flash card that are 1 5/8 X 1 3/8 inches . I don't think I have anything that would read these cards anymore .