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- Hey guys, thanks for watching our video.
This is brought to you by Nature TTL,
the best resource online for nature photographers
and today we're going to learn
How to Make a DSLR Camera Trap Housing.
So if you've seen all the rare photos
of jaguars and pumas, armadillos, all these cool animals
or even things that are more locally common
like badgers or foxes stalking around at night,
then chances are they were taken on a camera trap.
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So if you're going to leave your camera out
for days or weeks at a time,
you're going to need some kind of housing
to keep it safe from the weather,
they're relatively easy to make,
but there are a few things
you're going to need to get first,
so let's take a look at what they are.
To ensure this is one tough, camera trap housing,
you'll need to use a Pelican Case,
the 1300 model will do the trick,
the Manfrotto 394 Rapid Connect Adaptor
with its corresponding plate
will allow you to use your housing with a tripod,
an 82 millimetre Ultraviolet Filter
will be used as the window,
for hardware, you'll need an 86 millimetre Hole Saw
and Adaptor, I recommend Bosch,
Tiger Seal to keep out the moisture,
a drill and drill bit set,
two roofing bolts and nuts,
these should be 25 millimetres in length
and between five and seven millimetres in diameter.
(upbeat pop music)
So first take out all of the foam
and now we've got this empty Peli box,
so we're going to cut the window at the front now,
now there are two ways you can do this,
you can either have it facing this way
with the window at the front
and this has the added advantage,
that most cameras and most lens combinations fit,
or you can cut the hole here
and that gives you the advantage
of opening the door to the back
and then you can work the LCD screen
of the camera really easily,
whereas in this direction, you have to kind of pick it up,
work out what you're doing and put it back down again.
So using this hole saw, you have the centre point
that goes in first and then the hole gets cut afterwards,
so you need to mark on here where you want
the diameter of the hole to be and the centre point,
so you know that you're not going to go off target.
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So I've found my central point
and I know where I'm going to cut it,
but there is no going back from here,
so do make sure you've got it right from the word go.
(humming and whirring drill)
And it's really just as simple as that.
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Okay, so next we're going to put on the tripod mount
and this is how you attach it to your tripod
in position for camera traffic.
Now I like to use this Manfrotto Quick-Release Plate,
it's pretty big, which means it's balanced on the tripod
with such a big and heavy contraption
and it's really solid, they're really well made,
they're not the cheapest quick-release plates
on the market, but they are definitely worth it
and they come with the added advantage,
that there is space to put two bolts in,
so you get no slipping.
So to get your bolts, you need to go to any screw shop
and take your plate with you
and make sure that you get exactly the right measurement,
all plates are different
and you don't have to use this plate,
but you need to make sure the width is right
to fit through and you need two points
that you can drill through,
so we're going to take this screw,
we're going to put it through here
and we're going to put another one through there,
now we're going to be drilling the plate
onto the bottom of the box,
this bit is what gets screwed onto the tripod
and it lets you mount it straight onto it,
so make sure you don't screw the wrong bit onto the box,
you want to make sure this is pretty central on the box,
if it's not, you could find that the weight
of the box and the camera tips your tripod over
and that's really not what you want,
when you're leaving the camera out for weeks on its own,
so you need to make sure
it's definitely as stable as possible.
Now for this tripod plate, the bolts go in at the side,
so we're not going to have, which would be ideal,
a straight spread across here,
but they've actually modified this plate,
in a previous camera trap I made,
there was space to drill another bolt through here,
but they've changed it now,
but you can make it work with just two on one side,
because once one side pulls down,
the other screw's pulled against,
so it won't have any slippage anyway,
so you've really got nothing to worry about.
Now make sure you've got a drill bit,
that is the same width as your screw,
we're using 25 millimetre long screws
and any longer than that, you'll find
that it interferes with the camera itself
and you really don't want that to happen.
So once you've got it central on the box,
you literally just need to mark where the bolt is going to go
and drill straight through the Pelican Case
and then you can put the bolts through later
and bolt them on with a nut on the other side.
(whirring drill)
So this Peli Cases are pretty tough actually
and you do need to put some force on
for when you're drilling the hole here,
it's different to the hole saw,
because that's got a lot more teeth,
you need to be a bit more delicate with that,
but this is literally just punch straight through the box.
Now we've drilled the holes for the screws,
it's really easy to bolt this on,
simply open up the box
and then you put the plate on the back,
put the screw through
and then you're just going to need to bolt it on,
so just make sure it's going on nice and tight,
now there's no chance of that slipping.
It's already pretty much immovable with just one bolt in,
but we can put another bolt in just for safety.
Now in this case, it only fits just through the plate,
so I'm currently actually threading the metal of the plate,
so that's not really an issue, so if it doesn't fit exactly,
just force the screw through,
you're never going to move it out again,
so if you damage it a little bit,
then that's not really a problem.
So now it'll just clip straight onto your tripod,
there you go, simple.
(cheerful acapella music)
There are two ways that you might connect
your camera to the flashes,
now you could do it wired or you could do it wireless,
if you're doing it wireless, then you can ignore this step,
but if you are doing it wired like me,
then you'll need to get your wire and check the diameter,
because you're going to be drilling some holes
through the lid and the main bit of the box,
so that you can fit them out.
Now you need the diameter to be pretty much exact,
otherwise you're going to be losing
the weatherproof feature of the Pelican Case
and that is what we've chosen it for,
when I wire my camera trap, I'll be using a splitter,
so I'll have three of these standard ethernet cables
coming out of the top of the camera,
as well as a sensor cable,
now they come out in front to the right and the left,
so I need to think about that when I'm making the holes,
so I'm going to make three holes on the left-hand side
and we're making these between the lid and the box,
because if you do it in the box,
then it's really, really fiddly
and if you do it in the lid, then it's the same problem,
but if you do it in between,
you can simply slot the cable in
and then shut the lid on them
and the box will bite down on the cable
and you'll have that weather seal again.
Now when you're drilling these holes,
just leave them evenly spaced apart
between the two hinges of the box
and just drill straight down this line here
and don't worry too much about the weatherproof seal inside,
because the way it's closed,
the plastic will be pushing it up out of the way,
so you need to drill with it closed,
because then you have an even hole
through both the lid and the box,
because there are two elements
that cross each other in the middle.
(whirring drill)
So there we have it,
we've got all of the holes for the wires, one, two, three
and then another one on the back, number four.
Now once you've drilled the holes,
you may find that the plastic
doesn't quite get removed entirely, so all you need to do
is get a little hacksaw
and just cut the plastic out.
So now I've done that,
the wires will just fit perfectly into the box,
just put them through there,
you'd have your camera inside and you'd close up the box,
so you've got the wire coming straight out here
and it bites down on it,
so that you're able to keep that weather seal.
(cheerful acapella music)
So now all that we need to do is put the window in
and this is the 82 millimetre filter,
that fits into the hole we cut with the hole saw
and you get this to stay in using sealant
and that keeps the weather seal as well,
so I'm a fan of Tiger Seal,
it's pretty pungent stuff, but it does do the job.
Now you want to keep the filter safe from the sealant,
so all you need to do is put some paper on it
and with a double-sided piece of tape,
and keep it on there,
once you've got your sealant into the gun,
it literally is just a case of steadily putting a circle
around the gap between the window and the filter
and pretty much just hoping for the best.
So now we're going to put the filter in,
but we're going to obviously put some more sealant
on once it's into place.
Okay, so it is starting to take shape now,
so just put in as much sealant as you can
and you'll need to go from both sides of the box
to make sure it is really in there,
so that when you leave it to dry for some hours,
it won't move.
(cheerful acapella music)
Now the sealant will start to go rubbery very quickly,
so all you need to do is move it,
so you get in the proper position
and then make sure there's no gaps,
where you can see light through the other side.
(cheerful acapella music)
So there you go, guys, this has been
How to Make a DSLR Camera Trap Housing,
a video brought to you by Nature TTL,
make sure you go and check out the website,
we have heaps more tutorials,
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there's links to all the stuff you need to buy,
so you can make a housing just like this.
So thanks for tuning in and see you next time.
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