Camera Query by debbee

[Brendan]

Hi debbee,
Thanks for your query.

The camera used by me is a mini black/white camera with infra-red light emitting diodes and was purchased approx 5 years ago from Henry's CCTV Centre.

Henry's current version of this camera is their 117 Mini B/W Camera with 6 IR LEDs as shown on http://www.henrys.co.uk/pro240.htm and selling at £29.95. Additional essential equipment is the cable and power supply unit kit in two choices:
(a) Without audio @ £12.00 or
(b) With Audio @ £22.95.
To the above prices must be added postage & packing.
Caution: The cable supplied is 15 metres long - Check whether this is enough for your purpose - you may have to order additional lengths.

With the above equipment you will only be able to watch continuous streams on a TV/VCR. To progress further to watching/recording on a computer you will need a video capture card (Your computer might have one already fitted - Please check). My capture card happens to be a Hauppauge WinTV card bought from PC World about 5 years ago and quite pricey as I remember - but it was then intended for receiving and recording TV and radio on my pc and came with the appropriate software.

As one doesn't want their hard drive choked with thousands of images of nothing happening each day another program to detect and record motion only is required. I use i-Catcher Wildlife. This has the advantage that you do not have to be present when anything happens in order to see it. Motion only is recorded and masks can be applied to prevent recording of spurious movement in certain parts of the picture (shadows from leaves moving in wind etc).

My i-Catcher Wildlife program is currently set up to detect only motion at the nest box opening with a 5 second run on whenever any motion in that area occurs - this is to prevent my hard drive being overloaded by thousands of pics of the brooding bird fluffing her feathers, twitching, or even breathing.

I leave the camera switched on 24/7 and motion detection running from 5:00am to 9:00pm daily. I can fast forward through the day's recorded pics in a few seconds and see whatever might be interesting and select those pics I wish to retain.

Links:
Henry's: http://www.henrys.co.uk
i-Catcher: www.icode.co.uk (http://www.icode.co.uk)

As stated the above is my set up only. There are other suppliers of cameras, capture cards, and motion detection software out there but I am unable to comment or compare them with my equipment.

USB cameras are normally unsuitable for bird boxes due to the limitation on total lenght of USB cable (5 metres max?)

Regards,
Brendan

[Brendan]

Correction:

Link for details of current 117 mini camera should have read:

http://www.henrys.co.uk/cctv/pro240.htm

Apologies.

Regards,
Brendan

[debbee]

Thank you Brendan, my dad will be over the moon when i show him this!!

[70007]

There is a live nestbox webcam at http://birdbox.catherine.net/

It refreshes every 10 seconds.

The last time I looked there were 10 eggs!

[Brendan]

Something I have noticed in the Henry's Electronics website is the 118 Colour Camera "Silver Case" @ £45.00 described as follows: "Colour in Daylight with Single White LED on during daylight and Black/White at Night via Infrared Illuminator all controlled by "Light Dependant Resistor" on Short Lead for External Mounting". Link: http://www.henrys.co.uk/cctv/birdboxcctvcamera.htm

The single white LED provides a visible light boost which enables colour pics to be taken without disturbing the bird. The light dependent resistor is merely a light operated switch which, when placed external to the nest box, will differentiate between day and night and switch on the white LED and camera colour function during daylight hours and the infra-red diodes and black & white camera function during night time. Most bird activity in nest boxes takes place during daylight hours (except presumably for Owls and such like) hence the need for a small light boost during daylight when using a colour camera.

I have not used a colour mini camera with a white light boost LED before and do not know what quality of pic would result.

If anyone has experience of this type of camera I would be grateful if they would post their opinion vis a vis the purely black and white camera with infra-red only.

Regards,
Brendan

[debbee]

There is a live nestbox webcam at http://birdbox.catherine.net/

It refreshes every 10 seconds.

The last time I looked there were 10 eggs!


Thanks for that, it will be interesting to keep a eye on & my dad will love it.:D

[ilovebirds]

I too, went for a hand built kit using security cameras. The problem I found is that the lenses are often not suitable for short distance filming. Also, the cable is important. If you choose the wrong cable you can have interference too (Sound and video waves).

This year I bought a bird box camera kit (http://www.handykam.com)from handykam.com. They offer a full kit for only £59.95. (I think it is this one - click here (http://www.handykam.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,18/category_id,6/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,29/)) The nestbox kit includes everything you need to set it up including a drill bit for running the shielded cable from your house to your box!! How good is that. They also sell as camera kit so you can adapt an existing box. Although, it is better to go for a dedicated box as they are designed to let in enough light to film in colour without disturbing the birds. Saves a lot of time and great fun too. This year we got blue tits visiting and raising their brood. We managed to see and record all the action. We call it our very own Springwatch!

Ps don't forget to put bird feed and bedding nearby. They will soon move in.

:) :) :)