Introduction - AZKate

[AZKATE]

Hello, my name is Kate and I’m from Southern Arizona. I’ve been working with a DSLR camera trap for about 2 years, off and on. My first love is the good old trail camera. I like the higher quality photo you can get with the DSLR trap. I’m not a pro with photography so I’ve just been figuring out things as I go, using Google, reading articles, YouTube, or forums or just asking questions from IG accounts I follow, etc.hoping to lean more from folks here. I’ve been taking photos in my yard mainly, however, here is an example of one issue I had - the camera would take photos but my battery in the camera would die within about 4-5 hours. I could not figure out why. Turns out that the LCD on the camera would not auto shut off. I’m pretty sure it was the setting on the camera but also my flash. I had turned on both the power switch and the master/slave switch on the flash, and I think it made the LCD screen stay on, the camera expecting another flash, (slave) and then the battery would die in the camera. I will find out for sure in a few days when I put the camera out again, however, I’ve watched the camera actually shut off now, so I know I am heading in the right direction.

I need to learn more about the technical aspects of my gear, but I guess trial and error is teaching me slowly. It would be great to be able to bounce ideas off of the knowledgeable folks here.

I’m particularly interested in what sensors are folks using? And how about extended battery life?

Here is my setup:

Canon DSLR T2i, 77d or 70d
Speedlite 580 flash wired
SSII sensor or TRL sensor
Generic case with tripod

Thank you,
Kate

[greengrass]

Welcome Kate! That's a common problem with DSLR sets but easy to test for when you setup by making sure the screen goes to sleep or the current draw goes down. If you have an IG please post a link, would love to see some of your work. I use a sensor I made, nothing too fancy it just needs to work. Have a couple T7i's that have worked well for me and a pile of other cameras.

Pete

[AZKATE]

Hello, thank you for your reply. Last night my setup did not work, same issue with LCD screen staying on, then, I turned off my flash, then unplugged the connector from the top of the camera and reconnected, then turned the flash on, and everything worked as it should. Here I am tonight, everything the same, then the same issue occurs, with the LCD staying on. Un-plugging the flash did not fix the issue. If possible I would like to take photos of my settings, and equipment, and maybe get an opinion on what is wrong with my setup.

I attached a photo I took the other day when my setting was working. Hopefully you can see it.

Thank you so much In advance for being willing to help me out. I don’t have much on my IG from my DSLR setup but the account is @katescardstudio


I will send my setup info tomorrow. Thank you again.

Kate

[AZKATE]

Would anyone be able to tell me how long a typical DSLR battery should last, using a wired flash? My fully charged battery is only lasting 5 hours if that, and the setup only took maybe 25 photos.

Thank you
Kate

[Pixel]

My EOS 70d lasts month with the grip mounted. I'm using a camtraptions setup and there the Receiver vor Wireless ist the weak Point. I Set the sleepmode at the camera to one minute and the pir will wake it up. Do have sleepmode enabled or does your pir keeps the camera awake?

[AZKATE]

That is interesting. I have a 70d as well but I am using a Canon battery in it, not a grip battery, and Eneloop rechargeables in the flash. The camera might last 6 hours if I am lucky. I have adjusted all the settings I can think of, I have sleep mode enabled on the camera after 1 min, and ended up putting a piece of painter’s tape over the LCD sensor, because it was staying on, even with the setting to have it turn off and after cleaning the sensor. I thought this might drain the battery.

I basically started from scratch using my T2i and wrote down all settings, and timed the camera to see how long the battery would last with flash and without, setting the camera up in my house. It was about 6 hours each time. I did talk with another guy that does camera trapping and he mentioned that the 6 hours is about standard for a regular camera battery. Also, he reminded me that Camtraptions makes battery packs that would be longer lasting. And flashes made for camera trapping. But a battery grip might be a good idea as well.

Would you agree with the 6 hours of battery life with using the regular camera battery?

Im using a TRL sensorand the setup is wired, wired sensor and a Canon Speedlite 589ex flash wired.

Thanks for any info.

Kate

[Pixel]

Hi Kate,
did you check if the camera ist really going to sleep? Everything needs to be going of at the camera. Also the top Screen as if you have turned the camera Off. I don't know if your wired Setup will keep the camera awake. Then six hours are okay. But with real sleep mode the battery should Last longer.

[AZKATE]

Thank you. Would you please be able to tell me what you do to put the camera to sleep? I have dimmed the LCD and set the camera to go off after 1 min, maybe I’m missing something? Since you have a Canon maybe you do something I have not tried. My flash has a sleep mode after I think 90 seconds and it’s a TRL SENSOR, I emailed them and asked if it could be the sensor and he seemed to think it could be the flash.

I did purchase a battery grip that I am waiting for but would appreciate it if you might be able to tell me your sleep settings. Thank you so much, would love to get to the bottom of the problem.

Kate

[Pixel]

Hi Kate,
Does the camera really switch off after one minute, i.e. do all LCDs stop displaying anything, as when switching off with the power button? And if so, does it remain off? Have you assembled and tested everything?

My setup is as follows. Wireless PIR from Camtraptions -> wireless receiver on the remote trigger connection of the EOS 70D -> two Nikon SB-80DX connected to the hot shoe via a cable splitter.

The camera has a battery grip with two batteries and lasts for several months. Only the batteries in the flashes and radio receiver need to be changed after about a month, depending on the temperature.

[AZKATE]

Hello, I had the camera set to auto power off at 1 min and it would not do it, so I was physically hitting the display button to turn off the screen, and then using tape to cover the LCD sensor so it would not activate the LCD screen. I just did a quick test of the camera by changing the auto power off to 30 seconds and it seems to be powering off the LCD screen like it should. I will test it this weekend for real, and see what happens. I also had the image review off.

I received the battery grip but it was broken, so, back to B and H it goes. Will buy another one from them or get one from KEH.

Thank you for the tips.
Kate