DIY remote camera trigger for non-remote cameras

DIY remote camera trigger for non-remote cameras

The remote trigger uses a sandwich box, two hypodermic syringes( which can be found at any veterinary supply) 60 mL syringe and a small 3 mL syringe, connected by 25 feet of vinyl tubing. A pencil head eraser is glued to the small syringe plunger. The small syringe is mounted through a whole in half-inch white PVC pipe and is held in place with O-rings (the PVC pipe is for added stability to the small syringe). A rope can be threaded through the PVC pipe so it can be hung in a tree. The camera is mounted inside the box by threading a tripod mount through a hole drilled in the bottom of the sandwich box. Simply cut a hole in the lid for the lens of the camera. To operate the camera trigger simply move the large syringe back-and-forth to move the small syringe up and down. You could also use a tripod like this one with the sandwich box and mount the camera just about anywhere.

Photos of humming birds taken with rig.

The one nice thing about the rig is that humming birds don't hid from you. Normally humming birds will feed on opposite side of feeder, making it hard to get photos close-up. Original photos were taken with 14 megapixel camera and would be poster size. Re-sizing was done for web publishing and copyright protection.