Pixiq

If Santa Claus has not brought you quite what you want here is something you might gift to yourself…as I did. I have been experimenting with insects but the Phototrap™ is great for birds and mammals too

When we first moved into our house it had been abandoned for over 10 years. There were holes in the roof, no glass in the windows but every hole in the wall was a nest site, bats roosted in the ancient Etruscan tombs behind our house: discarded spines showed there were clearly porcupine…

Getting an infrared (IR) trigger for remote photography seemed to me a way of minimizing my impact on the other occupants of our home. We take the attitude that we are just a part of the history of this place and that the business of not interfering with nature is central to the way I work.

First, the rant for today..

OK that is where I stand so you can imagine my reaction when a day or so ago my better half said “Hey, have you seen that on one of your posts on Pixiq there is a pointer to an entry on making a killing bottle for insects?”

What the firkin... was the politest part of my response. Thanks to a torrents of comments there was a sense of remorse expressed later on … But for me this is like saying I am a hunter with a camera and then being linked by an anonymous, relational data-base algorithms to sites for morons who blast creatures from existence with their double-barreled shotguns. Not on.

I won’t beat about the bush - I abhor this approach to nature photography where, supposedly to depict the beauty/intrigue of a subject, it is sacrificed on the altar of the arrogance of a photographer. The truth is that the people that do this usually know squat about nature and simply see it as an exploitable source of images. That is as far away from the approach I advocate as chalk is from cheese.

Yeh, that may make me a namby-pamby tree-hugger in some eyes but then I do not give the proverbial and neither do a host of professional nature photographers who put nature first.

PLEASE, PLEASE- if you are trying to reveal the beauty of nature at least show some respect for it.

People often do not realize that anyone with the slightest knowledge of nature can recgnise fakery. Dead insects lose colour quickly – particularly in the eyes and the limbs assume strange positions. Things sprayed from an aerosol to create drops look like it…I have posted on this here: Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

This whole post is about an honest approach to nature that involves LIFE…yes, it is harder and a challenge but the results are infinitely better. Nature needs all the help we can give it when the stupid, the greedy the selfish who run this world on behalf of their corporations clearly do not give a damn.

The Phototrap™

An internet search a few years ago came up with a site run by Bill Forbes who has devised, built and perfected the Phototrap ™ a robust IR trigger. I was intrigued by the  superb photographs of hummingbirds and bats in flight and bought one as have several of my pro friends since…

• The Phototrap ™ trigger with its controls and a sealed 12V lead-acid battery is permanently fixed in a black, impact-resistant, plastic case.
• Long leads (supplied) provide connection to the sealed transmitter and detector units.
• Another lead connects to the camera with a plug to fit Nikon or Canon (you specify) and an on/off switch. To trigger this must be ON: to view images on the Camera LCD this must be in the OFF position.
• You can vary the intensity of the IR beam, sensitivity of detector and also the speed of recycling before the unit resets from the controller.
• The trigger pulse is of very short duration, insufficient to operate any autofocus so you switch it off and focus manually where you anticipate the action is going to be...

Operational Modes

Unlike most other trigger units commercially available, this one offers several modes of use:

a.            direct mode

The first and usual one for any trigger is to create a beam which, when broken sets off the camera plus flash...this is the ‘direct mode’ and it works in around 10 milliseconds and you can separate detector and transmitter by 6-8m (20-25 feet). Alternatively, a red ‘cycle reflector is supplied that allows you to set up detector and transmitter fixed togther using Velcro pad fixed. These point at the reflector (up to 4m or 12 feet).. anything passing between it and the assembly breaks the beam. This way you don’t have leads trailing everywhere.

b.            reflect mode

This is the ingenious one that I use most of the time. You fix the detector and transmitter together but now set the combination below a nest box, hole in a wall or a flower, for example.

• With the device set to 'reflect' mode a bird entering or leaving will bounce the IR back from its body...triggering the camera plus flash in just a few milliseconds.
• I used this mode to photograph the convolvulus hawks fitting Bill Forbes' insect adapters to create a narrower beam. This is much more simple to set up (and more effective) than employing two separate sets of detectors to create a cross beam where a flying insect that triggers the system only at the point where both beams are broken simultaneously… the way I used to do it.
• The ingenuity of the Phototrap is that the subject plus the IR detector and transmitter define a point or very small area…triangulation. The detector/transmitter arrangement can be set together or at 90 (or any other angle that suits…just remember the junior science law of reflection: angle of incidence = angle of reflection).
• In the feeding shots with the convolvulus hawk in the last post I mounted detector plus transmitter just below a flower, out of line of sight and tilted inward just a bit: a finger was used to detect where the triggering occurred.
• You’ll find it better to allow a fairly wide field of view with an acrobatic flyer like a hawkmoth since it can come in from any direction and break the beam when not fully in frame if you are too optimistic (as I was) about how close you can get... The possibilities, it seems, are limited only by imagination.

 Shutter Lag

There is a short but significant time taken for shutter mechanism to open and the internal electronics of a camera to charge up the sensor. In this time interval fast-flying creatures can move significantly and, if you have set your frame of view too wide, will be well out of  it…

With a Nikon D300 this ‘lag time’ differs according to whether you use 12 bit mode or 14 bit – it is faster with 12 bit but still about 50 millisec (0.05 sec). This limits the set-up even when the Phototrap is capable of triggering in 0.01 sec. Currently, I am experimenting with a Uniblitz external shutter that operates in just a few millisecs and also a mounting system for the detector and emitter that lets me go wandering (a bit laden like a Chrismas tree) to do point and shoot insects in flight.

And a bonus..

Leave off the lead to the transmitter and point a detector towards a light source and it can be triggered by a distant flashgun or even by lightning...in the latter case it might miss the first discharge but you get the second reverse one.

This unit is made to be used on the move, it is no shoddy toy. It will charge from a 12V, 1000mA charger and is obviously designed by someone who not only knows the electronics but is also an accomplished photographer. It is not cheap at $459.99 plus carriage but then quality and dependability never are.

Back-up

If there are any problems then you can telephone Bill Forbes directly– a lead had become detached in transit and needed to be re-soldered which, after reassurances from Bill I did quickly at home.

Pros:

• robust and self-contained
• transmitter and detector fit together
• versatile - several different direct and reflect modes
• fast trigger time
• insect adaptors
• 12 V battery

Cons:

none I can think of so far ...

To see some more pictures with this visit my earlier post Capture insects in flight