Today, I spent the day with Kevin Bromley, designer and manufacturer of the ‘Traxwatch’. This is, basically, a clever bit of kit that will remotely fire your DSLR.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your DSLR to fire when a blue tit flew from the nest box, a badger emerged from the sett or the robin alighted on the perfect perch? I can do this with my wireless remote…. set the camera up with all the correct settings, and then retreat, wait….. and watch for that ‘perfect’ moment, press the button and cause the remote to fire my camera.
That is all well and good…. but what if I don’t want to stand all day, waiting for the robin to alight?…. what if I the foxes or badgers are spooked by my presence and I want to leave my camera to fire remotely when there is some action? The ‘Traxwatch’ will fire my camera when either an infra-red beam is broken or when a passive IR detects movement.
So, basically, that means I could set my DSLR up on one of my nest boxes. I would then set the Traxwatch so that, as the bird emerged from the nest box, it broke the beam, triggered my camera and took the photo. Provided I had the correct setting on my camera… fast enough shutter speed etc, then I could achieve a shot like this……
This is quite a sophisticated bit of kit and I will be exploring its potential over the next few months as I set it to work in the garden…..in lots of different ways! I think my first few attempts will be at hedgecam. I am planning to set up an attractive perch….. then set the ‘Traxwatch’ so when something comes down and lands on the perch, the beam is broken and photo is taken… if I can get the camera actually on the hedge, I could get some really nice, intimate shots, level with the bird… up close and personal! I am also thinking about the potential use of this kit with the foxes, especially if Fern has cubs again.
Charlie Hamilton James (of Halcyon River Diaries) is using this kit in one of his otter holts and has got some great shots! Take a look at this blog post and scroll to the bottom to see the shots Charlie has taken using the Traxwatch.
Hopefully, if the weather improves, I will have a go during the week and see what I can achieve, as Kevin has kindly lent me the kit to trial. Lucky girl eh??!!
I will be creating a page about the kit, along with the photos I take using it, on my website.