Camera Placement And Choices

[Guest ajciani]

I was invited to an area with lots of recurrent activity, and got a good lesson on camera placement and problems.

The general knowledge to take away from this: they don't notice every camera, but the camera you choose is VERY important, else you won't get a good picture. This is a detail of what worked, and what went wrong.

First, I cannot disclose the location. The land owner has had encounters on the property ever since living there. It hosts a hunting club, and the hunters have face-to-face encounters about once every two years. If they pack DSLR cameras with 300mm lenses along with the rifles, we might have some nice video and pics. The locals are also quite aware of the creatures. Some have not made the creature = bigfoot connection, but they have been heard and seen. Some people have reported seeing 8 foot plus tall creatures, but most of the ones the land owner has seen are around 5 to 6 foot tall.

Second, I did not personally observe any bigfoots, but something ran around the cabin I was staying in, tried the doors, knocked on the walls, crept across the deck, and gave me the raspberry (Bronx cheer) through the rear/deck door. It was definitely hominid or ape.

Here is a diagram of the location. The area to the right is clear, the area at the top and left consists of a line of brush and the forest, the area to the bottom has a ranch house and a yard light. The yard light above the cabin did not operate, but the front (bottom) of the cabin had a porch light. The deck came off the back of the cabin, and had a banister on the right side and top, but was open on the left.

Night 1

The first night, I placed a Wildgame IR3D camera just inside the wheel well of my car, pointing along the cabin. The second IR3D was deployed elsewhere off-site. That night, it was difficult to tell if there was activity or not, as there were light gusts all night long. Every gust would cause the cabin to creek, crackle, and pop, although it sometimes sounded as though something was lightly tapping its fingers against the siding. At about 2 am in the morning, something hit the propane tanks under the window on the right side of the cabin, then sounded as though it dragged a stick across the back of the cabin, and then I heard a "whoosh" along the left [car] side of the cabin. I smiled, because that should have gone right in front of the camera by the car. Here is what that camera took,

Yes, it is a speed blur. Using a parabolic trajectory (single long jump) for the bottom of the blur gives about a 0.3 second exposure time, with the object traveling almost 35 mph. I tried estimating the exposure length the next night with a speed blur of myself, and got 0.2 seconds, which would put the speed of the blur at about 45 mph. Oh, and the camera stamped the file creation time in local time, but seems to have set the image time stamp as something else (possibly UTC). A sign of true quality.

Night 2

The second night, I relocated Camera 1 to underneath a deck on the right side of the cabin (to view the window and propane tanks), and added Camera 2 (also a Wildgame IR3D) hidden in the brush line behind the cabin, and slightly to the right, propped up against a medium sized fallen limb. That night, activity occurred at about 10pm (10-15 minutes after turning off lights and crawling into bed), again at 2am, and again around 6-6:30am. I have been told I 'saw logs', and the 2am and 6am incidents occurred just after I woke from REM sleep, almost as though whatever it was came to harass me whenever it heard that I had stopped snoring, assuming I snore at all. The 2am and 6am harassment consisted of scratching or rapping the rear of the cabin, and giving the raspberry, only. The scratching and rapping was extremely energetic at 6am. No running around or trying doors. The 10pm activity involved testing the doors, scratching at the rear door of the cabin, and the raspberry.

Of course, I was grinning big that night. It was at the rear door, which was framed center in the view of Camera 2. It got nothing. Camera 2 triggered all day long on nothing, but did not take a single night time shot, not even an accidental one. The first shot it took after about 8pm the previous evening was 7:15 that morning, triggered by the camera falling backwards (as evidenced by the motion blur). The time corresponds to when I first exited the front of the cabin. The reason the camera fell backwards is because the limb it was leaning against had been knocked backwards, that morning. The next picture was at 7:45 when I collected the camera. At 7:15, when I walked toward the back of the cabin, I heard something run away into the forest. I did check the camera the previous night, at about 9:00pm to make sure it was still proper. The only pics on Camera 1 were of me.

Night 3-4

I repositioned the cameras, putting Camera 1 on the deck embedded in some debris, such that it would be impossible to notice before it noticed you. I placed Camera 2 at the base of the grill, watching the side of the cabin. There was no activity those nights. None, nothing. We had tried some luring with a cookout on Night 3 as well, about a half-mile away from the cabin. There may have been a young bigfoot that came to check it out, but it was all quiet. We suspect that the family may have been harassing humans elsewhere those evenings; particularly the fishermen camping at the lake about 3 miles away (as the bigfoot walks).

The Good

Bigfoots don't seem to look at their feet. At least, they didn't seem to notice the cameras when they were down on the ground and partially obscured. If Camera 2 had triggered, there would have been something for you to see. In fact, other people completely failed to notice Camera 2 where it had been placed. I suspect that if one had come by the cabin on nights 3 or 4, it would have found its face (or butt) on a camera, hidden between some tires.

Obscuring the cameras so they are unnoticed, placing them in a hard to notice location opposite of where the bigfoot's attention will be, and/or hiding them such that they cannot be seen until they see you, are all perfectly valid options.

If one is going to set up a visitation scenario, it might also do to use spy gear. For example, there is a light bulb security camera, the KJB Security Products model CSVS1, that looks a LOT like a floodlight. It screws into the socket, gets its power from the electric circuit, and transmits the video over the wires to a special receiver that plugs into an outlet.

"Bullet" or "lipstick" cameras are also an option. Many of them can fit inside a metal pipe, completely out of notice, and all they need is a strand of X-mas lights on the eve, or a distant yard or spot light. Bigfoots do not seem to be totally adverse to stepping into dimly lit areas.

The Bad

Some game cameras (like the Wildgame) seem to have extremely long exposure times. The Wildgame integrates intensity until it reaches enough exposure. The number of LEDs it has is clearly insufficient to illuminate the scene, meaning it is only good enough for stationary bigfoots.

It seems that bigfoots do not always trigger the PIR detectors. They may dart past too quickly, or they may have too low a thermal profile with too slow a motion. Or maybe the PIR detectors are just unreliable. A camera with a mixed-mode trigger (motion + time lapse) might be something to consider. If the camera offers adjustable trigger sensitivity, then set it to max, if you will leave the camera out for a short time. Better to search through 1,000 pictures of twigs blowing in the breeze, than to miss that one biggie stepping (or darting) past.

The Ugly

The only problem with ALL of the IR security products, is the darn LEDs glow red. This could be a particular problem with video equipment, because the LEDs are always on. If a game camera was set to time lapse mode, the LEDs would glow briefly every 30, 60, or 120 seconds. One way around this would be external illumination, or to replace the LEDs with ones that don't glow. Unfortunately, almost every single IR camera has a ring of LEDs attached. Another option might be to place a visible filter over the IR LEDs to filter out the red light.

Testing, modifying, testing, modifying, testing.... That is the key to success.

Edited April 1, 2011 by ajciani

[Guest]

The 10pm activity involved testing the doors

Snugged right up tight. Don't care where you are sleeping. Locked doors are not just for the city.

I think you might be onto something. Keep experimenting and you might just find the right combination.....

Good luck!

[Guest]

if the bigfeet aren't looking at their feet when they are walking, what you need to do, is devise a mat of some kind, that is pressure sensitive, so it snaps a picture when they walk over it. that would eliminate that annoying red led, as you could use pretty much any camera to take your pics.

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

ajciani, thanks for sharing. This is very interesting. I think we noticed the same problem with the night vision cams. Those darn glowing red LED lights. They're a dead giveaway even if the creatures are like us and cannot see in the IR spectrum.

We had a 24/7 cam project going at a cedar thicket not far behind my research home. This project ran for over a year, first with a VCR and multiple tape changes daily, then later a DVD burner and multiple Disc changes daily. The area was great and still is but out of all that surveilance, we got 1 possible creature related incident/activity. And it creatively stayed out of the camera's view while it took , peeled and then ate an orange we were using as bait.

I blamed one of two things. Either the creature could see in the IR spectrum, or it couldn't see in the IR but instead saw those dang red glowing LEDs... I moved the camera up to the side of a nearby barn (placing it about 10 or 11 feet up) so that it would have a downward angle, and the LEDs were not "as" visible but still we had no luck.

After the project's DVD burner bit the dust and the camera signal was failing likely due to the 24/7 use for well over a year, I called it quits on that project. IMO, the red glowing LED is our enemy and it must be hidden from view before results can be had. I ran out of ideas as any concealment would also block the camera from viewing the subject. I hope you will expand on the "filter" idea. I'm certainly interested.

Awesome thread thanks again.

Chris B.

[Guest]

If you are elctronics savvy, you might want to try something like this:

http://lucidscience.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/sound-activated-camera-diy-electronics-project/

You could replace the PIR with the mic assembly, and rig the LED's to light only when taking the picture.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Chris

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

That's an interesting thought. Sound may or may not work though as a trigger. Movement would certainly work if there was some way to rig a motion sensor. There's got to be some way those LEDs can be off and then switched on at the split second they're needed.

I'm not saavy with camera electronics. Chris B.

Edited to add: I just had a thought. A security light triggered by motion could be reworked a bit. Instead of turning on the light bulb when motion was detected, it could power up the camera. Oh my...I feel an experiment coming.

Edited April 1, 2011 by ChrisBFRPKY
added info

[Guest]

Chris,

The sound level required to trigger the camera is adjustable, according to the project specs, so if a couple of cameras were set up with different triggering levels, something should be caught on at least one camera.

[Guest]

another motion sensing tool you could use is the motion sensor for a wii, or an x-box kinnect sensor bar. with some modification i think either one could be adapted for your use.

[Guest ajciani]

I just had a thought. A security light triggered by motion could be reworked a bit. Instead of turning on the light bulb when motion was detected, it could power up the camera. Oh my...I feel an experiment coming.

Sure. If the motion detector didn't interfere with the video signal going back through the power cables. You could also use a hard disk DVR, with the ability to record only when the signal is present.

The problem is that the red LEDs would start glowing whenever something moved in the field of view. I think it could be quite noticeable. I move->thingy glows. It might be better to just leave it on all the time. The CSVS1 doesn't even look like a camera. It looks like a light bulb.

Other options would be an IR sensitive camera, with an external light source. The light source could be a "no glow" 940nm or 950nm LED array, or a filtered 850nm LED array. Many cameras are sensitive enough, that a distant flood light might seem dim enough to the bigfoot, but bright enough for the camera. It might also be possible to use a filtered floodlight at a closer distance.

IR Camera and Illuminator FAQ

As for filters, these are normally called IR longpass of highpass filters, which block any light shorter than about 750nm. They can be purchased or rigged from other materials.

• #89a or #89b Kodak Wratten filter gel. This filter material is available in sheets, and is very expensive (because it barely blocks any IR).
  
• Congo Blue filter gel (Lee #181 or Rosco #382). This is a blue filter available in sheets. It also passes NIR, but blocks red. One layer is dark, and three layers can block direct sunlight. Combine with a layer of Primary Red filter gel (Lee #106 or Rosco #27) to block the blue (but IR LEDs glow red, not blue, so it is unnecessary for IR LEDs). Congo Blue is cheap. Blocks a little IR, but maybe only 10%. One layer over the IR LEDs should do.
  
• Lee Deep Blue #120 may be a better option, but it might need more layers.
  
• Duct Tape? Supposedly, duct tape will cut the red, but allow the IR to pass. Never tried it. It could block the NIR significantly.
  
• Black or Blue Construction Paper? Well, these construction papers contain blue pigments that would block red light, and plant fibers don't absorb much IR (paper is made of plant fibers), so maybe it won't block too much NIR, but that will depend on the pigments.
  
• Inks? Maybe you can experiment and find an ink that will block visible but pass IR. Some clothing dyes will do this.
  

Use the IR camera to check out different materials. Anything that looks white to the camera but dark to the eye should do.

The human eye apparently can see some NIR, but you have to be in direct sunlight, and you need to block EVERYTHING visible. This can be done by using three layers of Congo Blue, with an optional layer of Primary Red, in place of the lenses in a pair of welding glasses. You could then see what is transparent and opaque in NIR (while outside on a bright day). IR Goggles

Using the Congo Blue and Primary Red filters, it is also possible to turn an incandescent light bulb into a filtered IR light source. I think red incandescent X-mas lights may also emit quite a bit of IR. They may be dim enough to not be offensive to the bigfoots, but plenty bright for the camera. I think bigfoots are also familiar with X-mas lights, and would not associate them with hidden cameras.

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

Great info! I'm gonna try to rig something this weekend with a motion detector and a IR cam. About all it will do is keep the red LEDs off during the approach of the creature/subject. I guess once the LEDs pop on , it would definitely see them but that actually may not be a bad thing. The creature/subject walks up, the red LEDs pop on and the cam is sending video to the recording source. As soon as the red LEDs light up, the subject looks directly at the camera. Perfect!

But,if possible, filtering out the red light and with the camera already running would probably be the better way of doing things. It would probably obtain a longer video. Once the red LEDs pop on with the motion sensor rig, I'd bet the subject would probably make a quick retreat. Chris B.

[southernyahoo]

I've been thinking on the idea of placement and think atleast two cameras should be set at 90 deg. from each other watching the same spot, This way neither camera could be approached head on without the other catching a broadside sight angle of a subject approaching a baited spot. It would be good to have some knowledge from the enigineers that design these cameras because they are deliberately set to sense a certain range of heat and a certain degree of motion. If they are set to a level that wil reliably trigger on a short haired mamal like a deer with minimal false triggers then it may be insensitive to more shaggy types of critters.

[Guest tracker]

The LED just display when powers on or cam activated right? why not just cover them up? Also on my next campout I am going to try placing mine high even if I have to rope up to the top of a tree. Just maybe they don't look up very often because they have nothing to fear since they are the biggest creature in the woods. Sure the pic may be at a distance but I don't think they would expect that from a birds eye view. This way you get the whole creature and not just a leg or arm. IMO

What do you guys think?

[Guest]

Good in theory, but I don't usually take a ladder camping with me. h

I always rig my cams to a tree, but at 5'2" I should probably think about it. I'm a pretty good climber, but I probably don't get enough height from just a camp chair...

I guess I just think about step ladders, and how they are just a few feet and very very bulky, and why bother with it anyway, cause it's not much to help. I can stand on the chair and get more than that! I never really thought about bringing a real ladder.

I DO always aim one of the cams at the "forest entry" and ever since the "pee" incident I aim the other one right at my tent. Probably not the triangulation that you are talking about, but it helps me sleep better at night....

And ya, some of the places I camp there is definitely more than one forest entry, but I just kinda pick the one that seems likeliest (easiest to go look at the tent, or with cover for peekies on the fire) and hope for the best.

[bipedalist]

I've tried the high placement, they are subject to more movement from wind, tree sways, etc.(and like ILBP says that pesky ladder thats never around when you need it). That movement and the angle of sensor deployment makes it more difficult to pick up movement or heat because of the angles involved apparently.

I subscribe to the perfect hollow log, and I've only found one in my time out so far, and it's sort of hard to carry around with you for easy deployment

[Guest ajciani]

Bigfoots don't seem to necessarily stick to the trails and easy to use entry points. When the whatever-it-was left the back of the cabin I was staying in, it definitely went through a line of brush that I would not have chosen to cross. That is, it did not use the "entrances" from the woods, but went through the "wall".

BTW, land owner just found a fresh coyote, ripped open, in an abandoned goat pen and shack back behind that cabin.

Oh, and the LEDs we are talking about are not the "on" lights, but the IR LEDs used for illumination. They glow red, and are VERY noticeable in the dark.