Sony introduced an interesting camera a few months ago called the QX1.  Sony calls it a “Smartphone Partner”.  It is designed to clip onto the smart phone and connect with WIFI eliminating the need for a monitor on the camera.  I have been using quite a few Sony NEX and “a” series cameras in traps so the QX1 looked intriguing.  Turns out it can be made into a very nice camera trap.  The Sony specifications are published here.

The QX1 coupled with the TRLcam control board makes a powerful camera trap capable of capturing still images in JPG and RAW and video.  The TRLcam camera controller allows the photographer to set the length of the video, the number of still images per motion trigger, day only, night only and 24/7.  It will also activate external lighting if necessary.

The two videos below were shot during the same time period.  The first video was triggered by a passive IR motion detector built into the camera housing.  The second video was generated by capturing still images every five minutes.  The controller takes the camera out of the video mode, captures an image and then returns to the video mode.

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