Nature photography at night?

December 23, 2014 9:58 PM

My 7 year old nephew really wants to be able to take pictures of animals at night. He watches a lot of nature documentaries and sees the night vision video and wants to replicate it. Assume we're not going to spend thousands of dollars but between his saved allowance and Christmas money we might get up to the multi hundred dollar range - is there something that would work for this? Googling and trolling Amazon haven't turned up anything that looks like a great solution. Thanks!
posted by macfly to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

You might be interested in this (kid-centric) review of a trail camera, which includes some info on night shots as well as additional costs to consider (like SD cards.)
posted by jetlagaddict at 10:41 PM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

Older Apple iThings have inadequate IR filtering, so that an iPod 4th generation has no trouble seeing infrared light, while an iPhone 4 and an iPod 5th generation filter it out completely. Samsung Galaxy (what would be the original S) phone sees infrared just fine, too.

Given a strong infrared illuminator, your next problem would be to find animals. I suggest using cat food as bait.
posted by the Real Dan at 10:46 PM on December 23, 2014 [2 favorites]

You need a remote camera for this, you can't sneak up on wildlife in the dark. Trail cams are designed to do this and are in your price range, check Cabelas, Bass Pro etc for ones aimed at hunters that are motion triggered and reasonably priced. Nicer ones and cameras that can be upgraded with things like motion triggered slave flashes that'll get you good color shots can be had at places like B&H or Ben Meadows or biology supply places. Thr quality of even the hunter ones is decent though and you might only want IR. It doesn't disturb the animals, whereas flash does a bit. Read the reviews!
posted by fshgrl at 11:11 PM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]

My mum has a night vision camera to take pictures of hedgehogs at night. She has one that is motion activated and takes stills. If you can't get video in your price range then you can try this one:
Bushnell Trophy cam
posted by kadia_a at 1:13 AM on December 24, 2014

Does he have a backyard that has animals at night? Can you run a cable from outside to his room? How about a security camera or babycam?
posted by Sophont at 1:16 AM on December 24, 2014

Oh, my mum informs me that her camera also takes video but she has found it takes too much battery.
posted by kadia_a at 1:24 AM on December 24, 2014

A previously on the topic.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:12 AM on December 24, 2014

Response by poster: So, he has a game camera (last year's Christmas present) that he mounts in the backyard and catches birds and the occasional deer. I think his idea behind this request is to make his own night time Nature documentaries - he does a lot of self narrating even with his regular camera taking picture of birds and squirrels and whatnot. But all these are good suggestions - I'm checking out links. Thanks!
posted by macfly at 7:33 AM on December 24, 2014

Just wanted to add, if your nephew's documentaries ever make it online, please post a link, this sounds adorable!
posted by yeahlikethat at 10:43 PM on December 24, 2014 [2 favorites]