I read an interesting forum article this weekend, where the author had posted some pictures of some deer he had gotten with his digital trail camera.  The first thing I noticed was the incredible quality of the images, and the sharp, vibrant colors.

Right away, I decided that I was going to post a response to find out what kind of digital game camera he used to get his pictures.  As I read down through the other responses, I noticed that someone else had beaten me to the punch and asked that same question.

His answer?  A 'homebrew' trail camera.

A homebrew game camera means that he built and assembled it himself.  In his response, he stated that he used a Snapshot Sniper Controller Board and a Sony P41 digital camera.

So I headed over to SnapShot Sniper's website to have a look at their products for myself.  I have to say that I was very interested in what I saw, and spent the next hour researching their products.

So how much can you build your own homebrew camera for?  I did a little checking, and the pricetag comes in at around $200.00 and a little bit of your time.  That's not bad for a digital game camera that takes incredible pictures.  Here is how it all priced out:

$70.00 - (approximately) for a used Sony P41 digital camera (off of eBay)
$59.95 - for a SnapShot Sniper controller board
$ 8.00 - for a control panel
$36.00 - for a Pelican game camera case
$ 3.00 - for a wide angle lense
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$176.95 - Total

Now there are a few cables, mounting brackets, and u-bolts required to complete the project, but the whole thing should come in at around $200.00.  An it can cost you quite a bit less if you have one of the following digital cameras lying around that you are willing to convert and use in your game cam:

• Sony P41
• Sony S40
• Sony S600
• Sony P100/150
• Olympus D380
• Nikon L11
• Samsung A402
• Olympus D395

So, if you like to tinker with electronics, and would like the satisfaction that comes with getting pictures of that big buck with a digital game camera you made yourself, check out the SnapSnotSniper website for more information.