I will be videotaping fish and shrimp in 10-20 gallon fish tanks. I need to buy a good but cheap camera (I have to buy a few of them) that can be programmed and can also tape diurnal and nocturnal behavior. I will be running 24-hour trials.
Hi Maria,
So when you say cheap, what are we talking about here? What is your budget and how many cameras would you need to have?
I would immediately say GoPro or cameras similar to it, that have time lapse shooting option. You could connect it to external power source and basically run it until the memory card is full.
The problem here might be taping nocturnal behaviour depending on light conditions, meaning if it's pitch black it would be hard to capture anything, you would need a night vision camera (very very expensive).
However, I guess there is certain amount of light in the tank simulating nigh conditions, e.g. GoPro would be able to shoot nice timelapse videos when shutter speed, ISO and/or aperture settings are properly tuned.
Everything from GoPro4 and up should work for you here, with GoPro4 being, of course, the least expensive option from the series.
Hope this helps.
Probably there is a lot of folks out here who would know better and perhaps have other solutions for you.
Best,
Deni
Yes, some people have told me about GoPros but the problem is the night vision. I would need something that would let me see clearly what is happening. I would have red lamps in front of the tanks, but I know that it would be hard to see with that kind of light. Cheap would be $200ish. I would need 3 or 4 cameras.
Hi again,
I've come across another discussion topic on researchgate similar to yours (https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_anyone_have_suggestions_for_affordable_cameras_that_can_record_aquatic_insect_behavior) where GoPro was listed as one of the options.
On the other hand, following paper describes apparently a cheap-ish custom build surveillance option for tracking organism movement specifically in low light conditions: Article Coral Reef Surveillance: Infrared-Sensitive Video Surveillan...
Again, they are mentioning GoPro as an option, but may be not ideal for night conditions.
I would advise to borrow a GoPro if you have the possibility, tune it for night/low-light condition and make a test run. This way you would be able to see whether it suits you needs or not.
Regards,
Deni
Thank you for the link. The night-vision part is the complicated one.
Has anyone tried something similar to this?
https://www.amazon.com/YI-Security-Wireless-Surveillance-Detection/dp/B076BL7JVS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1538495333&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=home+surveillance+cameras&psc=1
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