Over the years BeetleCam has evolved a fair bit, and today I’m excited to announce the latest version of my remote camera buggy… the BeetleCam Hybrid!

You’ll remember I developed the first BeetleCam back in 2009. BeetleCam allowed me to safely position my camera in front of potentially dangerous African animals, such as lions, elephants and buffalo. In 2011, I retuned to Africa with a new lion-proof version to try and photograph the lions of the Masai Mara.

Last year, I was living in Africa and my goal was to photograph species that I had not yet captured with BeetleCam, such as African wild dogs and leopards. Tracking down these elusive creatures took some perseverance! The images above were taken in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia and these wild dogs were photographed in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe.

For more photographs taken with BeetleCam, check out my BeetleCam Collection.

When I returned from Africa last August, I released an updated version of the BeetleCam with a strong and lightweight shell to protect the camera and the ability to mount a GoPro under the DSLR so that video could be recorded at the same time as stills. For more details about this version, checkout the product page on Camtraptions.

I recently took BeetleCam to Tanzania and spent a morning filming and photographing a pride of lions. The addition of simultaneous video capture adds a new dimension to the photographs. To see footage shot at the same time as these photographs, please watch the video embedded below.

Now I am announcing a completely new type of BeetleCam, the BeetleCam Hybrid. This is a merger of the traditional BeetleCam base with my latest remote-control copter stabilised camera gimbal. The gimbal means that the camera remains completely level, even if the BeetleCam is moving over uneven surfaces. The operator can also remotely control the camera pan and tilt without moving the base. The pan/tilt motion is very smooth, making this an ideal platform for remote-control filming. See the new BeetleCam Hybrid in action in my new demo video:

The BeetleCam Hybrid is currently a prototype. A final version will be ready in April 2014. If you would like more information please get in touch. You can also subscribe to the Camtraptions newsletter (the new company I’ve set up to develop products for remote and camera trap photography) for up-to-date news.