Thread: Cracking the Combination to a Minox Trail Camera

I have just acquired a Minox DTC 450 Trail Camera. It requires a five digit number combination to operate it and the person I got it from doesn't know the combination.
Apart from sitting down and trying 10,000 different number combinations, does anyone have any ideas how to get the camera operating?


Thanks

Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob

I have just acquired a Minox DTC 450 Trail Camera. It requires a five digit number combination to operate it and the person I got it from doesn't know the combination.
Apart from sitting down and trying 10,000 different number combinations, does anyone have any ideas how to get the camera operating?


Thanks

Did the person you acquired it off not give you the password when you obtained it?


or did you yank it from a tree?

Leave a note on the tree it came off, the original owner may be kind enough to give up the information

If someone does know how to bypass the security code I hope they don’t post it on a public forum for everyone to see.
Did the person you got it from forget the code (I’ve done that myself, eventually worked out it was my birth date and month), or didn’t they ever know it? The former suggests they are getting old, the latter would suggest it wasn’t their camera.

Bloody hell stop throwing rocks at the guy will yah? Do you really think a camera thief would post up on a hunting forum to ask?

Originally Posted by matto1234

Bloody hell stop throwing rocks at the guy will yah? Do you really think a camera thief would post up on a hunting forum to ask?

"acquired"....did it for me.

No I didn't pinch it and I don't have any real expectation that I'll be able to use it.
I'll contact the Minox distributor when business's start up again but I don't have much hope.

Have you tried using it? For one of my cheapo 1-day cameras you only needed the code if you wanted to change the settings, it still took photos when it was turned on even though you couldn't access any menus.

On the subject of trail cameras, I was talking with a guy a while back who was a member of this forum who had a camera belonging to the forum or someone on it...anyway while it was in the post to him he was shit-canned from the forum, he apparently used it for a while and then tried to return it but admin wouldn't respond to his emails...he thinks the admin person he was dealing with may have been tossed as well, not over the camera but other issues...so the camera is still out there if anyone wants to claim it.

SOME electrical stuff will use the last five digits of the serial number as first default code...worth a crack Nigel...

A lot of the cameras now require you to email the company with proof of purchase or ownership, and they will email you a link to a firmware restore. Instructions are usually in the owners manual on how to set the camera to accept the new firmware, so it's advisable to write any pin's/passwords down and store a physical copy in your safe or somewhere secure.

It's always a good option to ask for reciepts and proof of purchase when buying modern tech as a lot of newer gear and gear to come in the future will be a literal paperweight without proof of purchase if you lose the PIN/Password. Of course a tech boffin could probably find a way around it with some reverse engineering, but that'll be out of the scope for most normal users.

When buying used fancy tech, always ask for reciepts for this reason and for warranty, and as always, if something is a dream deal, it's probably a duck.

Don't be the guy that gets caught with a stolen gear because he didn't know it had a sim card, or 'called home' when connected to a computer with internet access/wifi......

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

SOME electrical stuff will use the last five digits of the serial number as first default code...worth a crack Nigel...

Or 00000

1.) "If you forget your password, you can reactivate the camera using the password “OPEN”. That's from the manual...

2.) Just had a look at the firmware update file for the DTC450 and it looks like all the settings are stored in a file called "Para.dat". Open the file in a HexEditor and if you are lucky, the settings and PW are not encrypted. If they are, might help to rename the file to something else and start up the camera which should reset everything to default settings and to the default PW as the manual states. Good luck, no guarantee if you break it!

Thanks JaSa,

I'm not as tech savvy as you. Could you please tell me how to access the firmware update file?

Thanks,

Bob

Should be on the SDcard. Put that in a card reader that is connected to your computer. Make sure you you enable "Sow hidden files" in Explorer. Gut feeling is, you will be able to open the file with Notepad.