Trail/wildlife camera recommendations?

[IronWing]

I'm looking for a good quality trail camera. Cell/wifi would be useless where I want to install it so standalone cameras would be fine. I'd like good IR quality as most desert critters move more at night. Detection range up to fifty feet would be good.

 

[Captante]

Sorry nothing actually useful to contribute... I'll be leaving now! 😛

 

[Scarpozzi]

There are tons of trail cameras out there, but not sure which ones are best. I would consider using a Blink camera based on the capability to store video locally and the 2 year battery life. My only issue with either of those for video is just the motion false positives based on wind/weather. You could fill up a video card quickly and end up having to sift through endless footage of nothing to catch that damn Blair Witch.

 

[BoomerD]

I have a Ring camera in my back yard that does a great job getting videos of me taking the dog out to poop...but let a bear walk through the periphery of my yard...nothing. Even though it's not THAT far from the house, I really can't get a decent wi-fi signal out that far...so I've been considering trail cams as well.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I have a Ring camera in my back yard that does a great job getting videos of me taking the dog out to poop...but let a bear walk through the periphery of my yard...nothing. Even though it's not THAT far from the house, I really can't get a decent wi-fi signal out that far...so I've been considering trail cams as well.

My comment about motion false positives is legit though. I have an infrared IR camera pointing at my driveway on the edge of my garage. It goes to a DVR unit for playback....CCTV system, basically. I noticed one day that the interior lights were left on in my 4Runner, my nice car charger was missing, and the doors were unlocked. I hadn't driven the vehicle in 2-3 days, so I got nervous that someone had been rifling through my vehicle because I don't always remember to lock it in my own driveway. (very low crime area)

I jumped on the DVR and went back through days and days of my camera catching cars driving by, moths flying by, and rain drops. That's when I captured my wife being the last person to drive my vehicle. I had wasted a lot of time just doing that exercise, but it was worth it just so I would know how difficult it was to review footage that way. I was only looking at 2-3 days worth, but could only fast forward 4 times the normal recording speed and didn't know what day/time the event occurred I was looking for.

Some of the newer cameras have GOOD recognition software and only trigger motion when a larger group of pixels move together through the view. I can't speak for trail cameras, but just know the technology has come a long way on the wifi variety. Many will cut the motion trigger down to a mere 10-20 second blip so you have less footage, but still capture something.

 

[SKORPI0]

The best trail cameras in 2022: for wildlife photography and nature watching

The best trail cameras or camera traps are great for wildlife photographers and nature watchers alike

www.digitalcameraworld.com

 

[BoomerD]

My comment about motion false positives is legit though. I have an infrared IR camera pointing at my driveway on the edge of my garage. It goes to a DVR unit for playback....CCTV system, basically. I noticed one day that the interior lights were left on in my 4Runner, my nice car charger was missing, and the doors were unlocked. I hadn't driven the vehicle in 2-3 days, so I got nervous that someone had been rifling through my vehicle because I don't always remember to lock it in my own driveway. (very low crime area)

I jumped on the DVR and went back through days and days of my camera catching cars driving by, moths flying by, and rain drops. That's when I captured my wife being the last person to drive my vehicle. I had wasted a lot of time just doing that exercise, but it was worth it just so I would know how difficult it was to review footage that way. I was only looking at 2-3 days worth, but could only fast forward 4 times the normal recording speed and didn't know what day/time the event occurred I was looking for.

Some of the newer cameras have GOOD recognition software and only trigger motion when a larger group of pixels move together through the view. I can't speak for trail cameras, but just know the technology has come a long way on the wifi variety. Many will cut the motion trigger down to a mere 10-20 second blip so you have less footage, but still capture something.

Yeah...on a windy day, my Ring camera goes nuts over tree limbs blowing around.

 

[Captante]

For awhile I had an Asus motion-activated cam pointed out the window at my car and hard-wired to my PC via ethernet but it had the same problem with branch's/shrubbery in the wind... sometimes a bird flying by would trip it!

I ended up with a bunch of worthless GB's of nothing. 😕

*(cam works great inside my apartment where any movement when I'm not home I want to be recorded)