On Mar 4, 1:10*am, "Steve B" wrote:
Need recommendation for a decent trail camera. *Not cheap Chinese POS, nor
Zei$$ either. *For taking pictures of deer, coyotes, and prowlers.

SteveB

Like other digital stuff, these change very fast. What you want is a
weather-tight box that has decent attaching points and can be locked,
if needed. Just had to retrofit the b-in-l's camera with a metal
plate because the attachment point was on the lid of the box, not the
back. Meant that every time we wanted to access the SD card, we had to
dismantle the setup, then get it all back together again and repoint
the camera.

What these have been is a microcontroller connected to a cheap webcam
with some kind of storage card slot and an IR movement detector. As
they've been developed, they've gone from B&W to color and with an IR
LED flash array. Some can do limited video. As webcams have
improved, so have the game cameras. None I've seen are even close to
the same quality as even the cheapest pocket digicam, so don't get
your hopes up of getting a wall-sized portrait of Bambi from a game
camera. What they are good for is determining what's walking through
the area and when. If no deer, then don't hunt there. Most any of
them will do that.

Extras to look for:
External battery connection for extended use
SDHC card slot for extended memory storage, there must be a ton of SD
interface chips in some Asian warehouse that still keep getting stuck
in things. Thumbs down on SD-only.
Laser for aiming
Uses regular D cells, not funky special batteries or battery packs
Maybe video clips
IR flash
A strap or harness long enough to go around the biggest tree you might
want to use, additional rings, loops or hangers are quite welcome.
The b-in-l uses a T-bar stake with a chunk of plywood bolted to the
top and a hook to hang the thing from. Works well in the swamp.
A real lens, not a pinhole camera

I really can't recommend any particular brand, they've all got
shortcomings. Now is the time to get one, though, a lot of the web
operators are getting rid of older stock for cheap.

I use a small EEE netbook with a SSD to go get the pictures off the
cameras, very handy. No hard drive to worry about when rattling
around on the 4-wheeler.

Stan