Beginner?s guide to trail cameras

When choosing the right kind of trail cameras there is a long list of things that you should consider, ?such as the flash type, freeze frame shutters, ARD, hyper burst, No/Low Glow and so on. If this is your first trail camera, then you should understand these kinds of things and take them into consideration before your trail camera purchase decision is made.........

Beginner?s guide to trail cameras

When choosing the right kind of trail cameras there is a long list of things that you should consider, ?such as the flash type, freeze frame shutters, ARD, hyper burst, No/Low Glow and so on. If this is your first trail camera, then you should understand these kinds of things and take them into consideration before your trail camera purchase decision is made.


1. Flash Type

There is a lot of debate on how much the flash impacts on a camera?s ability to capture a moment. There are many options available, and from them you have to make a decision based on your needs. Below are some options for you to take into consideration.

• No Glow Flash
  These types of cameras are attached to a black LED, which is invisible to both humans and animals. An important thing to note here is that during night time operation, black and white pictures are taken. If you are thinking of securing a sensitive or high profile place, then this will fulfill your needs. The no glow flash doesn?t pose a problem, because you don?t want the deer (or people) to become aware of any foreign presence.

• Low Glow Flash
  If you want a style of flash that is visible, yet controllable, then this camera is what you?re looking for. Normally, the nature of the flash is a light red glow. This is essentially mid-way between a full flash and a no-flash. Furthermore, this camera will also capture black and white images at night time.

• White Flash
  These are the ultimate if you?re looking for that perfect instantaneous moment of capture. Every image captured with this white flash will be in full colour, regardless of the time of day. These cameras will give you the best image quality; so if that is what you are after, don?t compromise on that.

?Conclusion - Flash Type

There are quite a lot of flash varieties available for you. You will also have a variety of image quality, such as darker and grainier images with ??no glow? flash, while the ?white flash? will produce bright and sharp images for you. The distance covered with flash will also vary from camera to camera; however, the best among the lot is white flash, which has the ability to light up the place for a long distance. LED and flash range are also related. Cameras that have LED capabilities will, as a rule of thumb, offer you more illumination than other cameras which are without LED.

2. Megapixels on Your Trail Camera

You should pay attention to the number of megapixels of the camera. Even though some cameras offer more megapixels, that doesn?t mean that the image quality is great. The notion behind this technique is simple. Megapixels will not matter much if the lens of camera isn?t capable enough or is an inferior quality lens. If you want to check the image quality, then look at the image.

3. Camera Capture Mode

Video and still photos are the two modes on which your trail camera can operate to capture an image. They produce great still images. But the benefit of the film option is that the photographer will be able to have the real image of the animal?s habitat, if only for a minute, and can see their behaviour. Film reveals more about the animal than the still photo. In the past, people had to choose from either still photos or short films while operating the camera. But now due to the advancements in technology, companies are working to give you an opportunity to have both film and photo options simultaneously.

4. Trigger Speed

After getting a glimpse of an animal, the reaction of the camera to capture the moment is called trigger time or trigger speed. For some types of game, low trigger speed is an essential trait because it will draw the line between viewing or not viewing the animal, such as a buck. But for less unpredictable animals, it can be considered more of a luxury than a necessity. For example, deer will typically stay for a couple of minutes if some kind of food trap is used to lure them. Trail cameras that have an instant response can capture a sequence of photos that will be entirely missed by the waking time of slow trigger cameras. Trigger speeds vary greatly, with typical trigger speeds ranging from .13 seconds to 1.3 seconds or more.

5. Camera recovery time

After capturing the moment, the time it takes to ?recycle? or ?startup? is known as the camera recovery time. High recovery time cameras may miss your perfect moment if they misfire due to a bad setup, while a low recovery time camera will be able to take multiple photos in the high recovery time?s recovery period. Slow recovering can take in excess of a minute to recover. As such, these cameras may cost you your whole life changing shot because they react slowly. ?

6. Detection Zone

A ?V? shaped area that expands as the distance increases is called the detection zone. This zone is invisible and starts branching out immediately after the lens of the camera, just like the human eye as your field of view improves over distance. The detection zone is what triggers the camera to start acting when an animal enters the field of view After detecting the movement, the camera will act accordingly to either start a video, capture a photo or do both. While picking up your next trail camera, do think of the zone and how far you want it to be from the origin.

7. PIR Angle

Passive infrared is the extent to which cameras can sense activity. Trail cameras that have a wide PIR angle can check activity in less time and they have a better probability to capture the activity in the middle of the frame as compared to the edge. If you are seeing just a part of an animal in your pictures, then you can absorb the effect of a passive infrared, which isn?t great.

8. Sensitivity adjustment

When some animals come into the camera?s view, ?its reaction time is known as sensitivity. Cameras that have an enhanced sensitivity ratio will catch every instance. Trail cameras that have a bad sensitivity ratio will not capture the small animals and their focus will be on huge animals only. Some of the cameras have the function to allow their owner to edit these settings for themselves, while other don?t facilitate the user changing the settings. Sometimes these high sensitive adjustments will capture further moments from the flash range.

9. Laser focus

Laser helps the user to see where the camera is actually pointing after hanging it. In high lands this feature is beneficial for the user; however, it doesn?t provide any benefit in flat lands.

10. Burst Mode

Taking multiple pictures simultaneously is the feature of burst mode. This mode can be adjusted according to the user?s needs. It will take the set amount of pictures after seeing the subject and then come to rest. The drawback of this function is that it can quickly fill up your memory card.

Conclusion

While there are a long list of features a person needs to think of when choosing the correct trail camera, more are being added every single day. Every year there are new additions to these trail cameras. Even though every feature is and can be useful in the right circumstances, they might not be necessary for your use. It is worthwhile to make a list of features that you want in your trail camera and avoid spending a fortune on features you don?t require. Pay only for those features that you really need.