Game Cams / Excalibur forum Buyers Guide

Farmer · Post by **Farmer** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:17 am

I am in the market to purchase a game Cam myself. With almost 2000 members registered to this site, maybe we could do our own buyers guide.
What to look for, feature we need/do not need. Which model you thinkwas a best/worst buy. Where did you find the best price. Any information you think would be helpful.

This electronic stuff is just not my thing and input from others would be helpful for me and possibly other members here looking to purchase a game cam.

So which one is the Excalibur of game cams ?

Farmer
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GREYWOLF · Post by **GREYWOLF** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:03 am

I have used several one and have found that the digital ones are the most troublle free and give the best quality photos and are less prone to weather related freeze ups and sensor malfunctions, they are not cheep but are worth there price tag by being so dependable . These are the
I own and use .
http://www.vibrashine.com/
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... id=0032998

GREYWOLF

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:04 am

Farmer I think your question is very difficult to answer. Trail cameras today very a great deal in what they offer or in what they can offer. In my mind the most important features would be Infra Red (the least invasive camera flash) and mardest to detect by the human eye to be stolen (if you need to worry about that). and the most important is the trigger or shutter time. Currently a shutter time of around 2 seconds is considered acceptable.

I honestly believe that anyone that wants a trail cam and who are handy, they should look into a home brew. They are not that difficult to do and are alot cheaper. Plus, because of the variety of options in parts that are out there, you can make a trail cam that best suits you for what you want in a cam, not to settle for what the manufacture gives you.

Also you can purchase home made trail cams from people that build them if you feel that you can't make one yourself.

Hope this helped some.

speedball · Post by **speedball** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:32 pm

Greywolf, what do you like about the cuddeback, and what dont you like??

Partikle · Post by **Partikle** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:38 pm

Do the models with IR work at night without a flash?

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:40 pm

Partikle wrote:Do the models with IR work at night without a flash?

Typically the camera's still use a flash at night, but it is in IR (infra red) spectrum of light. This light is not seen by humans. This flash is also typically not as strong as a WHITE FLASH. You can easily chage a normal white flash into a IR flash by just placing a IR medium filter infront of the flash. The problem is converting the camera into seing the IR light from the flash.

I actually do not know why the manufactures of IR trail cams charge all that they do for these cams as there is not that much more work or tech. put into them. To convert a regular home made trail cam into IR costs only about $10 in material and some personal time. I guess they are just greedy.

Partikle · Post by **Partikle** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:36 am

Thanks guys. I'm looking for input here, what is a decent camera with IR capability that won't break the bank and something I can lock up to a tree?

Partikle

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:48 am

Partikle wrote:Thanks guys. I'm looking for input here, what is a decent camera with IR capability that won't break the bank and something I can lock up to a tree?

Partikle

In my opinion if your looking for a quality IR camera that wil not break the bank, you will need to go the home made route. They are not that difficult. As for the camera's you can get the Olympus 360l which is a plug and play, only need to replace the IR glass inside the camers, no sodering. Actually this morning I read a post where one person just converted the flash to IR (not the camera) and the night pictures were good, not great, but good.

There are also other cameras, the sonly p32 & p41 (they are alitle more expensive but higher megs for pics) and the olympus 370 & 380. People that know say that the 380 is the best camera for IR (real good pics and easy to convert)

For a home brew, other then the camera (without camera), your cost should be aproximately $100 +/- for the case, control board, & misc stuff. Now this price can go up if you choose more options. You can also include a slave (extra) flash later if you feel you need one. This setup would be a good starting point.

Hope this is helping.

Partikle · Post by **Partikle** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:20 am

Tom wrote:
Partikle wrote:Thanks guys. I'm looking for input here, what is a decent camera with IR capability that won't break the bank and something I can lock up to a tree?

Partikle
In my opinion if your looking for a quality IR camera that wil not break the bank, you will need to go the home made route. They are not that difficult. As for the camera's you can get the Olympus 360l which is a plug and play, only need to replace the IR glass inside the camers, no sodering. Actually this morning I read a post where one person just converted the flash to IR (not the camera) and the night pictures were good, not great, but good.

There are also other cameras, the sonly p32 & p41 (they are alitle more expensive but higher megs for pics) and the olympus 370 & 380. People that know say that the 380 is the best camera for IR (real good pics and easy to convert)

For a home brew, other then the camera (without camera), your cost should be aproximately $100 +/- for the case, control board, & misc stuff. Now this price can go up if you choose more options. You can also include a slave (extra) flash later if you feel you need one. This setup would be a good starting point.

Hope this is helping.

Tom,

You sound like you know what your doing. Are you up to building me one?

Nick

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:43 am

Partikle wrote: Tom,

You sound like you know what your doing. Are you up to building me one?

Nick

I would not say that I know what I am doing. But for the last month or so I have been doing alot of investigating on the home brew cams. I was plesently surprised at how simple others have made this hobby become. The control boards are made by others so if you do not want to try and make one yourself (i would not even think about that) you just buy one. They also have instructions (with pictures) on how to do almost everything from setting up your system to hacking (modifing) the camera.

Yes I am in the process of building 2 trail cams. I have a Olympus 380 and 360l on the way now. My next step is to get the control boards, cases, and the little extras. My D380 will be a full function IR cam with a bulit in slave flash. The 360l will be just a simple cam and not converted to IR, but I will probually add a remote slave. Adding a remote slave will allow me to use IR medium over the camera flash to hide the flash from people, but the remote slave will still register it and flash a white flash from a slightly different location.

This is an addictive hobby. Can't wait until i get all the parts to build it.

RayGunter · Post by **RayGunter** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:58 pm

Tom, I believe your hooked.

Be carefull its very addictive.

More toys..... more toys.....

Pretty soon you'll want a video setup.

Tom's right on track here about the home brew cams being pretty easy to build. All of the components are available on the net. Just amounts to a matter of putting it all together. Even some of the cameras are being offered already pre-modified, and the modifications are not difficult at all to start with.

If anyone wants to investigate this here are two links to a couple of forums that deals with all this stuff. lots of information and friendly folks.... kinda like this forum.
Hags House
Real Deal

mblaney · Post by **mblaney** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 3:59 pm

This is an addictive hobby. Can't wait until i get all the parts to build it.

Addictive for sure... Tom, do you have any web links you can post with more info or can you post some info for us. I am interested in building one; I can do my own research but you might be able to save some time and you already know what not to do

Gee, my wife has an Olympus 380...

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:21 pm

mblaney wrote: Gee, my wife has an Olympus 380...

I think you said that wrong .............. Gee, my wife HAD an Olympus 380...

........... would be more like it .......

But then again, this is coming from someone that is not married.

No seriously, if I can help anyone here I will but the above links in Ray's post is the best place to start. Read, read and read some more. If you already have an idea of what you want in a trail camera that will help alot, if not, there are many different setups that people have posted (pictures) that will give you ideas.

My D380 setup is going to be identical to what another person has already done. He also did a step by step instruction on how to do it. Other are guiding me through getting the parts and which way to do things.

Again I will try to help anyone that wants to try one, but please remember, this will be my first cam that I am about to build. The others on these sites have actually either designed or helped design the boards.

Partikle · Post by **Partikle** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:49 am

Can you turn the flash off on any of these cameras or set them so that they only work during the day? I would rather get only day shots and not spook the big bucks.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:23 am

Partikle wrote:Can you turn the flash off on any of these cameras or set them so that they only work during the day? I would rather get only day shots and not spook the big bucks.

Witht the home brew cams you can basicly choose how to make your cam. You can set for constantly on or on/off mode. I believe that there is also a day/night mode as well (on the control board) for your choice. Also remember the cameras you use in a home brew is an everyday camera, you can choose (from the camera features) for auto flash or manual or no flash. My research has mostly been dirrectly towards how to get the flash I want, not in eliminating it because I will use the IR.

Also remember that if you place the IR medium in front of any flash (even a store bought trail cam) it will become invisible to the human eye & they say deer too. If your really worried about the flash, then either block it with the IR medium or shut the flash off with the camera.

I hope that this helped and did not confuse anyone any more

.