digital game camera

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:29 pm

Well I was at basspro today looking around and the next thing I knew I had bought a new digital game camera. I was just there to buy some fall seed blend and lost control when I saw the whole case full of game cams. I will try to post some pics with it this weekend since I don't have to wait for processing. I have been setting up test pics to down load pics I think I have it all working so far it's been pretty easy even for a C+ computar user like me.

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:57 pm

Here is a test pic of my by friends yard if it works I will be all set up to post some real wildlife pics on this forum not my buddys backyard.Let it work so all the reading I have done has paid off!!!

PRB · Post by **PRB** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:40 pm

Looks really clear. What kind is it ? How many feet is it between the camera, and the fence ?

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:20 pm

The camera is a www.Reconoutdoors.com Talon game camera. It is a IR camera B/W no visable flash or noise while in use. It is a 1.3megapixel unit,but the pic you see on the forum I down sized 50% to 600's so it would load faster to none cable web users.It was clearer before I Resized. The fence is about 40-45ft away It kicks the butt of my game Vu which is a IR camera but the pics are grainy and blocky looking. It holds about 300pictures on a 32meg compact flash card or about 62--- 20 second video clips. You can use up to a 128meg card if you wish for even more space. You can use a card reader to download and view the pictures on your computar or a sandisk TV system for your home TV(about $10-$15 on ebay) I have both so it is really nice and easy to check the pics and I can print on my photo printer. Digital is more costly but With the 35mm stealth cam I just bought I could see the cost of processing and film adding up real fast. Plus I hated waiting to have enough pics on the cam to justify processing the roll. I still 35mm has some good points but I am putting this unit on my feeder and with no flash to spook game it should get 25+ pics a night like my game VU has been getting. That would be alot of 35mm processing to pay for. Batt's should last 2-3 months on 6 D cells

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:34 pm

Looks like a very good picture.
I just bought a "stealthcam" and I'm getting good pics, but the processing cost is adding up. it wouldn't take too much film & processing to pay for a digital.
Got some pics from it today. Here's one:
(take note of the squirrel in the foreground on the left - I think it triggered it)

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:21 am

Wabi, I have been getting very good pics with my stealth cam day and night. I had to put some black tape over the far edges of the PIR though I was getting alot of edge of the picture shots of game as the PIR is very wide when used on a trail set. The pics have been more centered now since I did this incase you find the same problem down the road you may try this fix. Also you were dead on about the Walmart CD's needing alittle photo work. Some pics were fine others were grainy on the CD. I guess atleast a guy can down load the CD if he has no other way it beats nothing for sure. I talked with a guy you has been using the IR type game cams like I just bought for about two years now for his wildlife research(he does that for a living) he said my IR trail cam night pics would not be as nice as a 35mm with flash but would be more than enough to get the detail I need for good scouting info and some good prints to. I guess it is a trade off--No flash IR Stealth and no noise-- Vs-- some noise and the clearest pics with a 35mm. He said the main problem is little glare sometimes for the powerful IR lights. I guess I will find out soon enough.

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:49 am

Here is a night picture I took with the Ir flash. I resized it to 640x512 to from the oringal 1280x1024 resolution.The later picture size thats the whole screen up. The chair is about 30+ft away. The Ir carrys real far I bet it does glare some up close I will have to test that. So far the only thing I have found I didn't like is the PIR range is seems shorter than my other units. About 20ft tops but it is getting better as the temp cools down from the summer day time high 80's/90's. I guess this is to be expected some as all my game cam owners manuals say the PIR range goes way down when above 80degrees. Still I can till it's not going to be as strong as my other units. With my average set up of about 15ft I guess this will not be any problem in the long run and should be better by fall. On the IR flash I stood back and triggered the cam all I could see was the red leds made a soft glow for a split second.

wabi. · Post by **wabi.** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 10:04 am

Looks like it's good enough to me!
I like the temp/date/time info on the pic, too.
About how much does a unit like yours cost, and how big of a pain is it to get the pics on a computer? Do you have to take the camera to the computer to download the pics?
wabi

terry-1 · Post by **terry-1** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 5:19 pm

I will give you the good and bad on the camera so far from alot of testing in my yard day and night. First on price it runs about $400 which is about what most good digital game cams run. Second on downing loading pics you can bring the Talon to the computar and plug in. You can buy a card reader to plug into the computar(about $20 ebay) and just bring the flash card plug it in leaving the unit in the woods which is pretty much how I am using it but My HP media computar has a slot of the card built in already. Also the unit will plug into your TV video plug and view pics that way I tried it today it worked very,very easy for none computar owners or maybe showing a friend at his home. I also have a sandisk card reader(ebay $10-$20) for my TV so I can plug in the card view on TV with remote sitting in my chair deleteing pics and doing so light photo editing to. It all works very easy from my testing no problems downloading to my computar or viewing with my other setups. The unit itself is so easy to program and change any setups and the stay set even if the batts are removed or go dead a big plus so you don't have to reprogram all the time. It even has a digital voltage meter to check batts. After 2 days of playing around and wasteing alot of power in set up mode and video playback it went from 9.1 to 8.9 volts. Not much drain it is really easy on batts another big plus.Should last months on batts sitting in the woods takeing pics. Overall the controls are super easy to use and very usefull. Now on still pics. Very clear daytime pics . nighttime pics- pretty darn good but no 35mm and sometimes you get alittle glare on the target just part of the way a IR system works but you don't spook the game so I think it is worth it for my use hunting and scouting I am not entering photo contest. Now to the only 2 things I have found not to like. First I listed earier the PIR is not as strong as other units I have tested which is a weak point for summer time use with this unit. I am sure this fall through spring range will be 30-40ft on the hot setting(It has 3 settings for PIR) but right now about 15Ft seems is what I would bet my life on in this summer time heat here. My stealth cam is getting about 18- 20ft to give you a idea to compare to.The stealth is also weaker than most units too, My friends trailtimer EZ 2500's gets 30 ft even right now super strong PIR but they have a weak flash only about 20 ft. Next, Alot of digital units use a wake up and sleep system to extend batt life from a week on standred digital units to several months using this wake/sleep system. Here's how it works. The system is basicly powered off and the PIR is still working. It triggers with heat and movement tells the camera to wake up and take the pic and goes back to sleep to save power.This saves alot of power. The bad part is through my testing and stopwatch I trigger the PIR and time the pic time by watching the IR light up. It takes about 3-4 seconds from triggering to pic. Now if on a feed site or scrape/rub no big deal which is 90% of my setups. On a trail and a deer walking at a fair rate of speed with nothing to stop or slow the animal down he could walk out of the Picture frame and you have a blank pic or get a half deer pic thats no good. This seems to be about norm wakeup- Pic --Time for most commerical digital setups using this wake and sleep feature but most will not tell you that. The guys that build cams themselfs say they can do better on trigger time and they may I don't know for sure they may or may not lose batt life or something else in a trade off who knows. Here's my thoughs on the unit. The housing and contols and features are second to none.Top notch very easy to use!! The PIR is alittle weak could be improved on. The delay on the wake -up-triggerpic is going to be no problem with my uses incluieding feeder sites,scrapes,rubs which I find give me far more numbers of pics than just setting a cam on a woodland deer trail which I am lucky to get 5-10pics a week and not all are even deer pics. Basicly this would make a great cam for high traffic areas like feeder sites,scrape lines,rubbing trees where you do not what to spook game with flash and you get alot of pics. Takes good pics day and night but not winning a photo contest but good enough to print. It would not be good for a plain unbaited trail set I feel many deer will walk by only getting a hide end or no deer in the PIC. I think a plainold 35mm would be best for something likethat as you are lucky to fill a roll of pics in 2-3 weeks here so film processing will not break you at that rate. I think I have a real good feel of the camera and don't expectto learn much more as I have been doing alot of testing and playing around with the talon. If you have anymore ?'s just ask I will let you know the best I can.