Anyone any good with Trailcams?

Thanks .25-06, I think you're right about the contrast and light levels, and you're definitely right about the moving vegetation - I've also found that the sun filtering through the trees seemed to set it off too.
The eye belonged to another Fallow, it appeared to be a group of around 4 or 5 that passed by the camera over about 5 mins or so.
 
I used a piece of 6 mm reinforcing rod on 2 pairs of cameras, they don't have to stand up so high as you can tip them back to get the angle just right.
The 2 I am using for myself are fishing rod bank sticks as I used up the rou-bar on the other cameras!

The thread is 1/4 Whitworth which should stump most people these days lol
Tim.243


Thanks for the tip on the steel rods and 1/4 whit thread, I have just made up a rod and set a camera on it.
How long do you generally leave a camera before going back and checking it?

2teal
 
Thanks for the tip on the steel rods and 1/4 whit thread, I have just made up a rod and set a camera on it.
How long do you generally leave a camera before going back and checking it?

2teal

I have just set one a farm around 15min drive from me, I don't shoot this farm a lot as he leaves the foxes.
also there is only really two fields I would shoot with cattle and sheep on the others.
Defiantly Muntjac as I have found where a bucks scrapes, also fallow do move through the area as the farmer described them as " the big ones with white bellies " LOL
I will leave it a week as the grass is very long with the field is rape, all I am interested is the timings to save me waiting for something which only makes its rounds after dark!!

Make a second stick as only yesterday I went to place the unit and had taken the long pole, I went back and got the shorter one and set the unit under the hedge!

3-4 days to answer your question, I leave lap top in the truck then swap the cards over for a look see!!

Tim.243
 
Well here are my latest attempts at using my Little Acorn trail cam over a 5 day period.
After making up a steel rod to mount the camera on I set it up under a large hazel bush on what appeared to be a well used path. A friend suggested setting the camera up "oblique" to the track and about 3 meters from it. This seems to have worked with the side sensors warming the camera up in time to catch anything passing. The camera is set up at about 2 foot high.


A lot of lessons learned mainly the light under the bush makes it difficult for the camera during the day, also a lot of triggers for a squirrel so I probably won't set it up under a hazel bush next time!!!


IMAG0031.jpgIMAG0040.jpgIMAG0055.jpgIMAG0069.jpgIMAG0091.jpgIMAG0101.jpgIMAG0106.jpgIMAG0119.jpg

The camera was up from the 2nd of June till today. When I set the date on the camera I got the month and day the wrong way round!
 
Well here are my latest attempts at using my Little Acorn trail cam over a 5 day period.
After making up a steel rod to mount the camera on I set it up under a large hazel bush on what appeared to be a well used path. A friend suggested setting the camera up "oblique" to the track and about 3 meters from it. This seems to have worked with the side sensors warming the camera up in time to catch anything passing. The camera is set up at about 2 foot high.



A lot of lessons learned mainly the light under the bush makes it difficult for the camera during the day, also a lot of triggers for a squirrel so I probably won't set it up under a hazel bush next time!!!


View attachment 57707View attachment 57708View attachment 57709View attachment 57710View attachment 57711View attachment 57712View attachment 57713View attachment 57714

The camera was up from the 2nd of June till today. When I set the date on the camera I got the month and day the wrong way round!

As I have said before, It is just the timings as you can clearly see what is going through.
I used my shorter stake the other day under a hedge, caught a Muntjac buck and doe, the images were not so clear as the unit was too close, however the timing's were around 8.30 pm so spot on for shooting.
Just the grass is very long so the farmer might cut it for haylage soon.

Good effort on the pictures...

Tim.243
 
Well here are my latest attempts at using my Little Acorn trail cam over a 5 day period.
After making up a steel rod to mount the camera on I set it up under a large hazel bush on what appeared to be a well used path. A friend suggested setting the camera up "oblique" to the track and about 3 meters from it. This seems to have worked with the side sensors warming the camera up in time to catch anything passing. The camera is set up at about 2 foot high.


A lot of lessons learned mainly the light under the bush makes it difficult for the camera during the day, also a lot of triggers for a squirrel so I probably won't set it up under a hazel bush next time!!!


View attachment 57707View attachment 57708View attachment 57709View attachment 57710View attachment 57711View attachment 57712View attachment 57713View attachment 57714

The camera was up from the 2nd of June till today. When I set the date on the camera I got the month and day the wrong way round!

Looks like you get very similar results to me. I also found that the sunlight filtering through the trees would set it off on a windy day.
 
So, judging by this image there is something in the way that the sensor scans and records the stills - either that or I've captured a two and a half legged deer! Given it is supposed to be a 5Mp sensor and this was set to 5Mp, I thought it would see the whole image instantaneously - someone else might know better?
View attachment 57887
 
That is a perfect picture :lol:... the problem you have is the subject has moved and depending which bits moved at what speed show as blurred or not at all. If you could just get the muntjac buck to stand still it'll be fine.

an image size of less then 2mp will still give a good enough picture for identification

So, judging by this image there is something in the way that the sensor scans and records the stills - either that or I've captured a two and a half legged deer! Given it is supposed to be a 5Mp sensor and this was set to 5Mp, I thought it would see the whole image instantaneously - someone else might know better?
View attachment 57887
 
Judging from the picture, there isn't too much light, so camera has adjusted exposure a bit longer. And if the "client" moves during the exposure time, the image will be blurred.

As uncomfortable as it may sound, the hardware and software in trail cams is very low quality (they should be priced about £20 to be comparative to, say cell phones). And you have very limited options to adjust.
 
This lad likes something up the tree so I will take a look the next time I change the card over..
SUNP0012_zps9sbvg18c.jpg
SUNP0014_zpsllmbpukn.jpg


Tim.243
 
Well here are my latest attempts at using my Little Acorn trail cam over a 5 day period.
After making up a steel rod to mount the camera on I set it up under a large hazel bush on what appeared to be a well used path. A friend suggested setting the camera up "oblique" to the track and about 3 meters from it. This seems to have worked with the side sensors warming the camera up in time to catch anything passing. The camera is set up at about 2 foot high.


A lot of lessons learned mainly the light under the bush makes it difficult for the camera during the day, also a lot of triggers for a squirrel so I probably won't set it up under a hazel bush next time!!!


View attachment 57707View attachment 57708View attachment 57709View attachment 57710View attachment 57711View attachment 57712View attachment 57713View attachment 57714

The camera was up from the 2nd of June till today. When I set the date on the camera I got the month and day the wrong way round!

Pictures are ok but would do better if camera was slightly higher with more open space with natural sunlight. You can see the sunlight streaming in in the background and that will make the camera change its aperture making your pictures darker. Make sure you remove the plastic covering the sensors as they will also affect results, and set your camera to trigger the side pir's.

As has been mentioned, Ron Bury is the man who does all the testing on little acorns and he loves to have a chat on skype if you have it installed, otherwise just give him a bell. You can find him on his page which is,Ron Bury's Wildlife

Another thing with little acorn cameras is do not use duracell batteries as they give a false signal to the camera stating they require changing and this will become apparent when you only get about 1 second of night time video as the camera is trying to save battery power. Ron recommends Maplins batteries which are also cheaper if you wait for the monthly sale and purchase a box of 100 for less than £15.00
 
I gave up using AA batteries long ago and made up an adaptor/container for a small 6V lead acid battery. Takes up a bit more space, admittedly, but these things are seldom left very high up and the wire is long enough to put it high enough. Lasts for weeks. I shoot 3 photos and 15 seconds of video per event. Takes a while going through them on the laptop but have seen a few species on my 10 acres.
 
So I've drawn on everyone's great advice; placed the camera somewhere with better light, a little further from the subject, and away from the main squirrel population! I also picked up a flavoured salt lick when I was Stateside to try to hold them in shot for longer.

Having the subject further away helps the focus and blurring, but the most impressive result was the salt lick - it started slowly at first, but now the deer can't get enough of it with the camera capturing 15-20 'events' a day at the moment. I've added a few pictures and will post a video in the next post. Thanks for everyone's help!

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Looks a winner
So I've drawn on everyone's great advice; placed the camera somewhere with better light, a little further from the subject, and away from the main squirrel population! I also picked up a flavoured salt lick when I was Stateside to try to hold them in shot for longer.

Having the subject further away helps the focus and blurring, but the most impressive result was the salt lick - it started slowly at first, but now the deer can't get enough of it with the camera capturing 15-20 'events' a day at the moment. I've added a few pictures and will post a video in the next post. Thanks for everyone's help!

View attachment 59299View attachment 59303View attachment 59305View attachment 59304View attachment 59300View attachment 59301View attachment 59302
 
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