Trail Cameras

[SimonFisher]

Battery life seems very good and we've only put in 4 cheap AA and not 8 quality ones.

Our Stealth Cam I540 (purchased 2008) is designed to use 8 x C cells. We tend to use it in video mode, shooting 3 minutes at a time each resulting in a video file of 318 megabytes. I initially used it with rechargeable NiMH AA cells loaded into adapters (plastic tubes) so each AA cell with its adapter fits where a C cell would be loaded. They're the same length but the the diameter is different. That would typically let the camera to run for maybe 24 hours before losing power.

I then switched to using the 12 volt input at the base of the camera fed from a lead-acid leisure battery which is recharged using a car battery charger. That way, the camera can continue to shoot for many days until the memory card is full rather than losing power.

[Landpikey]

Do you use the camera for wildlife capture or for watching what intruders get up to? When I'm trying to find the camera after a few days away it's remarkably hard to spot, however, once found it seems to stand out like a sore thumb.

You must have to use a large capacity drive to store your previous captures or are you ruthless and delete the files you don't need? I tend to keep virtually all pictures I've taken and can't for the life of me explain why!! I even keep the ones the twins take when they get handed the camera

Next time I would like to mount the camera lower and monitor to see what birdlife we get to the forest floor in the wet, open patch at the bottom of the hill. A friend scattered some wheat around trying to encourage ducks in, even though we don't yet have a pond there!
Dave

[SimonFisher]

Do you use the camera for wildlife capture or for watching what intruders get up to? When I'm trying to find the camera after a few days away it's remarkably hard to spot, however, once found it seems to stand out like a sore thumb.

We use it for watching wildlife. Compared to what many other have reported on this forum, problems with people who shouldn't be there have been few over the years. We deter any opportunist from walking off with the camera by using a cable and lock to secure the closed closed and to a tree. I'd normally avoid putting it where it can be seen from any of the shared tracks around the periphery of the wood.

You must have to use a large capacity drive to store your previous captures or are you ruthless and delete the files you don't need? I tend to keep virtually all pictures I've taken and can't for the life of me explain why!!

When we first got the camera we used it a lot, putting it out routinely to see what was there. Now we tend to use it if we think there's something of interest such as badgers digging under the deer and rabbit fence. We also use it at home in the garden to see how our foxes and cubs are doing. A lot of the stuff gets deleted on first viewing such as those captures triggered spuriously or mostly of a deer's backend as it wanders out of shot. Just looking again now at what we've built up over the years though, there's scope for a bit of sorting and pruning.

[Landpikey]

Not everyone appreciates trail cams. This was taken from the Derbyshire times (see the SWOG facebook page as to why I was looking there)

QUOTE
Published on 19/01/2013 17:43
DERBYSHIRE Times readers may wish to be aware of a spy camera at Linacre Woods.
I took this photo on Sunday morning. My dog spotted something in the trees and it appears to be a surveillance camera.
I am aware that the path where this has been placed is now deemed too dangerous to walk, but I also think these measures are highly inappropriate.
Simon Goldsmith
UNQUOTE

If he knows the path he took the picture of the camera is deemed as too dangerous - why is he walking on it???
I suppose he is innocent enough if he can't see the reason as to why people might have trail cams set up for "oiks" or ignorant enough if he can't see that people may just be looking to see what wildlife walks on by.
I don't think sitting at work with time on my hands, google at my fingertips and newspaper letters pages is good for my blood pressure!!!