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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Anybody use a trail cam (1 Viewer)

aaronc

Active member
Hey,...I've got several feeders up in my yard. Going to be looking into the photography thing in the near future. I have a decent camera and will be looking at lenses and such but was wandering if any of you guys have ever set up a trail cam on a feeder ? Best -Aaron
 
I frequently set up my trail cameras to monitor my feeders. I don't do it to get pictures of the birds, picture is quality is too poor to even bother, but rather to see what comes after dark. Here in Canada I've recorded as many as 5 raccoons at my feeders at one time. In Florida I've had everything from bears to possums at the feeders at night.
 
Hi Aaron,

any of you guys have ever set up a trail cam on a feeder ?

I used a trail camera for monitoring my balcony feeder for a while.

It was a bit of a challenge to find an angle where it doesn't have branches etc. in the background that move in the wind and trigger the motion detection, giving you tons of pictures with no birds on them.

Another problem is that the fix-focus wide-angle lens of the trail camera is not built for the very short range I'm using it at, and so the photographs are all a bit out of focus.

There's also the problem of trigger delay. Having a three-short burst mode compensates a bit for that, but birds are quick, and they often manage to trigger the camera without actually appearing on the photograph.

The camera also has a video mode, but I haven't tried that out yet.

Regards,

Henning
 
i agree with Hauksen's comments. i have used several over the years for wildlife monitoring and the trigger delay is the biggest problem. there are very detailed reviews and tests done that show the response types and timing and surprisingly some of the cheaper brands were best. however then you often lose the resolution or battery life.

i would suggest a webcam setup either wired or wifi on a permanent recording similar to security cameras works far better for basic identification.

as brands and technology change so quickly you have to rely on in depth searches of Google to make informed choice. i do know some government research stations around the world have reported on various surveillance and recording options as i read the papers but you have to dig them out.

also, whatever your feelings about the subject, check the reviews in hunting magazines as trail cams are widely utilised for game movement records. a few trailcams have offered trigger sensitivity setting but you also have to be aware of the lense type (fresnel or not) and the detector type (IR usually).

having said all that, taking heed of Hauksen's remarks about moving branches etc. you will find a cheapo Aldi trail cam or a midrange Bushnell will supply many interesting shots or videos of wildlife that may satisfy much of your purpose. it is often surprising what goes on when your back is turned ... in Oz i got shots of bee swarms, copulating kangaroos, sneaky foxes, rabbits ignored by foxes, next door's dogs, a cat getting driven off by echidnas and even a wedgetailed eagle taking a snake.
 
This is probably a n00b question, or perhaps a "geek overkill" solution, but...

Wouldn't a security cam like jape suggested, hooked to a computer with a decent sized hard drive, work better? For example, I've been playing around with this Amcrest security cam to watch the behavior of one of my indoor cats. You can really fine-tune the trigger sensitivity and even make it specific to certain parts of the image.

Or on-the-cheap you can set-up basically a "dashcam" inexpensively like a Mobius ActionCam. One big storage card and a USB battery and you'd be good to go at least overnight. Quite a capable little until for the price.

But maybe I'm missing something where this pertains to the OP's needs?
 
There isn't a lot you can't do with security cams, it can get expensive as you tend to get what you pay for.

Some early af slrs had trap focus which sort of worked, but for feeders it wasn't a success (sharp feeder - no bird as a breeze blew them into the focus zone) being film based I was a bit cautious on the winder set-up.. Trail cams are great for bigger mammals, I had the biggest collection of photos of my dogs backsides as they lurked by the same animal trails I thought I had covered by the camera. I found out a lot of what they were up to when they wandered off after dark, but that wasn't the idea.

I have had most success videoing feeders than any other way, but I was always present behind glass with a wired remote to the camera outdoors. The remote gave me zoom control, but not pan and tilt which really needs a live feed to get right.
 
i agree with Hauksen's comments. i have used several over the years for wildlife monitoring and the trigger delay is the biggest problem. there are very detailed reviews and tests done that show the response types and timing and surprisingly some of the cheaper brands were best. however then you often lose the resolution or battery life.

i would suggest a webcam setup either wired or wifi on a permanent recording similar to security cameras works far better for basic identification.

as brands and technology change so quickly you have to rely on in depth searches of Google to make informed choice. i do know some government research stations around the world have reported on various surveillance and recording options as i read the papers but you have to dig them out.

also, whatever your feelings about the subject, check the reviews in hunting magazines as trail cams are widely utilised for game movement records. a few trailcams have offered trigger sensitivity setting but you also have to be aware of the lense type (fresnel or not) and the detector type (IR usually).

having said all that, taking heed of Hauksen's remarks about moving branches etc. you will find a cheapo Aldi trail cam or a midrange Bushnell will supply many interesting shots or videos of wildlife that may satisfy much of your purpose. it is often surprising what goes on when your back is turned ... in Oz i got shots of bee swarms, copulating kangaroos, sneaky foxes, rabbits ignored by foxes, next door's dogs, a cat getting driven off by echidnas and even a wedgetailed eagle taking a snake.


Thanks for the responses and yes I actually am an avid hunter and I've owned trail cams years ago when they first came out. However; they don't last long in the backwoods as eventually they do get stolen.
Was just curious as to how it would perform over a bird feeder,..I knew it would have some limitations but was wanting a little feedback before I tried it. Thanks again for all the replies. Best Regards - Aaron
 
...... I've been playing around with this Amcrest security cam

I fully intend at some point to have an outdoor CCTV system; two cameras, one at birdbath and one with a wider shot on a different bath with three trees. However, I'm not willing to throw money at untested, inferior products.

Although yours is an indoor system, it gives me a product line to research. Thanks for the info.

I've been waiting for testimonials since February when delia todd added CCTV Systems to Trail Cams-Camera Traps in the Miscellaneous Nature Study Equipment Sub-Forum. That threads still has no action, this quote from iveljay may be the reason.

There isn't a lot you can't do with security cams, it can get expensive as you tend to get what you pay for.

Any and all product reviews would be appreciated.
 
Although yours is an indoor system, it gives me a product line to research. Thanks for the info.
The trick, as someone else mentioned, that it is often "you get what you pay for" with security cams.

I had a tough time finding one that got decent reviews, didn't cost an arm and a leg, worked fairly well on a Mac, and also was supported by my Synology (which has free security cam management software).

In the case of this specific Amcrest the bad reviews centered mostly around the WiFi security being horrible. And actually, all of the low-to-mid range security cams on the market seem to have serious security issues with their WiFi functions (ironic!). Since I'm big on hard-wired ethernet I just ran a cable to the camera and turned off the WiFi access to the camera.

The zone-sensitivty software is web based and kinda odd, but once you get the hang of it, it's nice being able to designate parts of the image grid to be super sensitive, others to be ignored, and yet others sorta in-between. You can also set how long the video clip is after detection. Also, it has a very limited "pre-trigger" buffer; apparently it's always buffering a bit of video all the time so it can back-up a small amount previous to the trigger and make that part of the video clip saved. It's not alot (a second or two), but enough to catch my cat. |:D|

The Mobius ActionCam is another budget option, but requires a bit more DIY. But it can be waterproofed, can use a tripod mount, is tiny, has a number of lens options, and quality isn't bad. I use two as cycling safety cams (yeah, it's really come to this where I live). Apparently this little wonder if popular with the RC drone set and dashcam-for-safety folks, and has a growing following with cyclists. Hidden gem IMHO. (It does have motion-triggered features but I haven't personally tried them; also beware of third-party imitations and fakes.)
 
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The Mobius ActionCam is a sweet little camera. Not what I'm looking for but after watching a YouTube review it's worth having in your tool box.

Now that you brought my attention to Amcrest, they have an outdoor Bullet Camera that may work, IP3M-943. I'll need more research; read reviews, watch YouTube vids, see what's comparable.

The trick, as someone else mentioned, that it is often "you get what you pay for" with security cams.

Thank you sir, this helps, I appreciate it.
 
I am installing this security camera to monitor my bird feeders and later some bird houses. Has a 4X optical and 4X digital zoom. You can't get real close but from about 30 feet away I can see that there are birds on the feeder and tell sparrows from cardinals, from grackles from mockingbirds. But I don't think I could tell a house sparrow from a song sparrow.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BGTKP34/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This provides a live feed, allows snap shots, record video. Have only played with the live feed on my android phone and desktop. Have not tried to manipulate photos or video.

FYI
 
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