Trail Cam, Nest Cam etc. Wildlife Photos and Videos

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,457
8,326
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I would love to get one of these. Does anyone have any tips on how to set it up or is it just a case of trial and error?

It's a bit difficult to give general set-up advice as the environment, species and cameras vary so much. However, what I can advise is experiment where you know you will get results (a path where a neighbour's cat comes past, a bird feeder, an area baited for mice etc.). If the camera allows, try out different sensitivity and IR light settings then look at the results. The problem with setting it up in a 'wildlife' area straight away is you won't know if the camera is working, or the settings are wrong, if you get no photos.

The only other advice is be patient; it took over a week for anything to show up on one site then over the next few days/nights I got fox, rabbit, hedgehog and bats! (bright oval lights that fly past with their hot bodies showing up on the IR - totally unidentifiable!).
 
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daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales
I would love to get one of these. Does anyone have any tips on how to set it up or is it just a case of trial and error?

Trial, error but also fun. The tree straps that are provided are fine but can be very restrictive in getting the camera placed exactly how you need it, there's never a tree in the right place. As long as you get a camera with a tripod mount though you can use loads of different claps, mounts and ground spikes, in the garden though I just strap it to an old garden fork. I like to try and get the camera set up at eye level with the animals or just above but this does limit the range of the IR sensor. You don't want the camera too close to the subject for night time use either or the flash will over expose it.
 
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Lou

Settler
Feb 16, 2011
631
70
the French Alps
twitter.com
Oh great thanks. It sounds exciting. I live in quite a rural area and we have lots of tracks in the snow at the moment so I think I have some idea of where the main thoroughfares are. Then I guess it's a casse of just playing around with it. There are lots of different models on amazon. I think I may get one for around £70 does that sound about right?


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wingstoo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 12, 2005
2,274
40
South Marches
My camera from Aldi captured these, and a lot more...

21013878_1418474731563223_5959360734183677898_o.jpg


20842282_1418469348230428_490673582407881761_n.jpg
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,457
8,326
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Oh great thanks. It sounds exciting. I live in quite a rural area and we have lots of tracks in the snow at the moment so I think I have some idea of where the main thoroughfares are. Then I guess it's a casse of just playing around with it. There are lots of different models on amazon. I think I may get one for around £70 does that sound about right?


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Judging by the photos that Nomad64 has been getting I think the Crenova unit on Amazon for £64 looks pretty good!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crenova-Wi...689098&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Trailcam+Crenova
 
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daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales
One top tip is to find where animals go for water. In very cold or very dry conditions there can be a very limited number of water supplies for animals so set up a camera near one and you should see quite a bit. My parents' place is on the top of a hill so once the springs dry up or freeze there's no major water sources. I've set up some small ponds now and tons of animals come to drink.
 
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Nomad64

Full Member
Nov 21, 2015
1,072
597
UK
Yesterday, I found what sadly looked like a dead leveret in the woods.

To make the best of a bad job, I decided to use the carcass as bait for the trailcam and got some nice (if slightly overexposed) shots of our local tawny and a video (which I can’t post here) of it flying off with it.

(Nb the camera is set to GMT so it was just after 8pm yesterday.)

A12EF1CE-E39F-4AE0-973B-B6024EDA8147.jpeg
 
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Nomad64

Full Member
Nov 21, 2015
1,072
597
UK
Nice capture. That simultaneous vid/photo mode is really useful. I wish mine did that.

Mine is not strictly simultaneous - as it is currently set up, I get 2x stills followed by 20s of vid then it resets. TBH, I haven’t really played around with the settings and will see if I can eliminate the overexposure.

The owl was on the carcass for about a minute and a half and in addition to the rather over exposed (light fronted bird quite close to cam) still pix I got 20s half decent vid of the owl looking around and 7s as it flew off taking it with it.

A few hours later the cam caught a mouse sniffing around the same spot.

Not going to be putting any BBC cameramen/women out of work anytime soon but great to see what is going on at night.
 
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daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales
The problem I get with my Bushnell is the video trigger is too slow so it misses anything that moves across frame too quickly or it just catches the tail end of the action, literally sometimes. The stills shutter is really fast though so if I use that setting it captures more but all the best stuff comes from videos so I'm loathed to leave it just on stills.

If you can't adjust the flash setting I've found stretching a pair of tights or similar over the LEDs does dim it down enough for close up night shots. Or just stick tape over half of them but avoid reflecting the light back down onto the lens.
 
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Nomad64

Full Member
Nov 21, 2015
1,072
597
UK
Mine is not strictly simultaneous - as it is currently set up, I get 2x stills followed by 20s of vid then it resets. TBH, I haven’t really played around with the settings and will see if I can eliminate the overexposure.

The owl was on the carcass for about a minute and a half and in addition to the rather over exposed (light fronted bird quite close to cam) still pix I got 20s half decent vid of the owl looking around and 7s as it flew off taking it with it.

A few hours later the cam caught a mouse sniffing around the same spot.

Not going to be putting any BBC cameramen/women out of work anytime soon but great to see what is going on at night.

Finally got round to doing some (very basic) editing of the two tawny owl vids - well basically stitching them together and shortening them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30865846@N02/40583326285/in/dateposted/
 
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Nomad64

Full Member
Nov 21, 2015
1,072
597
UK
As rough as....

587702C5-55C7-4CE6-90C8-0B960DB7C21A.jpeg

Last night I put the trailcam by a trail that looked like it had been made by something lowslung and my hunch paid off - off out to reposition the camera to hopefully get a front view tonight!
 
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daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales

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