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Mr.Bro

Mr.Bro

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
Messages
4,408
Location
Hendersonville Tn.
11271 pics on a 20 day soak.
3 pic bursts,very few false pics. A single doe moved in and stayed.
From a 10 year old Covert and Lithiums still showed 100 percent.
Yes I know they may die in the next 100 pics.
 

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Last week, I had a doe bed right in front of one of my cell cams. She was only around a couple hours, but there were over 100 pics of her in those 2 hrs. Was really glad that cam was programmed to only take 2 pics every minute, instead of 3 every 5 seconds!
 
TheLBLman said:
Last week, I had a doe bed right in front of one of my cell cams. She was only around a couple hours, but there were over 100 pics of her in those 2 hrs. Was really glad that cam was programmed to only take 2 pics every minute, instead of 3 every 5 seconds!
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I remember back in the days of film trail-cameras and my 36-shot roll getting used up on one doe licking a salt lick for an hour!
 
BSK said:
Word of advice Mr.Bro, don't make it your job. Last year I set a new record analyzing just hair over 297,000 trail-cam images for photo-censuses. That's all I do from right around now until mid-January.
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No it's not my job. It's my pleasure. But not this much.
Good luck to all!
Hoping everyone kills a monster!
 
BSK said:
I remember back in the days of film trail-cameras and my 36-shot roll getting used up on one doe licking a salt lick for an hour!
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More often for me, I would go back a couple weeks later to retrieve & replace the film, new batteries, only to then rush to Walmart, pay to develop that film, pay extra for 1-hr processing, wait around for my prints . . . . .

. . . . . . . then find out the wind blowing a weed had used up all my film within a couple hours of my placing the cam two weeks earlier :confused:
It was a time of very expensive folly.

Hard to imagine now that we once used film cameras, and they had a very short battery life, and only provided a maximum of 36 VERY COSTLY pics between those time-consumptive & costly visits.

What's more, those film cams actually cost more at the time of purchase than most of what we buy today, over two decades later. Adjust that for the cost of inflation. Cams are comparatively cheap today, especially on a per pic basis.
 
TheLBLman said:
What's more, those film cams actually cost more at the time of purchase than most of what we buy today, over two decades later. Adjust that for the cost of inflation. Cams are comparatively cheap today, especially on a per pic basis.
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The first commercially available system was the Trailmaster 1500. It cost $1,200 back in the early 90s. It had a sending and receiving unit that sent an infrared beam across the trail. Anything interrupting the beam triggered the camera. I learned early on not to set them up on trees that sway in the wind! Mounting them on t-posts was essential.

Once the internal camera battles (camera with integral internal digital cameras) started, I think the first Uway cameras cost around $600 each, about the time the first Covert and Bushnell cameras were coming out. That was the days if the Chinese "camera wars." The business laws over there were and still are pretty loose, and every company was literally stealing each other's technology and technicians.
 
Before I had "trail cams", I had trail-checker "timers", that documented the time something passed by. There was no picture. Later, I obtained "homebrew" trail cams that used real Sony cameras. Only until very recently have the commercial digital trail cams generally passed the image quality of those old Sony homebrew film cams.

My first digital trail cams were "Non-Typicals" which later were re-branded Cuddebacks.
These produced 1.3 mp images, and used those gigantic "compact flash" cards.
But these were a revolutionary breakthrough compared to film cams.
Pretty sure they were @ $250, but they paid for themselves by not having to develop film.

And, I'm SURE YOU REMEMBER The Infamous Cuddeback "NO-COUNT" which falsely advertised "invisible" flash, selling for only $399 @ 20 years ago? 😂

BSK said:
Once the internal camera battles (camera with integral internal digital cameras) started, I think the first Uway cameras cost around $600 each, about the time the first Covert and Bushnell cameras were coming out.
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When those Uways came out, everyone was impressed with the quality of their images. They were great pics. Unfortunately, the cams otherwise had poor quality control, and the brand didn't survive. At about that time, Bushnells were my "go-to" brand, and later Covert.

There was also a brand called Leaf River which I really liked @ 20 yrs ago. But the lower-cost foreign competition eventually pushed them out. The cams today most recently providing me the best overall balance of price, longevity, and service have been Brownings and Ridgetecs (not to be confused with Ridgeline).

Regardless of branding, most today are decent. Some are just better than others.
 
In my basement I have a huge box of all the old (dead) cameras I've used over the years. I must have 30+ in there. Hate to think of how much I've spent on trail-cameras over the years.
 
I bought a Game Vu camera at the Deer Show that used roll of film and I would get them developed at Walmart,most were pics you could not even see a deer.When better cameras came out,my first was a Wildview that was decent and alot better than the film camera I had!
 
TheLBLman said:
Before I had "trail cams", I had trail-checker "timers", that documented the time something passed by. There was no picture. Later, I obtained "homebrew" trail cams that used real Sony cameras. Only until very recently have the commercial digital trail cams generally passed the image quality of those old Sony homebrew film cams.

My first digital trail cams were "Non-Typicals" which later were re-branded Cuddebacks.
These produced 1.3 mp images, and used those gigantic "compact flash" cards.
But these were a revolutionary breakthrough compared to film cams.
Pretty sure they were @ $250, but they paid for themselves by not having to develop film.

And, I'm SURE YOU REMEMBER The Infamous Cuddeback "NO-COUNT" which falsely advertised "invisible" flash, selling for only $399 @ 20 years ago? 😂


When those Uways came out, everyone was impressed with the quality of their images. They were great pics. Unfortunately, the cams otherwise had poor quality control, and the brand didn't survive. At about that time, Bushnells were my "go-to" brand, and later Covert.

There was also a brand called Leaf River which I really liked @ 20 yrs ago. But the lower-cost foreign competition eventually pushed them out. The cams today most recently providing me the best overall balance of price, longevity, and service have been Brownings and Ridgetecs (not to be confused with Ridgeline).

Regardless of branding, most today are decent. Some are just better than others.
Click to expand...
I remember the trail-timers. I actually found one in our cabin a few weeks ago that had never been used. Looked brand new and like it just came off the shelf
 
I had a dozen of the Non-Typical film cameras. Then I had a least a dozen homebrews with a myriad of different Sony digital cameras. Then I went through probably 15 Uway cameras. Also tried at least one of just about every company's camera system: Stealth, Moultrie, Wildview, Bushnell, Covert, Reconyx, etc. Now I've settled on the Brownings. They are the best cameras I've ever used. I think I have about 15 but I'm finally starting to see some problems with my oldest units. One has very blurry night-time video (looks like fog), and a second has developed a runaway trigger. Once an animal triggers the camera, it will take another video every minute for the next hour. Burns up a lot of battery power.
 
BSK said:
Also tried at least one of just about every company's camera system: Stealth, Moultrie, Wildview, Bushnell, Covert, Reconyx, etc. Now I've settled on the Brownings. They are the best cameras I've ever used.
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I've tried many brands & models, but certainly not all.

Generally speaking for me, it boils down to what is the overall best value with cams that reliably do what I want them to do. In their price ranges, I would currently have to give the highest marks, overall, to Browning.

Moving up just a tad in price range, I actually overall have preferred the Ridgetecs over the past few years. However, I have concerns Ridgetec is struggling to offer new units with a low enough price point to compete with those cams of foreign manufacture (which includes Brownings).

I think the only brands now left not actually manufactured outside North America may be Reconyx & Ridgetec?

One of many "reliability" issues important to me (on a cell cam) is that when I remotely change settings, they actually get promptly changed, no later than the next scheduled upload.

Another, is that they seldom miss a deer that rather briskly trots across. I also want extended battery life to go with those reliability issues (without needing solar panels or an auxiliary battery source). Many very popular (and relatively cheap at point of purchase) brands fail with these.

Weigh your cost per quality pic obtained over time.
Those cams that miss getting those quality pics are dearly costing you.
This can happen due to "cheap" sensors and/or slow (cheap) triggers.
Can also happen when your batteries die or your entire cam just dies unexpectedly.

Even when all appears near equal (at point of purchase) with 2 different brands/models,
consider the total cost if one brand/model lasts 4 years while another lasts only a couple.

Generally speaking, but with exceptions, you will get better quality everything at higher price points. And, ironically, a $200 cell cam may cost you less over the next couple years than a $100 cell cam (cost at initial purchase point).
 

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