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Why Red Flash Cameras?

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gil1

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Not just why do consumers buy them, why do they make them?

Here's my reasoning for the question...

White flash cams take much better photos and scare animals about the same or maybe even less depending on who you talk to.

True infrared or black flash cams take equally crappy photos (especially at night), but they are much better because the flash doesn't scare animals.

No matter whether you like better photos or less afraid animals, you have a better option. So why would consumers buy or producers make red flash cams?

This is not just for curiosity...I'm writing an article. Thanks in advance.
 
Because they can be marketed as not scaring animals as much, whether that is true or not.

In addition, they are much less likely to be seen by trespassers, thieves. Generally, a person has to be looking right at one to see the red glow at night.
 
I have a Truth Cam 35. I'm guessing that's a red flash camera.. I have it next to one of my stand setups. Several times I have walked in and gotten my picture taken in the dark of night and I did not realize it. However, one time I was intentionally trying to catch it take my picture and noticed it did glow red.

So yeah, what BSK said. They are pretty stealthy at night. And the camera was cheap and takes decent pictures.

The question is why not?
 
DntBrnDPig said:
I have a Truth Cam 35. I'm guessing that's a red flash camera.. I have it next to one of my stand setups. Several times I have walked in and gotten my picture taken in the dark of night and I did not realize it. However, one time I was intentionally trying to catch it take my picture and noticed it did glow red.

So yeah, what BSK said. They are pretty stealthy at night. And the camera was cheap and takes decent pictures.
I own same camera. As I am not entering photos in some kind of contest, I'm happy with the pics. It's doing it's designed job of letting me know what's passing by it. It's also cheap...and I'm happy with it!!

The question is why not?
Click to expand...
 
DntBrnDPig said:
I have a Truth Cam 35. I'm guessing that's a red flash camera.. I have it next to one of my stand setups. Several times I have walked in and gotten my picture taken in the dark of night and I did not realize it. However, one time I was intentionally trying to catch it take my picture and noticed it did glow red.

So yeah, what BSK said. They are pretty stealthy at night. And the camera was cheap and takes decent pictures.
I own same camera.

The question is why not?
Click to expand...

As I am not entering photos in some kind of contest, I'm happy with the pics. It's doing it's designed job of letting me know what's passing by it. It's also cheap...and I'm happy with it!!
 
TNGunhunter said:
DntBrnDPig said:
I have a Truth Cam 35. I'm guessing that's a red flash camera.. I have it next to one of my stand setups. Several times I have walked in and gotten my picture taken in the dark of night and I did not realize it. However, one time I was intentionally trying to catch it take my picture and noticed it did glow red.

So yeah, what BSK said. They are pretty stealthy at night. And the camera was cheap and takes decent pictures.
I own same camera.

The question is why not?
Click to expand...

As I am not entering photos in some kind of contest, I'm happy with the pics. It's doing it's designed job of letting me know what's passing by it. It's also cheap...and I'm happy with it!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like I'm offending some folks, and I didn't mean to do so. My apologies...
 
Why? My reasoning is simple: No one sees my cameras go off and steals them, the deer don't get scared by them, I don't need a beautiful picture of my deer, just want to know what's there and the batteries last all season. Love my Primos Truth 35's and my Scoutguard SG550V. Anyone still using whiteflash 35mm film cameras?
 
BSK said:
Because they can be marketed as not scaring animals as much, whether that is true or not.
Click to expand...
IMO, it is mostly MARKETING HYPE.

I see no difference in how most deer begin avoiding traditional white flash vs. the so-called "infrared" red flash, other than some deer are more afraid of red flash. I suspect white flash seems more "natural" to a deer since they frequently experience lightning.

The only reason I see where red flash can be of benefit (over white flash) is due to humans being less likely to see the flash. But you pay a high price in getting much lower quality nighttime pics with red flash.

Black flash is a different story. Even though the nighttime pics won't be as good as white flash, you'll typically get a lot more pics, many of which are good enough for my purposes. If your main purpose is high quality pics (day and night), a homebrew using white flash is the only option.
 
BSK said:
Because they can be marketed as not scaring animals as much, whether that is true or not.
Click to expand...
IMO, it is mostly MARKETING HYPE.

I see no difference in how most deer begin avoiding traditional white flash vs. the so-called "infrared" red flash, other than some deer are more afraid of red flash. I suspect white flash seems more "natural" to a deer since they frequently experience lightning.

The only reason I see where red flash can be of benefit (over white flash) is due to humans being less likely to see the flash. But you pay a high price in getting much lower quality nighttime pics with red flash.

Black flash is a different story. Even though the nighttime pics won't be as good as white flash, you'll typically get a lot more pics, many of which are good enough for my purposes. If your main purpose is high quality pics (day and night), a homebrew using white flash is the only option.
 
Easy answer. Thieves can't see red flash cameras firing off at night from a distance AND red flash cameras are still quite a bit less expensive than black flash cameras, although black flash cameras are getting better and cheaper every 3-6 months. Eventually black flash cameras will reach a price point that most people are willing to pay and red flash cameras will go the way of the dinosaur. I expect the same thing will eventually happen with cellular cameras as they continue to become less expensive.
 
gil1 said:
Sounds like I'm offending some folks, and I didn't mean to do so. My apologies...
Click to expand...

Sorry if I sounded offended, I'm not. Just explaining why I have what I have. $$$$$$..

I'm like the rest of the guys. I am just using it to pattern the deer. Sometimes I get annoyed cause I cant tell 'if thats an 8 pointer or not', but for the most part.. 1 set of batteries for the entire season.. sign me up.
 
I hate the night time picture quality of a IR or red glow camera.THey just plain SUCK!! Unless the deer are standing completely still,you will get a blurry pic if its moving its head or walking just the least little bit.Not to mention they DO scare deer.And nobody can tell me different.I'll take my white flash cams over the IR cams any day.They might be harder on batteries,but the picture quality makes up for it.
 
For those folks who believe the "Red Glow" does NOT scare the deer look at these videos. Replaced the cam with a black flash but have not seen this buck at this location since. Found him about a half mile away though. Hopefully we will have "close up and personal" pics of him tomorrow morning with my 11 year old son's hands wrapped around his rack!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZV9ivOH ... pGgIXL4foQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0cAUaDT ... pGgIXL4foQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12YopgEn ... pGgIXL4foQ
 
I bought mine for the price; and it is getting hard to find white flash cameras in stores. Seems like they've been replaced with the IR and "black flash" stuff. I agree though, the flash cameras take much better night time pics but its about like trying to find a VHS copy of a movie vs a DVD now days...the IR cams being the DVDs. I haven't noticed any difference between each version spooking more/less deer than the others. I have all 3 versions of the cams. I have noticed that one of my earlier Truth cams (Truth 46) will make a very audible click sound when it takes a pic. I can hear it several yards away and I'm hard of hearing. I have a newer Truth 35, Blackout, and Truth 46 Ultra...none of them make the loud click sound.

For no more than what I am doing with the cams...they are doing their purpose. I just want to see what kind of stuff is coming through the areas I put them in. I don't have to have crystal clear pics that I'm going to make an 8x10 out of and frame it on the wall. I just want the kind of info like...well I had my cam out in this spot for 2 weeks undisturbed and I got 380 pics...of the same doe and two fawns. That's valuable info for me of where not to climb a tree lol
 
Honestly, if your only goal for a trail-cam is to find out if any quality bucks are moving through a given area, and once that question is answered you plan on moving the camera to a new location, there is no reason to use anything but white-flash (unless theft is a major concern). White flash cameras take much better night-time pictures without the problems of motion blur (a moving deer's image being heavily blurred).

The problem with visible flash cameras (both white-flash and red-glow) isn't so much the flash scaring the deer (called camera "spook"), it is deer learning to avoid the camera over time (camera "avoidance"). Camera avoidance is not obviously apparent when looking at the pictures taken. A deer may calmly look at the camera as it flashes away at them in the night, hence give the impression it isn't scaring the deer, but over time the deer learn to avoid the camera and are no longer photographed at that location, even though the deer haven't changed locations. I've watched deer become so good at avoiding cameras that they had determined the exact dimensions of the area that will trigger the camera, and continue to stay active in the general area but remember the exact area they need to avoid to keep from trigger the camera (and the visible flash). For cameras on trails and the edges of food plots, I've seen deer walk right up to the trigger area of the camera, turn and walk behind the tree the camera is strapped to, and then return to the trail or food plot once they are past the camera's trigger area.

But camera avoidance is only a problem for those who want to keep a camera in one location for several weeks or months. If you plan on moving the camera fairly frequently, camera avoidance isn't an issue.
 
I initially bought red glow cameras because of the price and I was under the assumption that they would not spook deer as much as the white flash cams. I soon found out that the red glow spooked them more.

If I could go back, I would have nothing but black flash and white flash. Black flash for just about everything and white flash for distance pics (fields, etc....)
 

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