Game cams
01-26-2021, 12:18 PM
#3
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern California
Posts: 18,382
I moved this topic to the proper forum where you should get more responses. By "game cams," I presume you're talking about a trail camera that is meant to be left outside in the elements. If you're talking about some camera for computer gaming like the poster above me, then disregard everything after this.
If you're talking about a trail camera for taking outside pictures of animals, then $100 seems to be the price point where you take a significant bump up in trail camera quality from my experience. $100 is usually a sales price but under $150 gets you a lot of quality trail cameras, aka game cams. Just about any game camera will take good daylight photos but the night time photos are where you separate good cams from so-so cams. If you're only looking for daytime photos, you can find the lower model Stealth Cams in 2-packs under $100 at Sam's Club or Costco and run a lot of cameras for not much money. If you want a camera that takes good night time photos, then you're going to want to spend $100+.
I've tried Stealth Cam, Browning, Moultri and Cabelas so far. All of these cams except the stealth cams were at the $100-$140 price point. My favorites are the Cabelas game cams which usually run anywhere from $100-$140. I have some of them that I've run for 5 years now and they still work fine. From my experience in using the above brands and models, the Cabelas take the best night time pics and the Browning does 2nd best. The Moultri cams take "ok" night time pics and the Stealth Cams take pixilated garbage for night pics. Again, i have the lowest model Stealth cams but they should take better night pics than that.
Another thing to consider is if you're going to use the trail cams as a security camera or on public lands where people might walk or sneak by. A camera with a white flash will get noticed by people. A camera with a black IR flash will not. You still have to hide your camera so it's not obvious but you can get really good at that with a little practice. Don't worry about the animals. They will hear any sound your camera makes, smell any residual smell that isn't natural and of course notice a bright white flash. It doesn't seem to faze them much. Some even look right into the lens out of curiosity and you end up with some cool pics. My wife loves a couple pics of a curious Tom in daylight pictures. He wasn't sure what the camera was and moved in to check it out closer.
Hopefully this helps some to get you started on your research.
If you're talking about a trail camera for taking outside pictures of animals, then $100 seems to be the price point where you take a significant bump up in trail camera quality from my experience. $100 is usually a sales price but under $150 gets you a lot of quality trail cameras, aka game cams. Just about any game camera will take good daylight photos but the night time photos are where you separate good cams from so-so cams. If you're only looking for daytime photos, you can find the lower model Stealth Cams in 2-packs under $100 at Sam's Club or Costco and run a lot of cameras for not much money. If you want a camera that takes good night time photos, then you're going to want to spend $100+.
I've tried Stealth Cam, Browning, Moultri and Cabelas so far. All of these cams except the stealth cams were at the $100-$140 price point. My favorites are the Cabelas game cams which usually run anywhere from $100-$140. I have some of them that I've run for 5 years now and they still work fine. From my experience in using the above brands and models, the Cabelas take the best night time pics and the Browning does 2nd best. The Moultri cams take "ok" night time pics and the Stealth Cams take pixilated garbage for night pics. Again, i have the lowest model Stealth cams but they should take better night pics than that.
Another thing to consider is if you're going to use the trail cams as a security camera or on public lands where people might walk or sneak by. A camera with a white flash will get noticed by people. A camera with a black IR flash will not. You still have to hide your camera so it's not obvious but you can get really good at that with a little practice. Don't worry about the animals. They will hear any sound your camera makes, smell any residual smell that isn't natural and of course notice a bright white flash. It doesn't seem to faze them much. Some even look right into the lens out of curiosity and you end up with some cool pics. My wife loves a couple pics of a curious Tom in daylight pictures. He wasn't sure what the camera was and moved in to check it out closer.
Hopefully this helps some to get you started on your research.
