zs93

Quick question in regards to the Scout Guard 550. Do you get better picture quality if you have it set to 5mp or 3mp? I got some pics back this week and I was a little disappointed in the quality of some of them. Some were blurry and some others were just not as clear as I would have hoped. I am hoping that setting it to 3mp may help.

I attached one of the blurry pics and seconds later I got a pretty clear pic (2 decent bucks). I know it appears they were moving but I also have a Cuddeback that rarely gives me a blurry pic.

Any input would be helpful.

zs93

clear one.........

Arrowmaster

Nice pics...

Bee Busy Outdoors

Actually they look pretty good. The buck up front is definitely moving. Lots of cams will do that. You can test the pic quality at 3MP but 5MP is a bit better. Have you tried video mode yet?

zs93

I have not tried the video yet. I plan on doing that soon. I guess I will just go with 5mp for now. I just thought since the factory settings were set to 3mp on the picture setting that would be a little better quality.

I am looking forward to trying the video settting soon.

Thanks

r33h

The reason why the factory setting is set to 3MP is probably because the cam will still take a picture with good quality, but will save space on your memory card. The 5MP setting will definitely take a more detailed picture, however, the price you have to pay for a higher detailed picture is more memory consumption on your card. If you have a "bigger" memory card, then you can hold more pics. I would go with the 5MP setting and if you find that your memory card is filling up too quickly, then either drop the setting back to 3MP or get a bigger memory card. Make sure to check and see what the maximum size memory card your camera will support before buying a new card.

Bee Busy Outdoors

r33h is right on with that. What size card do you use now? The maximum size card for the scoutguard is 2GB. On night video I average about 10.5 to 11.5 MB per video set at 30 second durations. The 2GB gives you about 1950MB of space so you should be able to get close to 170 clips on that size card.

RackLuster

my guess is it the camera isn't a true 5mp camera. i bet it's like most high megapixel cameras and uses interpolation to up the # of pixels. i'd be curious if that's the case, anyone know for sure?

skin_dog1

The scout guard is a true 5mp camera and does not use interpolation. My guess is it's the optics themselves.The price of the camera probably prohibits the use of high optic quality lenses. You've got to give up a little in order to get all the other features packed into the scoutguard. My opinion is that no other camera on the market under $350 produces better pics. The old cudde's did, but they were $400. There are some other cams that have better pics,but they're over $400. The only other option forextra high quality pics are home brews, but most aren't willing to invest the time and money. You get alot for your money withthe scoutguard, but no they don't have the best pictures possible, just the best for under $300.The blurred pics are common with all cameras when the critters are moving. Again, the old cuddes had fast shutters and produced excellent pics. Those results are gone with the c3000. My other guess is the fact that these are IR cams that the shutter speed has to be slower to gather enough light for night time shots thus producing some blurred pics. Again, you got to give a little to get alot.