• Foundation 180 posts
    July 6, 2023, 1:55 p.m.

    I don't know if the relevant experience exists here, but I'll be surprised if not!

    What I want to do is have a camera (video and/or stills) in the garden to photograph wildlife - especially at night (foxes, badgers). I've had a quick look on the Internet but the array of options is quite confusing and I suddenly thought someone here may be able to help. I'll just chuck out some requirements, thoughts & questions:

    must be able to take stills - video would be a bonus
    must work at night
    must be motion activated
    must be waterproof
    ideally with a wifi connection back to PC as opposed/in addition to using internal storage
    what software would be required on the PC (Windows 10)?
    assuming battery power, how long do batteries last?
    if using internal storage, what are the options/what is the best?
    I see that some can be controlled/monitored from a smart phone. Can this be done from a laptop instead?

    I know that's a lot of loosely connected questions, but I'm hoping some advice here will help me narrow down the options I need to investigate further

    All/any thoughts/experiences you have on the topic will be gratefully received

    Tim

  • Members 31 posts
    July 6, 2023, 2:17 p.m.

    For a school project a few years ago we used a camouflaged camera to track what wildlife happens at night. It was called the "Wildlife scout 12MP camera" I think it cost about £20. it didn't have a wifi connector but used a memory card 16GB I think and took normal batteries. It had an infrared sensor and was water proof. it took good photos mostly of hedge hogs.

    Merlot2004 x

  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 6, 2023, 2:43 p.m.
  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 6, 2023, 2:48 p.m.

    Thanks, hope you enjoyed the project. What I'm hoping for is some info on/experiences of the latest options available

    Tim

  • Members 196 posts
    July 6, 2023, 3:03 p.m.
  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 6, 2023, 3:13 p.m.

    Jim - Thanks. Yes, that's the sort of thing. Just hoping to get some feedback on individual models in order to narrow down the selection process. We'll see....

    Tim

  • Members 369 posts
    July 6, 2023, 7:33 p.m.

    Have you looked into trail cameras? The higher end models send notifications when they detect movement and make photos/videos. I think you'd able to remotely connect to review the captured images/videos, too.

  • Members 196 posts
    July 6, 2023, 11:52 p.m.

    Hi Tim, we have this specific camera , we moved house recently our old house where we used this camera initially . Was in a rural area and we had a lot of ground where we wanted to position it well away from the house after testing other devices we found wi-fi to be unreliable . So we did not look into wi-fi models . The Bushnell is very well featured and gets good reviews. As a dedicated camera user I would say that whilst the video is surprisingly good the stills are not so clever , though given they have small sensors often taken in difficult lighting that is to be expected

  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 7, 2023, 7:07 a.m.

    Thanks Bill. Yes, that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of - just hoping to get some real life experiences/recommendations of different models

    Thanks Jim - any chance of posting a still here?

    Tim

  • Members 16 posts
    July 7, 2023, 7:38 p.m.

    Check out any of the big box stores like Walmart or any sporting goods stores. All manner of you tube reviews for unlimited brands and features. I have a simple bushnell model that retails for around $60 and gets the job done. But not the same photo quality as one expects of cameras as we know them. I usually have mine set to do video, and most generally only turned on at night, so video is not something to brag about, but you can certainly enjoy the antics of various critters during the night that you cannot see any other way. The one I have is a model 66063CCW spot on tree bark camo 22mp. There are much higher priced models available, but not worth the extra money to me. A quick check on you tube will get you samples of what they will do.

  • Members 196 posts
    July 7, 2023, 8:35 p.m.

    Tim, we have recently moved house and the images and videos from the trail camera are all on the nas which we haven't got round to wiring up. It was more a project of my Wife . If we get round to it { there is a long list of get round to stuff on the list 😀} I will try and dig some out . We have not even set up the camera here as the garden is well enclosed with little wildlife other than birds visiting
    Jim

  • Members 38 posts
    July 8, 2023, 5:54 a.m.

    Take a look at this range.
    www.reconyx.com/product/Professional_Series
    Most of the "trail cameras" have highly inflated figures (interpolated resolution) so stay away from the sub $200 range because what you get is not ar all what you see on the photos in the ads.
    Check the Rconyx (user) clips on You Tube.

  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 10, 2023, 6:52 a.m.

    Thanks - I'm UK based, but take your point

    Jim - yes, I'm sure you have lots of more important things to sort - good luck

    Thanks FrancoD

    Tim

  • Members 78 posts
    July 10, 2023, 12:18 p.m.
  • Foundation 180 posts
    July 11, 2023, 7:17 a.m.

    Jack - thanks for the idea - very interesting. However, I don't think I have the time or skill to follow up... I think I'll be going for an "off the shelf" solution - just not sure what brand/model. Current thinking is start off with a relatively cheap & cheerful trail camera and see how that works out. If the "work flow" is OK then, maybe upgrade to a higher quality model

    Thanks

    Tim

  • Members 75 posts
    July 14, 2023, 4:04 p.m.

    Trailcams are battery-powered self-contained cameras meant for use in the wilderness. They're easy to set up - just strap 'em to a tree or a post. It's been a few years since I've checked what was available. At the time, the available features were limited to the size of the battery you were willing to lug into the wilderness (car battery or AA battery or anything in between).

    For recording stills or video at night, the cheapest camera will just use very high ISOs. They're terrible. The nicer cameras have infrared LED lights integrated with the camera. These IR LED lights require power just like a regular LED light so a local power source is required. These provide B&W stills or videos at night. As the sun rises, the camera automatically turns off the IR light and switches to regular color video recording. The camera reverses the process as the sun sets. Though IR is invisible to humans and animals, IR lights seem to attract bugs.

    I've seen extremely expensive cameras that use military-style night vision. I also see "color night vision" cameras - I don't know anything about those.

    Nearly all the requirements for a home wildlife camera system are common with home security camera systems. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles, California so our yards (or gardens) are not large. Most of my neighbors use Ring security camera systems because they're so simple to set up. They share videos of our local urban wildlife (coyotes, raccoons, rabbits, skunks) doing cute things during the night. The nicer Ring cameras require a power source and an internet connection (wired or excellent WiFi).

    My son is currently in Thailand on a multi-week vacation. He uses a system similar to Ring. Using his cellphone app, he was able to see from his cameras that he forgot to turn off a light in his house. There was also an emergency and he needed some paperwork at his house. We drove to his house and my son unlocked it from Thailand so we could enter and find the paperwork (and turn off the light). Pretty cool.

    Our local nature preserve uses a fancy hard-wired multi-camera system for both security and wildlife purposes. They have a dedicated server at the nature center that collects & processes all the videos. They use inexpensive Blue Iris software for their own use. They've also set up a Blue Iris "Guest" account so a few of their cameras can be accessed by the public (if they give you the "Guest" login credentials). HD video (1920x1080) is recorded at a low frame rate (~5-10 frames/sec) to ease the load on the server.

    I'm sure if you called a local home security vendor they would jump at the chance to sell and/or install any kind of camera equipment you could possibly want. The advantage of using them would be their knowledge of what equipment works best for your needs.

    [Edit: I recall another application. Someone was stealing reams of paper from my work's copy machines. I set up a dedicated computer in the next room and ran a short USB extension cable above the ceiling to the copy room. I used a simple Logitech webcam as the camera. iSpy Connect open-source software allowed me to set up motion control zones on the video output. I basically drew red boxes on the video output, if anything moved in the red boxes the webcam would start recording. The installation of the camera was announced to the group and the paper stealing stopped. I never did record anyone stealing paper, the announcement was enough.]