Bushnell Trophy Cam and tree bracket
Nowadays most people interested in wildlife and nature are probably familiar with trail cameras - sometimes known as camera traps, scouting cameras or remote cameras. They (or similar technology) have featured on programmes like the BBC's Autumnwatch and Springwatch. They played a major part in the 2010 BBC series 'Lost Land of the Tiger'. Filmed in Bhutan, this showed how trail cameras were used to discover tigers living at an altitude where it was previously thought there would be none (find out more here).
But are they any use for wildlife photography?
But are they any use for wildlife photography?
Spot the camera?
I have had a trail camera for about six months now, and have tried it out in a few places, including in my garden and out in the woods. I have the Bushnell Trophy Cam (119436 version) which takes both 8MP still photos or videos up to 60 seconds in length. From a photography point of view, it is worth noting that the quality is nothing like what you would get even from today's budget compact cameras. But that doesn't really matter, because the best use of these cameras is for seeing what is around, rather than expecting to get perfect photographs.
The best way to get good wildlife photographs is to sit and wait for an animal to come to you. Various clues, such as tracks left in sand or mud, can suggest places where a particular animal is like to be seen but they do not necessarily tell you how often at what time of day the animal usually passes by. Leave a trail camera in position for a few weeks and you can get this information.
Below is some night-time footage of a fox I filmed in my garden. I knew that there were foxes around, but didn't know how often they visited or what they were doing, so it has been interesting to find out!
The best way to get good wildlife photographs is to sit and wait for an animal to come to you. Various clues, such as tracks left in sand or mud, can suggest places where a particular animal is like to be seen but they do not necessarily tell you how often at what time of day the animal usually passes by. Leave a trail camera in position for a few weeks and you can get this information.
Below is some night-time footage of a fox I filmed in my garden. I knew that there were foxes around, but didn't know how often they visited or what they were doing, so it has been interesting to find out!
On the left is a shot of the Bushnell Trophy Cam in use. At the top is the bank of infra-red LEDs, used to illuminate stills and video at night. They do a good job out to about 5-6 metres, and you can see things pretty clearly at twice that. On this model of camera, the LEDs are visible to people and animals that are directly infront of the camera and looking right at it. Even slightly off to the side (but still in view of the camera) you can't see them though. More modern and more expensive models have LEDs that aren't visible. The round feature below that is the actual camera lens. At the bottom, the dark rectangle is the sensor, which is triggers the camera if it senses something moving infront of it, whether that is a blade of grass, person or animal. Incidentally the rubber band is not a normal feature of the camera. This time I used it to hold some pieces of gorse and bracken in place behind the camera, to camouflage it from people (in this position there was little chance of people seeing it from the front).
There are several ways of fixing the camera in place: on a standard camera tripod, by the supplied strap which goes through loops on the back of the camera, or using the tree bracket shown in these photos. The tree bracket is the most flexible option. It has a screw thread on one end that you can screw into dead wood for example, and a mini 'tripod head' on the other. The head allows you to make fine adjustments to the camera's positioning. Also it is small, and therefore easy to carry around.
How do you set the camera up? There is no point just putting it in a random position: you need to be fairly confident that animals may pass within 10-15 metres of the camera. You need to place it relative to the animal's likely position so that the subject will be infront of the camera for more than just a second or two, as there is a one second delay before the camera is triggered (you can use bait to persuade the animal to hang around!). Then you need to fix it at the right height (if it is too low, an animal five metres away will seem really distant). Then decide on the angle: point it downwards too much and the animal's head might not be included in the stills/video, too high and smaller animals may not trigger it. Make sure there are no plants infront of the camera that could produce 'false triggers' when they blow around in the wind. You can set the camera to take either still images or video, not both at once. I prefer video as it gives me a better idea of what the animal is doing, but video uses up more of the camera's memory (removable SD card, up to 32GB size) than do stills.
Below: video of a female roe deer in a Hampshire wood. The camera was in place here for about ten days, and this was the only time a deer walked past, which suggests I put it in the wrong place, or deer don't walk up this path very often!
How do you set the camera up? There is no point just putting it in a random position: you need to be fairly confident that animals may pass within 10-15 metres of the camera. You need to place it relative to the animal's likely position so that the subject will be infront of the camera for more than just a second or two, as there is a one second delay before the camera is triggered (you can use bait to persuade the animal to hang around!). Then you need to fix it at the right height (if it is too low, an animal five metres away will seem really distant). Then decide on the angle: point it downwards too much and the animal's head might not be included in the stills/video, too high and smaller animals may not trigger it. Make sure there are no plants infront of the camera that could produce 'false triggers' when they blow around in the wind. You can set the camera to take either still images or video, not both at once. I prefer video as it gives me a better idea of what the animal is doing, but video uses up more of the camera's memory (removable SD card, up to 32GB size) than do stills.
Below: video of a female roe deer in a Hampshire wood. The camera was in place here for about ten days, and this was the only time a deer walked past, which suggests I put it in the wrong place, or deer don't walk up this path very often!
The sensitivity of the sensor (i.e. how likely it is to be triggered by motion) can be adjusted. Another great feature is 'field scan', which lets you set the camera to take stills/video for a specific period of time each day, at regular intervals. You can set the number of stills taken or the length of each video, and the camera will still work as usual if triggered by something moving past. This feature would be most useful if the camera can see a wide area, and you think there may be animals too far away to trigger it, but that will still be visible - e.g. deer grazing in a field.
Pros
+ Find out what wildlife is around without spending hours on stake-out duty, and also without the things associated with your presence that might scare wildlife away (scent, noise etc). Also, how many of us have time to spend on hanging around for hours - you could be photographing something else instead?
+ You can find out exactly when animals were there, from the date and time of each file.
+ The videos can show interesting animal behaviour which will help you learn more about the natural world, even if it doesn't help you get a good photo on that occasion.
+ Long battery life: you can fit in up to eight AA batteries, which will last for months (according to the manual, enough for several thousand images - though you would need a big memory card as well if you left it for that long). Top tip: if you are using rechargeable batteries (as you should be, for the sake of the environment!) buy a new set, preferably a type that hold their charge for long periods. It is really annoying to come back after a week and find that your camera only worked for 24 hours because your dodgy old rechargeables drained really fast.
+ This model of camera is pretty weather-resistant: I've had it out in heavy rain for a week, only slightly sheltered by being under a leafless tree, with no ill effects.
Cons
- It takes time to get results, so generally of no use if you want to know everything about the local wildlife by tomorrow.
- Depends on you placing the camera in a good position! If you get the location or even the angle wrong, you might get nothing. It takes a while to learn how to best position the camera - but it isn't really that hard. If you have the money, it would be good to get three cameras and position them close to each other to increase coverage of the area!
- This model of camera does not have a screen for viewing the stills/video shot. If you want to see the results 'on site', for example so you can choose whether to reposition the camera, you would have to take a device with you (e.g. laptop or tablet) that can read from SD cards.
- Risk of theft or vandalism. These cameras having been getting much cheaper in recent years, but they still cost quite a bit. Just be careful where you put it: on private land would be best, but even then don't make it too obvious to anyone passing by.
+ Find out what wildlife is around without spending hours on stake-out duty, and also without the things associated with your presence that might scare wildlife away (scent, noise etc). Also, how many of us have time to spend on hanging around for hours - you could be photographing something else instead?
+ You can find out exactly when animals were there, from the date and time of each file.
+ The videos can show interesting animal behaviour which will help you learn more about the natural world, even if it doesn't help you get a good photo on that occasion.
+ Long battery life: you can fit in up to eight AA batteries, which will last for months (according to the manual, enough for several thousand images - though you would need a big memory card as well if you left it for that long). Top tip: if you are using rechargeable batteries (as you should be, for the sake of the environment!) buy a new set, preferably a type that hold their charge for long periods. It is really annoying to come back after a week and find that your camera only worked for 24 hours because your dodgy old rechargeables drained really fast.
+ This model of camera is pretty weather-resistant: I've had it out in heavy rain for a week, only slightly sheltered by being under a leafless tree, with no ill effects.
Cons
- It takes time to get results, so generally of no use if you want to know everything about the local wildlife by tomorrow.
- Depends on you placing the camera in a good position! If you get the location or even the angle wrong, you might get nothing. It takes a while to learn how to best position the camera - but it isn't really that hard. If you have the money, it would be good to get three cameras and position them close to each other to increase coverage of the area!
- This model of camera does not have a screen for viewing the stills/video shot. If you want to see the results 'on site', for example so you can choose whether to reposition the camera, you would have to take a device with you (e.g. laptop or tablet) that can read from SD cards.
- Risk of theft or vandalism. These cameras having been getting much cheaper in recent years, but they still cost quite a bit. Just be careful where you put it: on private land would be best, but even then don't make it too obvious to anyone passing by.
Verdict:
I still haven't made full use of this camera to aid my wildlife photography, but I plan to this spring. I would definitely recommend getting one if you can spare the cash, as if used well it could help you maximise your photography time spent in the field. Also it is great just for learning more about wildlife - which in the end, is going to make you a better wildlife photographer, even if it doesn't immediately translate into actual images.
I still haven't made full use of this camera to aid my wildlife photography, but I plan to this spring. I would definitely recommend getting one if you can spare the cash, as if used well it could help you maximise your photography time spent in the field. Also it is great just for learning more about wildlife - which in the end, is going to make you a better wildlife photographer, even if it doesn't immediately translate into actual images.
Finally, the next video is not mine, but is the most creative use of a trail camera that I have seen: the highlights of a year's photos from one camera in Banff National Park, Canada. Worth watching right to the end!
More videos
Below here I will add links to more trail camera videos as I produce them in the future.
Below here I will add links to more trail camera videos as I produce them in the future.