Motion cameras....help please

[David Cramer]

I am not a hunter, so even after doing a search I'm not sure which one to get. I am in quick need of an inexpensive motion camera that will actually work.

Our house was egged and we know by who. This person's career choice would shock many on this board and yes, we are 100% percent sure who did it, not 99%. My kids are frightened because their windows were hit. Thanks!

David

[Mitchell Andrus]

Ask this on a hunter's forum. They use these to track game. Stamps imgs with date and time.

http://www.cabelas.com/trail-cameras-1.shtml

I'm from NJ. We are taught in grade school how to hide a body. Nobody eggs houses in NJ for long.
.

[Colin Giersberg]

Bushnell make a small, passive infr-red camera that works quite well. We have had ours for the last three months and we have been impressed with its performance a lot more than the Moultree camera we did have. The only issue we have with the Bushnell is that it does not have a view screen, but for what you want to use it for, that isn't much of an issue, where you can just remove the memory card and download the images right away. If you have to drive several miles to retrieve the card, then it is more of a hassle. In our case, we bring an empty card and swap it out each time we go to our hunting land, unless we forget to bring the extra card.

Regards, Colin

[Tony De Masi]

I've purchased a few trail cameras in the past. Even the cheaper ones I have take excellent pictures. All are at least 4 megapixels. They take black and white photos at night and color pictures during daylight hours. Some even have an option to take videos as well. It's not necessary to spend lots of money here.

Tony

[Dan Hintz]

David,

My wife's car was egged the night before last, and this is only a month or so after installing 4 more lights in the carport. Several months ago, my S2000 had the crap beat out of it in the middle of the day while we were at the movies... and we live in a "good" area of town!

So, I ordered a video surveillance system from NewEgg... 320GB DVR, 7" LCD, 2 wireless cameras, 2 wired... $500 shipped. It's not my ideal system, but I just want enough evidence to put the little bastiches behind the 8-ball when I sue their parents for damages, emotional distress, etc.

[Jerry Bruette]

I'd probably go Dan's route. The problem with a trail camera is that unless it takes a picture during daylight hours you'll have either a flash or the giant red glow from the IR light. That'll tip off the offending scallywags as to the location of the camera and they'll probably steal it or smash it.:mad:
both of which will piss you off even more than you are now.
Good Luck
Jerry

[Dan Hintz]

Oh, I'll also add the cameras can be set up to be motion-activated, so you're not filling up the DVR with useless images.

[Mike Cruz]

Or, you could do what we just did...add a 16 camera system with a 500 gig dvr...hook it up to the internet so you can watch from anywhere! But not sure if you want to drop a grand to find an egger. :rolleyes:

Before anyone accuses my of being paranoid, this stemmed from a calf that was mutilated (alive) about 4 miles from my house. My wife got a little concerned about our horses, so the camera system is set up all over the barn, with some of the cameras pointed up the driveway, at the house, and at my shop.

[Dan Hintz]

Mike,

My selection was based solely upon the ability to transmit wirelessly... if I could have found another system which offered higher resolution (the system I ordered displays at full standard def, but records at 1/4 that so it can record 4 cams at once) while still offering wireless, I would have paid the difference. Even so, I have 30 days to decide and only have to eat a restocking fee...

[Bryan Morgan]

This might be a little more elaborate than what you want but....

http://hackaday.com/2009/06/26/automated-paintball-sentry/

You don't have to use paint. You can get some with pepper spray type stuff in them...........

[Mike Cruz]

Actually, I went with Q-See. They do not make any claims about wireless support. Now I know why. It can be iffy...in the sense that if your signal isn't very strong, or have interference, you can lose your internet viewabiltyness (hehe, sorry, the word just kept growing). We're working through that, though.

[Dan Hintz]

Mike,

This is the Q-See system I just ordered:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16881192134&cm_re=video_surveillance-_-81-192-134-_-Product

At $500 shipped from NewEgg, it was the cheapest I could find it.



Bryan,

I would love to go with such a system (followed Hackaday for years now), but unfortunately one side of our house is alongside a community path (which causes issues in and of itself).

[John Keeton]

Having sold trail cameras in a hunting store for years, and having used a few, Cuddeback is the only brand I would buy. Dependable, easy on batteries, and the quickest trigger on the market. There are several models depending on your needs.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, Dan. I got my system from Costco for 700 or 800 bucks for the 16 cams and a 500 gig dvr. Price was right. Cameras are decent, not the best, but good enough. Even on the highest quality, it can record all 16 cameras contantly for about 2 weeks. That served our purpose. It also connects to the internet, but the iffy part is when you try to do it wirelessly. I think I have the solution, I just have to execute it. Some day, I might upgrade some of the cameras, individually, where I want really long distance night vision (all have it, but only the standard distances), or extra clarity. Oh, and when I mentioned the system being a grand, I was including any installation costs, and incidentals with hooking up to the internet.

As for the OP's original question, I think a game camera, like what hunters use for spotting (as someone else suggested) would be perfect. You can get a decent one for about $150, but might need to go to $200-300 if you want any of the special features (like shorter than 1 minute between shots). I found one I liked from Cabellas. Haven't ordered it yet, but though it would be nice to see what's scampering around our woods at night.

[Chris Walls]

A friend of mine at work bought one for her husband for a gift. He put it in some property they own and she showed me the pictures. A black bear , each picture was closer, then nothing. the last picture showed the bear just before he ripped it off of the tree. It took him about a week to find it in some underbrush. We all had a good laugh.

Chris

[Dan Hintz]

System came in yesterday... hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to get it set up.

Lots of silvered plastic... not what I wanted in a semi-stealth system. I'm also not sure if it's waterproof (not likely), so I'll probably have to build a container.

[David Cramer]

Wow, thanks for all of the wonderful responses, I truly appreciate it. I am going to set up something, but it will have to be on the roof or this guy will go up and tear it down once the picture is snapped. Everyone in the neighborhood knows he did it, as well as the local police who agreed with my four point theory, but then added, you are probably right but you can't prove it. Well, I hate spending money on something I shouldn't have to, but I am left with little choice. Ironically, our son had his window open and was laying in bed and actually heard it hit his sister's window, but didn't look outside because he thought something had fallen off her wall. We found out it was an egg in the morning and then another window, etc... Some people.

On a sidenote, we have an HP Pavilion Slimline Computer that is 2 years old and is now down and out. We have to send it to them because something is not compatible, as they told my wife via live chat......hence my reason for not responding more quickly. This is a friend's laptop that I am responding on.

Thanks again for your kind responses.

David