UKC

I'm thinking of getting a camera trap to see what comes into our garden at night and maybe for when we go away to places with potentially interesting wildlife. 

There seems to be a wide range of possible cameras in the £150-£250 price range that I was thinking of but I have no experience in this and don't know what to look for. Although I've read one or two "best buy" type articles, I wondered if anybody on here had any experience and advice to offer?

I've been using this in the garden with a lot of success.

https://elinux.org/RPi-Cam-Web-Interface

But I had a raspberry pi and a big USB powerbank lying around so it was the obvious thing to do. I added a few 850nm LEDs and seal the lot in a big food container. Not sure what it would cost to start from scratch.

I have one of the ~50 quid ones from Amazon and it works just fine. Not sure what an extra hundred quid would gain you, if your aim is just to find out what's in your garden.

Hedgehogs and cats mostly in ours! Although I haven't managed to snap the badger that dug up the bumblebee hive in the hedge yet.

I worded that badly. I'd like to get some half-decent photos of them too, in the dark, so I guess it would come down to whether spending that extra hundred quid or so actually buys much better quality or if if the threshold for decent quality is well out of my budget. 

I know we have foxes and badgers - our badgers have wide and eclectic tastes in what they like to dig up but seem to especially like freshly planted pots. I guess there must be various rodents too but I've not seen a hedgehog round here for a long time - it would be nice to know if they are still visiting.

I can't recommend any particular one as ours is very old and there will have been improvements since we bought it.

Have a look at the Bushnell and Browning range both are well liked. Ours is a Bushnell. The videos from it are only 720x480 so the definition isn't that good but it lets you see what is around. There are lots around now with much better resolution.

Also have a look here - https://shop.naturespy.org/ They have an advice service but as they also sell cameras its a case of caveat emptor.

One food which is good for keeping foxes and badger in the garden and relatively still are peanuts. Badgers also like soaked sultanas.

Dave

Thanks but that looks more of a project than I was thinking of or probably capable of.

Bought one a few years ago for parents from local specialist camera shop, sub £100. On their advice I actually went bottom of the range, but we get really good images or very short video clips. Only niggle is that it isn't supposed to be used with rechargeable batteries.

Most common nighttime visitor is badger. Has given them hours of fun and was an excellent Christmas present.

I've had a lot of fun with ours - a dorr. 

Solved the mystery of 'the flying aardvark'. The dog's toys kept ending up on top of the hedge. Turned out several foxes were coming through the garden each night. They like a squeaky toy as much as the dog. They then took it next door - who kindly put it on top if the hedge.

A lot of the difference is the power and range of the IR lights.

I wouldn't spend as much as that.

I'm  using a number of trailcams that cost between 30 and 40 pounds for both wildlife and security use.

They were badged as Victure when I bought them and they now seem to be available badged as newbull or apeman.

it's all relative, cheap ones will have cameras as good or better than any camera was 10 years ago.

what helps is weather protection, a little roof or side protection, not pointing directly into the sun if you want day time shots, regular cleaning any damp or condensation off the lense etc..

Foxes are quite playful, they come into our carport and nick our shoes, we find them half way down the road! 

It is well worth treating lenses with Rain-x, it reduces the condensation problems that can spoil interesting early morning shots.

Since you'll be taking night pictures they will be infra red anyway so in my opinion they all look pretty much the same (eg. a bit ropey).

We've been using this one - https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B08YJ1S67C/

And got the following video - wild boar feeding on a deer carcass, from our garden.

youtube.com/watch?v=RhPQgi1ot3Y&

If you want great pictures you have to put the time, money and effort. These are great but are proper DSLR cameras rigged up to lighting. This account is worth a follow though.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYUVFaZKcB6/

I have a Bushnell one which works ok. I agree with comments on keeping the lens clean, avoiding direct light and rain.

I find the video mode works better than the still mode at night as the shutter speed is too low for stills so everything is blurred.

Also I don't run the camera at full resolution because it's interpolated and finer than the native resolution of the sensor therefore is a waste of time.

Our camera catches birds, foxes, badgers digging up the lawn and cats crapping in the freshly dug holes.

The camera is only supposed to be used with alkaline or lithium batteries as the low voltage threshold declares that NiMH batteries are flat at the outset which is irritating.

Thanks very much for the replies. There is a lot there to go through but a really useful and helpful start.