I've got a Moultrie D555i Trail Cam and it takes great pics but in most pics there is no subject, only background. This has IR aiming, day or night that is triggered by motion. The problem is that any motion will trigger the camera. Branches, shadows, whatever. I try to remove anything that I think will move and set off the camera but being an outside camera makes it hard to stop the wind and shadows.
Has anyone else had this problem with motion sensored trail cams? If so did you remedy it? How?
I'll pull the card after a few days and there will be 40 pics on it but if I'm lucky ole Flossy will have walked by for one or two pics. The rest are all background with shadows in different places in each shot.
Pat , I've had the same problem and figure it is just Magpies or other birds flying threw.
But to only get one or two or even no subjects in a series of 40 or so pics doesn't seem right, Maxx. My old trail cam works by motion and almost every pic it takes has a subject in it.
Couple of things to try.. Aim the camera North, away from the sun. Mount camera lower and aim slightly up to miss the higher limbs movement.
Squirrels & birds are quick and get missed easily, too.
I too have a Moultrie but I'm getting really good results. I experienced the same as you until I pointed the camera uptrail or downtrail and not crosstrail. For my setup, the deer were crossing the picture window before the camera shutter was going off. After repositioning it, I'm getting about 70% catches. If I remember correctly for my camera, the shutter is triggered by heat and not motion. Hope this helps.
Pat, I have that one too, if I face it north, it really helps with the shadows or whatever triggering it...
You will get a few empties no matter what, it cant catch most birds flying thru.
As said above, pointed down the trail helps too, the speed isn't that great on em.
I cant remember if that one or the Bushnell is triggered by heat and motion.
Try turning the sensitivity to medium that helped me with that camera.
I don't have that one, but with mine pointing down a trail, pointing north, and setting sensitivity, and trimming stuff all will help with missed shots. I get probably one in three as a missed shot when I set my camera to three shot burst with a few seconds between so as not to miss stuff. You can try it if it is an option.
The best way to see what a camera is really doing is to set it in your yard and walk around in different patterns, distances and angles to the camera to see what it is or is not doing. That will tell you if it is working okay and what tends to cause missed shots. Then you will better know where and how to set it.
Southernwoody, I don't think this model has a sensitivity setting.
Where I had it was facing my field from the edge, facing east. Thats when I got so many pics with no subjects. This cam has a 90deg, wide angle field of view so I don't think it animals moving across the FOV. Next I turned it around so it was facing into the woods and got only 5 exposures, 4 at night and one in the daytime. No subjects at all in any of the pics.
I'll try different placements and attitudes and see what results I get. This cam is 100% better on battery use. It still shows 99% battery life after lots of empty pics. d;^)
Pat! I went today and trimmed all the tall weeds and some branches to help stop the false photos ,but still get to many. I too tried the changing direction. And no sensitivity adjustment that I can find. When I checked the SDCard today I had 17 photos of nothing but trees, no animals . Happens regularly. Sorry Pat I can't help.
I had problems with my old camera, so I thought I'd try the Cuddy Back. The camera is a little more expensive than some, but rarely do I get an empty fram and most pics are with the subject smack in the middle of the frame like they advertize. Vary pleased with how well this camera works. Just a bit of info for future reference. It has great battery life as well.
Thanks anyway for your help Maxx.
My daughter bought this for me for fathers day. I told her about a $79 Moultry on Sportsmens Guide and she decided to upgrade. I can't fault her for that and I can work with it. I'll just have to delete lots of pics. Good thing it not a film camera. d;^)