Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Camera set up

  • Broberts357 by Broberts357

    Hi I have used 30+ camera traps for 7+ years now. I have a few observations of set up, camera type etc. The image quality is suffering by megapixels size the need to be 12mp or better cuddleback have a 20mp which takes great night and day pictures. I noticed overexposed pictures, this can be due to the sd card, I use class 10, 95mb/s cards which give better photos consistently and capture movement better. Set offs with no animal capture are unavoidable, grass is usually the biggest culprit. I often mount the cameras at head height to lessen annoying set offs particularly when the grass is high. Setup on a tree free from lower branches or lower brush helps greatly to avoid thousands of pictures of a branch moving, I've had many. I have had better success with Ltl Accorn, Uovision and cuddeback cameras. There are many different brands of cameras and I have tried a few, the three mentioned have had consistently been more reliable and take some great photos which will hopefully aid in better research.

    Hope this helps

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Useful info. I believe that because the server has to handle millions of photos, they are all degraded to the smallest practical file-size before uploading - in cases where more resolution would be desirable to confirm ID, scientists can check the original files.
    Re: camera placement, the project was initially conceived to monitor carnivores, most of which are no more than 1m high. Therefore the cameras were placed at heights of about 1m; capturing the relatively rare visits of carnivores that might pass close to the camera tree was more important than the inconvenience of set-offs by plants.

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