Best time lapse cameras

[416wbymag]

I am thinking to moving to all time lapse (daytime) cameras. I like the thought of seeing everything that moves during the day.
I have a couple of the old Primos DPS cameras but I have heard they are spotty in performance.

Any suggestions? I don't need high megapixel, just want to know when the deer are moving. I like the Plotwatcher pro but I need 3 or 4 of them.....



Thanks in advance

 

[TheLBLman]

I'm personally not impressed with the Plotwatcher brand.
Any of the Covert brand cams that feature "time lapse" would be a much better value imo. You may believe you don't "need" higher resolution, but when viewing pics of deer over 25 yards away, the more resolution you have the better.

But "best" is a matter of perspective. None of the above compare to a Reconyx (for reliability). But "for the money" the Covert brand seems to be a good option, even has better image quality than the Reconyx.

 

[FIREMANJIM]

The problem with the Plotwatcher is it has a low megapixel sensor. If the critter is farther than 40 yds or so when you zoom in you loose all picture quality. I build a unit using the Sony DSC-H70 16mp cameras. They are awesome. You can zoom in on deer 200yds out in a field and actually count the points and see animal characterisitcs.

 

[TheLBLman]

The problem with the Plotwatcher is it has a low megapixel sensor.

Just one of several problems I have with them.
How about battery life? Price relative to product?
Keep in mind the real "product" many of us are seeking is not a "trail cam", but rather quality pictures of what passes in front of it.

I build a unit using the Sony DSC-H70 16mp cameras. They are awesome. You can zoom in on deer 200yds out in a field and actually count the points . . . .

Jim, I've always been very favorably impressed with your "inventions" in "homebrewing" your own cams (using REAL Sony cameras, as opposed to the cheap junk imagers in most "trail cams").

In times past, I extensively used the "homebrews", back when most were configured with a 4mp Sony camera. Despite only 4mp, these cameras would produce image quality exceeding most 6mp "trail cams", and comparable to today's popular 8mp "commercially sold" trail cams. I can only imagine the image quality you might be getting with a 16mp Sony cam inside a "trail cam".

A few questions:

1) Can you configure this to use true black flash?

2) Can you configure to have at least two time-lapse "windows" whereby the cam only works in time-lapse mode a portion of a 24-hr day, and as a regular "trail cam" outside those two daily time periods?

This might be setting the cam to function in time-lapse say from 5:00 am to 10:00 am, regular trail cam mode 10am to 3:00 pm, time-lapse 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, then back to regular trail cam mode 7:00 pm until 5:00 am the next morning.

3) What is the maximum sized SD card these cams can handle?

 

[Vermin93]

Plotwatcher Pro crushes all other options on battery life and ease of viewing. Low resolution is one of it's negatives, but low resolution is required for what Plotwatcher Pro was designed to do.

I would not buy the original Plotwatcher.

 

[TheLBLman]

Sounds like the Plotwatcher Pro is a huge improvement over the Plotwatcher.

As an alternative to Plotwatcher Pro, I'm getting great images and pics every 5 seconds, 12 mp pics not 1.7 mp pics, from the Covert Black 60 cams. They also work at night. Cost is comparable to the Plotwatcher Pro, as is battery life. When used solely as a "plotwatching" or "time-lapse" unit, to extend battery life, the Black 60's normal trail cam triggering mechanism can be "turned off", as well as setting it to work daytime only.

 

[Vermin93]

Plotwatcher Pro will take up to 1 million images on 8 AA batteries. The picture interval can be set as low as 1 second. Depending on the picture interval that you select, the batteries can last several months. That is the primary difference.
By comparison, the original Plotwatcher was only good for about 35,000 images on 4 AA batteries. The most efficient standard trail cameras running in time lapse will take even fewer images on a set of batteries.

Also, if you intend to run a device in plotwatcher or time lapse mode for an extended period of time before checking it, then you can't use a device that takes 12mp images or your 32GB SDHC card will fill up very, very quickly.

For short duration plotwatching sessions, a standard trail camera will no doubt provide better and more useful image quality. However, there are also viewing considerations...

Plotwatcher Pro saves images directly to video format. This allows you to quickly view a day's worth of images as a single video without having to process thousands of individual images from a standard trail camera into a video file. This is a major convenience.

Last but not least, Plotwatcher includes their Gamefinder viewing software with their cameras. This software allows you to quickly review daily video files. You can fast forward, reverse, increase replay speed or scroll frame by frame if you want. The software includes motion sensing technology that quickly skips ahead to the next image where motion is detected. This allows you to view all the activity in a given day in just a few minutes.

 

[TheLBLman]

I understand what you're saying, but . . . .

Plotwatcher Pro will take up to 1 million images on 8 AA batteries. The picture interval can be set as low as 1 second. . . . . . That is the primary difference.

Not sure there is really much difference on battery life of the Plotwatcher Pro vs. some of the newer trail cams with a time-lapse feature when used strictly in time-lapse mode with the trigger disabled. You can also increase battery life by using lower resolution (part of why the Plotwatcher Pro has good battery life). A 12 mp cam can be set to take pics in lower resolution when battery and card filling times are bigger issues than pic clarity (very seldom for me).

Also, if you intend to run a device in plotwatcher or time lapse mode for an extended period of time before checking it, then you can't use a device that takes 12mp images or your 32GB SDHC card will fill up very, very quickly.

True, in 12mp mode. But that same cam may provide the option to reduce the megapixels down to as low as a Plotwatcher, and not fill the card any quicker --- just have the option for more mexapixels.

Won't a Plotwatcher taking a low-resolution pic every second fill up a card in the same number of days as another cam taking 5x-higher-resolution pics every 5 seconds?

That previously mentioned Covert Black 60 allows for time-lapse using (your choice) of 3.0, 5.0, 8.0, or 12.0 mp images.
How many megapixels are the Plotwatcher Pro's images?

Plotwatcher Pro saves images directly to video format. . . . . . This is a major convenience.
Last but not least, Plotwatcher includes their Gamefinder viewing software with their cameras. . . . . This allows you to view all the activity in a given day in just a few minutes.

All good. Just saying some of us are already doing this now anyway (viewing all activity in a given day in just a few minutes) but with much higher resolution images.

Boils down to your applications and preferences.
For most of my applications, a high-resolution pic every 5 seconds is preferable over a low-resolution pic every 1 second, while either way fills a 32gb card in the same number of days.

 

[Vermin93]

My Plotwatcher Pros are currently set to a 10 second picture interval to provide coverage for an extended period of time during the off season, so it is not accurate to say that the SDHC card fills up in the same number of days. Plotwatcher Pro has a larger selection of picture intervals than the Covert. The Covert with 12 AA's will not come close to the 1 million pictures that the Plotwatcher Pro will crank out with 8 AA's. For extended periods of plotwatching, the number of images on a set of batteries is key.

I have 3 Covert Code Black cams, which are basically the same as the Black 60. For my particular plotwatching needs, the Coverts cannot do what the Plotwatcher Pro does, and unless there is 3rd party viewing software that I'm not aware of, the Gamewatcher viewing software that Plotwatcher provides is a huge differentiator.

Not trying to argue. Just saying there are situations where the Plotwatcher Pro really shines. If you have never tried the Gamewatcher software, I think there is a demo of it on the Plotwatcher website.

 

[TheLBLman]

My Plotwatcher Pros are currently set to a 10 second picture interval to provide coverage for an extended period of time during the off season, so it is not accurate to say that the SDHC card fills up in the same number of days.

Not trying to argue. Just saying there are situations where the Plotwatcher Pro really shines.

Same here in not trying to argue, just wanting readers to see differences in opinions and choices.

"During the off season", most of my cams set in time-lapse mode are set between 5 minute and 15 minute intervals, since my main purpose is to identify (inventory) feeding bucks beyond the typical 50-ft range of a regular game-triggering trail cam. Having an 8.0 to 12.0 mp resolution allows me to do this on most bucks over 50 yards away in a field, sometimes over 200 yards. Lower resolution would not serve my primary purposes for time-lapse, as I'm using it to cover the areas BEYOND the range of my regular trail cams which trigger on close game (and will take a high-resolution pic every second when triggered).

I believe it is accurate to say either a Plotwatcher Pro or a regular trail cam set on time-lapse mode should fill up a 32gb card in the same number of days, provided you set the cam to the same low-resolution setting as a Plotwatcher (and the same timing increments, such as 10 seconds).

But if the Plotwatcher is using a 1.0 mp image and I set my Covert for a 5.0 mp image, I should fill that same card in the same number of days with a 50-second interval that you would with a 10-second interval on a Plotwatcher? In this example it becomes an issue of whether one prefers 1/5 as many images but each image being 5x more detailed, in filling that card up in the same number of days.

How many megapixels are in the Plotwatcher Pro's images? Can't attempt a direct comparison without knowing this. Most cams list the megapixels of their images under "specifications".

 

[fourwheeler431]

The pro can be used with either 4 or 8 batteries as well as an external 12v source.

 

[Vermin93]

Wes, for comparison purposes you have to assume the same picture interval for both the Plotwatcher and the Covert. The Plotwatcher Pro can be set at the following intervals:

1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 seconds
1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes

For a fair comparison, if the Covert is set at a 5 min interval then the Plotwatcher Pro would be set at a 5 min interval. However, I would never use 5 and 15 minutes intervals because they would do little to nothing for me. I have deer that pass through the two areas I'm watching at short, medium and long distances and they rarely stay in frame for more than a couple of minutes.

With a 5 sec interval a 32GB SDHC card will hold about 3 weeks of images with the Plotwatcher Pro. I check mine about every 6 weeks, so I use a 10 sec interval.

The video files are 1280x720 HD video. I do not know what the image resolutions is. I believe the unit compresses them into a video file. Regardless, a 32GB SDHC card will hold about 6 weeks of video at a 10 sec interval.

Here is a demo of the Plotwatcher software tool. If you use short intervals like 5 sec or 10 sec you will have thousands of images each day. Without a software viewing tool like the one Plotwatcher provides, you are pretty much hosed unless you have a lot of free time to flip through over 4000 images a day.

GameFinder Software with MotionSearch

Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro Review

As noted in the above review, battery life with the Plotwatcher Pro absolutely crushes all other time lapse options available today.

 

[TheLBLman]

As noted in the above review, battery life with the Plotwatcher Pro absolutely crushes all other time lapse options available today.

That's all good and well.

Just that I'm not having a particular problem with battery life on the cams I'm using in time-lapse mode.

Kinda like someone's Ford Focus hatchback absolutely crushing the gas mileage of a Ford F-350 truck, when the looming issue is which one will pull that trailer hauling the bulldozer. Neither better battery life nor better gas mileage is an issue if neither the cam nor the car can do the job.

The primary job I need a time-lapse cam to perform is provide higher-megapixel images on critters beyond the triggering range of traditional trail cams. Just like a Ford Focus is not suitable for pulling that bulldozer on a trailer, neither is a 1.3 mp cam suitable for obtaining detailed pictures of anything beyond 50 feet, at least in my opinion and my experience.

No matter how you slice it & dice it, the Plotwatcher Pro's still a 1.3 mp cam?

 

[TheLBLman]

Wes, for comparison purposes you have to assume the same picture interval for both the Plotwatcher and the Covert. The Plotwatcher Pro can be set at the following intervals:

1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 seconds
1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes

Just for comparison purposes
The Covert Black 60 (in time-lapse mode) can be set at the following intervals:

5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 seconds (5-second intervals)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and on to 60 minutes (in 1-minute intervals).
Image quality can be set at 3mp, 5mp, 8mp, or 12mp.