I use to walk into a sporting goods store and instantly become overwhelmed with the amount of choices of trail cameras. Infrared flash, trigger speeds, megapixels, and detection ranges vary from one camera to the next. Then I would see the amount prices of trail cameras fluctuate from $60 all the way up to $400. Did the price of the camera represent the quality of it, and was the the more expensive trail cameras worth the extra money?
When purchasing anything in today’s consumer market, it pays to be a more informed consumer. What I found more often than not, is higher priced trail cameras will have more features, higher native resolution, and faster recording speeds, but not always does the price of the camera indicate the quality of the camera. The amount of money you spend on a camera should depend on how you plan to use the trail camera, and what features will benefit your needs.
Why Some Trail Cameras Are More Expensive Than Others
Comparing Cameras
One of the things that I like to point out is the direct difference between two cameras in very different price points. In this example I am going to use two Browning trail cameras, the 2018 Command Ops Pro and the 2018 Dark Ops Pro XD. This will give you an idea of how two cameras manufactured by the same company, on the same 2018 product line, have two distinct price points.
Command Ops Pro vs Dark Ops Pro XD
| Command Ops Pro | Dark Ops Pro XD | |
| Price | $79.99 | $219.99 |
| Trigger Speed | .5 seconds | .15 seconds |
| Flash | Infrared LED | Invisible Night Infrared |
| Detection Range | 70 ‘ | 80′ |
| Flash Range | 70′ | 80′ |
| Video | 720p @ 30 FPS | 1080p @ 60 FPS |
| Photo Burst | 4 multi shot | 8 Multi shot |
| Max SD Card | 32 GB | 512 GB |
After looking at the comparable specs list, you might think that obviously the Dark Ops Pro XD is built slightly better in every category, but wonder if that can justify the difference of nearly three times the retail price. What you are unable to see from this comparative list however is all of the features that the Dark Ops Pro XD has, that the Command Ops Pro does not.
Dark Ops Pro XD Extra Features
- Dual Camera Lens– This is a new technology that allows the trail camera to essentially use one lens designed for day time photos and one lens designed for night time photos. This gives the camera the ability to take night time photos and use a shorter depth of field, and by doing so being able to increase the amount of light going to the image sensor, giving the camera the ability to use a faster shutter speed to catch moving objects at night, and keep a properly exposed photo.
- 1.5″ Color View Screen- This color view screen allows you to check back photos without having to remove the SD card and plug it into a computer or other SD card reader.
- Adjustable Flash – This is a feature that you will only find in higher priced cameras. It gives you the ability to adjust the intensity of the flash. This comes in handy when you are setting your camera in open timber or on the edge of a field, where there is not backdrop to keep, or reflect the light back into the area. In these cases a stronger light is needed to create a better exposed picture.
- Smart IR Video-This is another new technology that allows your camera to take video as long as there is a heat and motion detected. While most cameras have their video set to a specified time, for example 30 seconds, the smart IR video will record as long as there is an animal in front of the camera, never leaving you to wonder about what you missed when the the camera stops recording.
- Adjustable Tree Mounting Bracket-This is simply a steel bracket that is mounted to the back of the camera, that allows you to adjust the angle of the camera without having to place sticks behind it in order to get the right angle. Not exactly a game changer in the technology side of things, but is truly a nice feature that fills a need.
- 60 FPS– I know that in the comparison tables you can see that the Dark Ops Pro XD has a 1080p video that records at 60 frames per second. I just wanted to clarify how important the frames per second really was. If you were to look at a video with 30 fps it would essentially be like for every second of recording time there were 30 still pictures stitched together to form a video. Now imagine if that number doubled to 60 still frames per second. there would be an incredible amount of visual difference with how smooth the playback would be. That is the same with this video recording, virtually seamless.
Lets face it, comparing a Dark Ops Pro XD to a Command Ops Pro is like comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy Malibu. Both will undoubtedly take pictures, but the technology that goes into them are not comparable. You will see this difference in quality and construction across the board when comparing different price points among all manufactures.
The Firmware And Other Back End Components
Aside from what you see advertised from trail camera companies, there is even more technology and planning happening on the back end of the camera. The software, firmware, light meter systems, and exposure tables all play a significant role in how a trail camera operates. All of these back end components are intellectual property of the manufacturer, and specifics of the written codes are not released to the public.
Understanding the basics of how a trail camera operates though, will give you a good understanding on the detail that is involved in the functions of the programming.
When the passive infrared sensor (PIR) is activated by heat and movement, the trail camera reads the available light from the light meter system. That light reading is passed on to the software, where inside there is a list of exposure tables. The exposure tables are written code, that is predetermined if the amount of light that is available is “x”, it will change the components of the camera’s shutter speed and ISO to perform “y”.
Once the exposure tables determines what the settings for the camera should be, it will enact the firmware that controls all of the hardware on the trail camera. So, in a night time photo, it will drop down the IR filter lens, and enact the artificial light (flash). All of this is done in the amount of time it takes to sneeze. This is what is known as the trigger speed.
Are you confused? Don’t be, because in the end, to the user, all of this built in technology isn’t important in order to use the trail camera. What you should take out of all of this though, is that the more expensive the camera is, the higher quality these different components tend to be. The light meter might be more sensitive, the flash might be more powerful, and the exposure tables might be more extensively detailed, all in the name of creating a better more clear exposure for your picture.
How You Plan To Use Them
Taking a look at the features and the back end of trail cameras has given us an understanding of why trail cameras have different price points. It gives us more options, better options, and more details within software. But are all of these features and upgrades worth the extra money? It depend solely on how you plan to use the camera.
The reason that trail camera manufacturers produce many different lines of cameras isn’t just for the purpose of selling more cameras, although lets face it, that’s why they are in business. They have different lines, because there are certainly different applications in which the consumer will use these cameras.
My Cheap Camera Experiment
A few years back I purchased a Wildgame Innovations Blade X8, on clearance for less than $40. From a camera in that price point, I figured there wouldn’t be much quality to the camera. The buttons on the menu were built clunky, the setup was confusing, and the power button was placed on the outside of the camera, not in the housing, creating a lot of instances where the camera would get bumped and randomly turn on. It was poorly designed and somewhat frustrating to use.
I placed the camera over a small water hole on the back end of a piece of public land, and to my surprise, that $40 camera took excellent photos. While the night time photos were very dark, and the detection range was short, when the camera took photos I was impressed.
Later that year I moved that same camera to a pinch point where a cattail marsh funneled down into a creek bottom. Every picture from that new location, with the exact same camera I was impressed with over the water hole, came back blurry.
What I found was that cheaper priced cameras have the ability to take good quality pictures, but are designed for situations where movement is minimal and predictable, such as watering holes, scrapes, and mineral sites. The exposure tables on the back end of that camera was less involved, because it is designed for less movement. The less movement that is predicted, the slower the shutter speed can be. The slower the shutter speed, the more light that is allowed into the image sensor, the less artificial light that is needed.
When I moved that camera to the pinch point, where deer were using it for a travel corridor, the shutter speed was still slow, and a slow shutter speed, creates more motion blur.
When You Need Higher Quality Cameras
While you can use a cheaper camera around areas where movement is limited, for areas where deer move through an area, you will need to upgrade the quality of camera in order to produce a quality photo.
Areas such as pinch points, saddles, and creek crossing will create a lot of movement in the photos. Having a quality camera, with more detailed exposure tables, stronger night flash capabilities and faster trigger speeds, will all be important to capturing crisp clear photos of animals on the move.
How Much You Should Spend On A Trial Camera
I have never been someone who will tell you how you should spend your hard working money. If you want to buy a $50 trail camera, that is your money and your choice. I just warn that I often get flooded with emails about people wanting to know the best cheap trail cameras on the market. At the same time I get flooded with questions about how to get their camera to take better pictures that are not grainy and blurry.
So, I will tell you how you how I spend my money on cameras, and you can make your own choices from there.
Low Movement Environments
As we have talked about previously, areas such as watering holes, scrapes, and mineral sites, where there is very little movement, you can get away with having a cheaper trail camera.
For these types of trail camera sets, I wont waste money on top quality cameras. I typically look to spend somewhere in the $100-$150 range. You could get away with a cheaper camera, however I only recommend cameras that I personally would use.
My go to cameras for these sets are the Exodus Trek and the Moultrie Micro 32i. Both utilize black flash technology, and have quality pictures in those low movement areas. If you are like me, and enjoy setting your camera to video mode around scrapes, the Trek has a better quality video than the Micro 32i, but will cost you a little more as well.
High Movement Environments
If you were to take a photo of a sporting event, like your child’s soccer game, with the camera on your cell phone you will easily see how most of the photos will come out blurry. In order to take action shots, or photos of movement you are going to need a more sophisticated camera. The same will be for trail cameras.
Areas such as pinch points, field edges and saddles, is going to need a more sophisticated camera as well. There are many different options and features that will come with personal choices, and how you prefer to use your cameras. You can find really good quality cameras for environments with high amounts of movement in the $180-$200 range.
I personally only use cameras with black flash technology, and I often look for cameras with higher quality video recording, which are personal choices. The two cameras I lean on the most for these types of setups are the Browning Dark Ops Pro XD and the Exodus Lift II. Both are exceptional cameras, and both will run you around $220. Personally the extra $20 is worth it to get the type of features that I want want from a camera.
Are More Expensive Trail Cameras Worth The Price
The reason that some trail cameras are more expensive than others is simply the quality in which they are designed and built. To get exceptional quality photos and videos, you will need to pay a little more. This doesn’t mean that the more expensive a camera is the better quality it is. The price of a camera, is determined by a host of business influences, such as manufacturing techniques, advertising costs, overhead, and retail markup.
Know and understand exactly what you want from a camera and the features you will need in order to achieve that. Predetermine what type of environment you will want to use your camera in, and then do your research. Pour over specs, and features and look into sample photos and videos. If you spend your time being an informed consumer, you will find that having a more expensive camera that has everything you want, will be worth the price.