Spring trying to spring

The Gardepro T5CF #14 really is just a scout camera. It rarely gives me a great image but it tells me what is going on. I had no use for the closup feature during the winter, so it sat in a box until three days ago when I set it out in the rock garden. I don't put a trail camera near the feeder hoping to get hundreds of images of magpies and crows, but that's what I have to wade through to find whatever else shows up. And right now, nothing else is showing up. What I really want to see is the flickers, and this evening I put out the little birdbath hoping to attract them. I have to move the camera, which takes a few minutes because I broke my cheap tripod and right now it is mounted on a metal rod using a fence post adapter. As usual, the Gardepro is the only camera I have on which I do not use the info strip because it is rather large.

I got absolutely nothing on Browning #5, which is back on backyard shed duty after getting to spend most of the past year in the woods. As much deer poop as there is in the yard, you would think a few deer would have wandered through in the past three days.

Every time we think winter is over, we get reminded we are still in Montana. The latest round of snow is almost gone in the foothills, but the peaks are still in winter. I flew both drones today, trying out the three follow modes on the Mavic 3 Pro. It is sort of cool to have the drone following you around like a flying dog, but it's not a feature I would use in my usual shoots, which are houses that just sit there. The Mini 4K does not have this feature. While I was up there, I tried various panorama modes with both drones. They do an adequate job, but the images both drones use for panoramas are JPGs, not RAW. I've been a RAW snob since 2002, so this image of Mt. Maurice is three Mavic processed RAW images stitched together in Photoshop.

Big cat

I had this brand new Reconyx Hyperfire 4K waiting to be deployed and the weather was decent today, so I made the trek out to the woods. This camera (designated as #19) seems to have the capability of doing stills and video at the same time, so I set it for that. Reconyx are not prone to false triggers so I hope the 32Mb memory card is adequate, but it shouldn't take as long to get back out as the six months it took this time. I now have five cameras out there, Reconyx #2 in its traditional location by the (falling) bridge, Reconyx #7 moved to the same tree at the midpoint as Browning #15, the new Reconyx #19 at the hotspot formerly occupied by #7, and Browning #11 replacing Browning #5 on the post monitoring the trail heading down to the road. There are no images posted from #5 this time. There was one blurry coyote sequence and lots of distant squirrel pictures before the camera apparently got twisted by a hit from falling snow on Jan. 8 and spent the next three months taking closeups of tree branches. But I still think it is a good location, and I tried to lock down #11 as tightly as possible to keep it from getting jostled.

Has it really been six months since I checked the cameras in the woods? I should have gone around New Years, but I procrastinated and eventually the snow accumulation made it impossible. Anyway, I'm burying the lede, which is this huge mountain lion that came by Nov. 26. (Seeing this made me realize that I forgot to carry bear spray on my hike today.)

A month later, a much smaller bobcat followed the same path.

There were lots of coyote images, most of them at night. There was this one during the day of a coyote trudging along when the snow was deep in early March. The nighttime images are among the first I've gotten with my newest Browning #15. I have to say I'm not overly impressed with nighttime images from it. The detail is very blocky, probably oversharpened, similar to what the Gardepro #14 does. Compare that with the lion images from the Reconyx, which are grainy but not blocky/oversharpened. In my opinion, the dedicated cameras for nighttime images which are in the newer Brownings #11 and #15 are not effective because they are combined with excessive in-camera processing that can't be bypassed. I prefer the Reconyx with its single camera and a lighter touch.

There was one motion-blurred bear image, and lots of evidence of moose but no great photographs. One problem is the perfect camera height for a coyote or a deer is much too low for a moose.

My home cameras are now three ancients (Primos #4, Browning #5, and the famous Melted Browning #6) and the closeup Guardpro #14. My first inclination is to put #5 on the shed and #14 at the birdbath. I also want to do some remote triggering at the bird houses with the new Canon R5 Mark II (#18) and the equally new 100mm macro lens. Tomorrow might be good for that before the weather deteriorates later in the day.

New camera who dis?

The new Reconyx Hyperfire 4K has been going through its trials at the bird box the past few days. I saw a bluebird fly by for the first time this year so I figured it was time to check it. There was a bluebird on Saturday, and plenty of magpies and crows to give the camera a workout.

First of all, the 8mp resolution is the best I've had in a trail camera. As everyone knows, all the companies except Reconyx LIE about their resolution. A 5mb image upsized to 32mb is not a 32mb image. Someone should sue Browning and the others for misleading advertising. The resolution of the Reconyx is better than my two newer Browning cameras, which I believe are 5mp sensors.

These images were taken in full sunlight, into the sun. The camera reports shutter speeds between 1/5000 and 1/800 at ISO 100. The detail in the shadowed areas is noisy (bluebird) or completely blown out (crow). The harsh light isn't the usual condition where I'm going to put this camera, so we'll see how it does there. There were no nighttime images so I don't know how the flash performs.

The second image of the bluebird is too close and probably slightly out of focus but the others are OK. The magpie in flight may be the sharpest trailcam image I've ever gotten. The focus on this Reconyx camera can be changed if its intended use is closeup, but that is a factory modification, not a menu selection.

So there are some things I am happy about (resolution, sharpness at medium distance) and some things I'm not (noise or loss of detail in shadows). Unless we have a blizzard in the next few days (which is not predicted), I will try to get this camera out in the woods sometime next week.

I also checked Browning #11, which has been on shed duty. The snowdrifts are still deep enough that we are not getting deer in the yard. I got 2,000 images of me going in and out of the shed and not much else. But I'm generally satisfied with that camera also. It is reasonably sharp. What I really want to see is the newer but similar Browning #15, which has been out in the woods for quite a while now and I still haven't posted any images from it.

I don't know if I want to use the new R5 on motion sensor very much, but I do want to try it with the 100mm macro lens I got for it. I wonder if some of the automatic focusing modes that detect an animal's eye will work. That would be fantastic. Even if I have to use preset focus, R5 images should be 100 times better than those from the new Reconyx and 1,000 times better than all the non-Reconyx.

Going Yard

Not only have I been unable to get to my cameras in the national forest because of the snow, I have been unable to get to my back fence to see what has hopped through the yard. I think my last check of Melted Browning #6 was in late December. Yesterday I swapped out #6 for Browning #11, which I rescued from a snowdrift a few weeks ago.

The story of January is the ancient tale of the fox and the hare. Actually these images are six days apart, but I'm not letting it interfere with the storyline.

Earlier in the month when the show was quite a bit lower, this snow-capped deer wandered into frame. After the snow got about three feet high where the deer is standing, they weren't around any more. They seem to prefer town where the streets are plowed and it is easier to get around.

At last count, I have had 10 trail cameras and still have eight of them. Today I received another one, which will be designated as Reconyx #19, my third Reconyx. (I also have assigned numbers to other devices besides trail cameras; that's why the numbering doesn't line up.) This camera brand is more expensive than others, but there are several things to like about them. First, they are based in Wisconsin just north of the city where I was born, and they actually service their products. When Reconyx #2 was damaged in the 2017 fire that also damaged Melted Browning #6 and destroyed Moultrie #3, I was able to get it serviced by the factory. I didn't bother to try to find service for the Browning. Second, Reconyx does not lie about their camera resolution as EVERY OTHER manufacturer does. My first two Reconyx were 3Mp. This one, named the Hyperfire 4K Professional, uses an 8Mp Sony chip. Good luck trying to find out what the other manufacturers use for chips.

I am hoping that the latest generation of Reconyx cameras is the Great Leap Forward. If you compare the specs for my first Reconyx bought in 2011, my second one bought in 2018, and cameras available just last year, there wasn't that much difference. This new one appears to have some other interesting features besides higher resolution, including customizable maximum night ISO (400-6400) and minimum shutter speed (1/30-1/960). I set ISO 1600 and shutter speed 1/60.

Since I still may not be able to get to my cameras in the woods for a couple more weeks, my plan is to deploy the new camera at the bluebird box. We have seen bluebirds here at the end of March before, so they might be around. After that, it will go out in the woods with the other two Reconyx and my newest Browning, #15. Browning #11 probably will remain on shed duty, and the close focus Gardepro T5CF #14 will come out of winter hibernation and get the bluebird box or the birdbath. Then I can finally retire Brownings #5 and #6, and the generally awful Primos #4. I want to do some remote or motion triggering with my new Canon R5, but that's a whole nother topic.