Question for Game Camera Guru's

[ApexerER]

I purchased my first Game camera a couple of weeks ago. It is a Moultrie D333. I put it out a week ago Sunday about 30 yds from my tree stand. I was at the property yesterday and switched cards. I had 1833 pictures on the card. Roughly 1800 of the pictures were of nothing. I had a few pictures of a fox, some raccoons and a small fawn and mother. Nothing great but still cool to see. Is it normal to get 1800 pictures of nothing? Is that caused by the wind? Is there something I can do to eliminate some of the pictures of nothing? I don't have any trail camera experience. It does have a pretty slow trigger speed of 1.5 seconds so I am sure I missed some shots but not 1800. It was almost like it was on timelapse but I am sure it wasn't. Any suggestions? Is this what you guys run into with your trail camera's? At the rate the camera was taking pictures I would need the biggest SD card I could purchase to leave it out there for a month...

 

Thanks

[t_barb]

My experience is that you never want to point the camera in the direction of the sun.  The light form the sun will trigger the camera.  You also want to ensure that there are no branches or tall weeds in the line of sight of the camera as the wind will trigger as well.

[rotorooter23]

This isn't the first time I have heard of the new Moultries doing this. Sounds like the settings are too High in sensitivity or I know there is a Plot Watcher setting where it takes a picture every X number of minutes. I would check both of those out first. 

Edited September 15, 2014 by rotorooter23

[phade]

The D333 while a Moultrie, isn't one of the more popular cams. And by popular, I mean tested en masse by the general public. Troubleshooting game cams is somewhat of a community effort in that users with new cams tinker and find out what works and then spreads the word about that "fix."

 

The two major things I would look at are the sensitivity and the plotscan/plotwatcher/time lapse mode. I know you said you checked the latter, so what setting is the sensitivity at? If that is set to normal or low, and you are positive that the time lapse is off, then that leads into some detective work.

 

So, look at your pics, did the cam start taking pics as soon as you left and pretty much up until you arrived? If yes, and the time lapse is off, I would consider that cam a "runaway" cam, meaning it is triggering nonstop. In that case I would return/warranty the cam. You could also look at the vegetation at the camera set - is there alot of blowing or moving branches, grass, corn, etc.? That could be a factor, too. But, 1,800 of the 1,833 being blanks, then that concerns me.

 

If you don't want to return it, I would research a way to get the camera to default settings. I'm not familiar with the D333 but sometimes there is a default setting in the menu/user interface, or there may be a "reset" button you have to depress. If you can't find it easily, I'd research that online. I'd get the cam to reset/default, put in new batteries and a clean working card and then program the camera to your desired settings and test it in your yard overnight for a day or two. You might be able to figure the cause then.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions, I am more than happy to offer advice as I can.

Edited September 15, 2014 by phade

[gfdeputy2]

Moultrie had issues with the D-333's if you bought it new I would contact Moultrie's customer Service. They have pretty good CS & will most likely take care of you if it is an issue with the Camera

but like T_barb said do not face towrad sun & away from branches that are in the trigger range

I have D-444 & D55Ir's & no issues & what Phade said

 

Edited September 15, 2014 by gfdeputy2

[phade]

Moultrie had issues with the D-333's if you bought it new I would contact Moultrie's customer Service. They have pretty good CS & will most likely take care of you if it is an issue with the Camera

but like T_barb said do not face towrad sun & away from branches that are in the trigger range

I have D-444 & D55Ir's & no issues

 

A quick check online and it looks like runaways are somewhat common for the D333....I'd return it locally if possible. If not, warranty via Moultrie, but you'll lose a few weeks, which is when we all want to be using our cams anyway.

[gfdeputy2]

That is what I saw. 

Moultrie is pretty quick I had an old camera I bought used (can't remember the model)

they ended up giving me a D55IR in exchange no charge & had it in a week or less

probably wouldn't hurt to even give them a call to see what they would do for him

[ApexerER]

Thanks for the replies. I put the camera in a different place yesterday to see if anything changes. I am positive it wasn't on time lapse. It basically took pictures from me walking away to me walking back up to it almost non stop. Very few night pics, tons and tons of day pics. While it was in the sun somewhat it wasn't in the direct sunlight. I am not sure how much that matters. I am thinking it might be the wind. (it was in a pretty brushy weedy area) The only setting I changed from default was I set it to take two pic in a sequence. I figured if one was blurry the second on might be more clear so the 1800+ pictures would have been cut in half if not on that setting. In reading the manual and scrolling through the menu I didn't notice a setting for sensitivity. Now that you have mentioned it that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You would think there would be a sensitivity setting.  I wish I turned the two sequential pictures off while I was at the camera but I didn't. I just pulled the card and put another one in. I probably won't be back to the camera until the beginning of bow so it will be interesting to see how it goes these next two weeks.....

 

[phade]

Thanks for the replies. I put the camera in a different place yesterday to see if anything changes. I am positive it wasn't on time lapse. It basically took pictures from me walking away to me walking back up to it almost non stop. Very few night pics, tons and tons of day pics. While it was in the sun somewhat it wasn't in the direct sunlight. I am not sure how much that matters. I am thinking it might be the wind. (it was in a pretty brushy weedy area) The only setting I changed from default was I set it to take two pic in a sequence. I figured if one was blurry the second on might be more clear so the 1800+ pictures would have been cut in half if not on that setting. In reading the manual and scrolling through the menu I didn't notice a setting for sensitivity. Now that you have mentioned it that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You would think there would be a sensitivity setting.  I wish I turned the two sequential pictures off while I was at the camera but I didn't. I just pulled the card and put another one in. I probably won't be back to the camera until the beginning of bow so it will be interesting to see how it goes these next two weeks.....

 

My bet is it'll need to go back. I'd personally go retrieve and get an RA# from Moultrie and send it in.

[thphm]

You want to point the cam. North or West, Cut anything that moves in front of it as tall grass, Young trees and brush, thef will all trigger the cam. when the wind blows.

[Bow Addict]

Make sure you don't have the camera set on the time lapse setting instead of auto.I've done that before.

[Kot2B]

With Phade's experience with trail cams I would put weight on his advice.

[Curmudgeon]

I've used a lot of Moultrie's purchased in lots at discount for research. Some of them are in the field for 4 months a year. The blowing weeds is a common problem. If that is ruled out, it's probably defective. We have had a lot of failures and always keep extra cameras on hand. The newer models seem to be better. I had a handful of new D-444s in the field last year with no failures.

 

Moultrie's tech people may put you through a drill - which almost never helps - but they are pretty good at customer service.

 

If you go through a lot of batteries, check out http://www.all-battery.com/

[chiefbkt]

If you know how to post pics on here upload a few of them so we can actually see what is going on.  With that said, I think Phade pretty much hit the nail on the head though.  You should be able to adjust the PIR on it so the sensitivity isn't too high.  

[ApexerER]

I don't have any pictures to post. The pics are on the card that is in the camera in the middle of the woods. I won't retrieve it until next weekend. I went to pull the card last sunday and the card was defective and it didn't take a single pic. The only other card I had was the one I kept a few pictures on. I deleted all the pics off nothing anyway....The camera is in a new location with less weeds and I did a better job of clearing small branches etc away from the camera. Hoping for better results.....