Comparing trail cameras and thermal cameras
Last month Lawrence Smith gave a trail camera overview during the Towards Pest Free Waitaha Workshop in Living Springs. You can see his presentation at the link above. He discussed the value of using cameras and compared 3 options:
| Feature |
Brownings Dark Ops Pro
|
WiseEye DC2
|
DOC AI Cam
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Standard Trail Camera | Cellular AI Trail Cam | AI-enabled thermal camera |
| Cellular Connectivity | No | Yes, excellent (multi-carrier) | Yes |
| Ease of Operation | Very Easy | Very Easy | Good |
| Photo and Video Quality | Excellent | Excellent | Thermal imagery only |
| Detection Accuracy | Good, smaller animals trickier | Good, smaller animals trickier | Excellent |
| Species Recognition | No | Not currently in NZ, manual tagging required | AI automated pest classification |
| Real-time alerts | No | Yes (but not species specific in NZ) | Yes (NZ species specific) |
| Web based Portal or App | No | Both | Web based |
| Reporting | No | Limited (esp in NZ context) | Good, improving over time |
| Battery life | 6 x AA Batteries, Excellent battery life | Rechargeable Li-ion, removable, Moderate battery life | Rechargeable Li-ion, external, bulky. Moderate battery life (depends on mode) |
| Solar Enabled | No | Yes, additional purchase | Yes, additional purchase |
| Camera Cost ex GST | $389 | 578.26 | 1499, inc battery |
| Subscription cost | No | From $15/month | Data and processing: $159/year Mobile: $25/month |
| Best Use | Basic monitoring, quality imagery | Remote monitoring, real timer alerts (with limitations) | Remote monitoring, predator classification & benchmarking, real-time alerts |
| Major drawbacks | Have to collect and process SD cards, including manual classification | No automated classification of NZ pests, larger images and video stored on camera (you must download them). Limited reporting | More costly and bulkier (battery) than other options. Battery life can be shorter, depending on mode. |
| Summary | Cheap, easy to use and good quality images. Perfect for community groups to observe animal behaviour | Well priced, easy to use, Internet connected, an app and online portal to view images. A step up from a Browning | Designed specifically for NZ pests, most accurate detection, automated pest classifications, good online reporting |
This slide showing the detection zones in trail cameras explains why they miss so many small animals, (or large ones at a distance).
The drawback of the bulky batteries has mainly been addressed by the much smaller solar battery pack. The extra cost is weighed against the labour cost of collecting and analysing the recordings. For example the Hamilton City Council decided they would save costs by buying the DOC AI Cam.
So the main reason for using trail cameras is to see the high resolution images. This is particularly useful if you want to identify individual animals. They are also cheaper than thermal, particularly if you have free labour to do the collection and analysis of the recordings. The DOC AI Cam also comes with an audio bird monitor.