Blurriness using a trail cam: Our family all chipped in and got one our brothers a decent trail camera for his property in Northern Vermont. He has gotten some pretty cool pictures of...

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

Our family all chipped in and got one our brothers a decent trail camera for his property in Northern Vermont. He has gotten some pretty cool pictures of all sorts of critters.

I noticed though that many of the night shots using flash are very blurry. I have downloaded one of these pictures. I don't understand why since this is with a flash, the motion isn't frozen. Even with a long shutter speed it should be frozen with trails (in one direction or the other depending on with you use rear or front curtain sync). This picture almost looks like the flash is very long like in Auto FP mode. I know very little about trail cams but I told my brother I would look into it for him. I can get the model name if needed.

Coyote

(Download)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Revet wrote:

I know very little about trail cams...

You certainly have enough light, but it looks like the camera used a slow shutter speed. Hopefully, there are settings and adjustments on the camera.

When the new D5 is released, strap one to a tree with a motion sensor. I bet the shots will be a bit better. :D

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Revet wrote:

Our family all chipped in and got one our brothers... (show quote)

Here the EXIF...Now you know why it's blurry.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

if there was enough ambient light the camera could still see the animal even a little without the flash, blurring would occur. Perhaps it was a full moon or there was another light source. either way at 2.8 and a slow shutter blurring is completely understandable.

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

Capture48 wrote:

Here the EXIF...Now you know why it's blurry.

Thanks, I didn't know I could find that data. It helps but I still don't get the eyes. The eyes are telling me that the flash is on the entire time during this guy/gal's movement. When I shoot with a flash with a longer shutter speed, I get a pretty crisp shot with trails. This is not trails, The eyes are equally illuminated during the entire shot.

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

Capture48 wrote:

if there was enough ambient light the camera could still see the animal even a little without the flash, blurring would occur. Perhaps it was a full moon or there was another light source. either way at 2.8 and a slow shutter blurring is completely understandable.

If you look at the edges of the photo, you can see there is very little ambient light. In addition, there are other photos where this is more evident. The majority of the light is from the flash.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Revet wrote:

If you look at the edges of the photo, you can see there is very little ambient light. In addition, there are other photos where this is more evident. The majority of the light is from the flash.

There is plenty of light, if you look at the exposure value, its -2. Meaning the flash is providing only a little light. Also at $100 price point I would not say this is the best camera. Although the aperture does go to 2.8. I'm assuming the camera uses some auto mode, which will never be the best way to shoot, but I understand it may be all that is available.

At 2.8 and 1/20 the shutter is open wide enough and long enough to take in some ambient light.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

Revet wrote:

Our family all chipped in and got one our brothers... (show quote)

Posted in error.

Bill_de Loc: US

Was the camera secure or could this be motion caused by a breeze?

--

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Bill_de wrote:

Was the camera secure or could this be motion caused by a breeze?

--

It could slo be snow that might cause the blur. There is a white streak on the animals eyes this might cause the camera to focus incorrectly. Although that looks like a botched edit to me. If you zoom into the photo you can see what looks like blowing snow above the ground in front of the trees. In any case it looks windy, which might also move the camera.

Revet Loc: Fairview Park, Ohio

Capture48 wrote:

There is plenty of light, if you look at the exposure value, its -2. Meaning the flash is providing only a little light. Also at $100 price point I would not say this is the best camera. Although the aperture does go to 2.8. I'm assuming the camera uses some auto mode, which will never be the best way to shoot, but I understand it may be all that is available.

At 2.8 and 1/20 the shutter is open wide enough and long enough to take in some ambient light.

My point of confusion was the tapetum reflection of this coyote. A speedlite has a duration of around 1/20,000 of a second. The coyotes eyes are fully lite for what looks to be about 2 inches of movement. 2 inches of motion at 1/20,000 of a second is 3,3333.33 feet per second that this guy is moving!!! I believe there is far more motion blur in the photo than out of focus blurring because the tapetum width is about right for a dilated coyote eye (should be dilated at night running down a trail). In addition, there is no way ambient light is going to cause the tapetum to reflect like that.

I think I found the answer here. Looking more into flash duration, they can be as long as 1/200 of a second on some cameras. That length of flash could easily give an eye tapetum trail such as in this picture.

Dan Copeland Loc: Hamilton Ontario Canada

Is the flash a true strobe or is it LED. If LED that is why the blur the LEDS are on for the duration of the shutter and is not a true high speed flash. This could be why the eyes a moving.

Infrared LED flash..!!!!!

Just checked it out here is the info

INCLUDES FREE VALUE: $11.99
Fenix Flashlight E01 LED Flashlight (Black)
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

10MP Resolution
CMOS Image Sensor/PIR Motion Sensor
0.67-Sec Motion Trigger Speed
55' Detect Range, Zero Blur Technology (Not TRUE)
Infrared LED Flash with 100' Range
Timelapse and Timelapse Plus Modes
HD 720p Video with Audio
Records to SDHC Cards up to 32GB
Runs on External Battery Pack or 6 AAs
6' Nylon Strap, Time Lapse Viewer CD-ROM

zigipha Loc: north nj

a real flash would not leave such long trails

so the light source must have been long duration - a long time flash or the ambient light

re the eyes - maybe some other source picked up on it (moon)?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Revet wrote:

Our family all chipped in and got one our brothers... (show quote)

It is most likely IR flash. Along with that, the shutter speed is 1/20 sec. That would cause the effects you see here, blurred figure, eye reflections, etc.
--Bob

Joecosentino Loc: Whitesboro, New York

Capture48 wrote:

Here the EXIF...Now you know why it's blurry.

Why the -2 Ev. Can you set that to zero