Campark T300 / TC02 Trail Camera - Full In-Depth Review

[@andrewmulholland6669]

Thanks so much for putting this together. Your ability to convey technical information to the layman, without becoming patronising, is impressive. I bought this camera on the strength of your review and I'm very pleased with it. Apart from the family cats, we have so far filmed a beech marten (like a pine marten) with our TC02. We also have lots of boar, deer etc here, (Italy) so the adventure has only just begun...Thanks again, Andrew.

[@paultreviews]

Hi Andrew, I am really pleased my video was useful to you and that you’ve bought this great little trail camera. Congratulations on already getting the first footage of the wildlife - and domestic cats - in your area and I’m sure plenty more subjects will walk in front of your lens. I really appreciate you taking the time to write your comment and am so glad I put a lot of effort into the video to make it as comprehensive as possible.

[@andrewmulholland6669]

Keep up the good work Paul! Andrew@@paultreviews

[@paultreviews]

Thank you 👍

[@pegleg1az]

Great in-depth tutorial for setting the camera.

[@paultreviews]

Thank you - I hope it was useful to you.

[@anneholohan8455]

Thanks so much!

[@paultreviews]

You’re welcome. 👍

[@MostynDuVal]

Can you turn off the front LED's? i.e. so there is no indication the camera is visible

[@paultreviews]

This camera is a ‘low glow’ camera. No, it’s not possible to turn off the LEDs. It needs the LEDs to record night photo/video. If you don’t want them to come on then set the camera to not activate during hours of darkness. If you wish the camera to take nighttime photos/videos, but you don’t want the LEDs to be visible - then you need a ‘no glow’ camera. I have reviewed the TC21 which is ‘no glow’. Campark TC21 Solar Trail Camera - Full In-Depth Review kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2LFpXxsq9pmiZo

[@MostynDuVal]

Does the timelapse record until you stop it? And can you auto-start based on a time you define?

[@paultreviews]

a) Yes. b) No, it won't stop and start.

[@LillyMiss2]

Hi, thks for the review ! I haven't quite figured out the difference between the T300/TC02 and the T180/TC08 ?!

[@paultreviews]

Neither have I 😃 The body is slightly different. The software and spec is identical.

[@MostynDuVal]

Does the solar panel charge the AA batteries?

[@paultreviews]

No, the solar panel only charges the fixed internal battery. If the internal battery runs down to very low - then the camera uses the AA batteries until the solar panel charges up the internal one to a point that it can take over supplying the power again.

[@marcofossa5741]

Dear Paul, thanks a lot for the Review, plenty of useful information. I would just need a confirmation, about the fact that the camera is able to take pictures at max 1/30s shutter speed.. To me this is a slow shutter, not able to take still pictures of fast moving animals, like the wolves I am triggering with my Bolyguards (default setting is 1/100s) or Brownings... Can you confirm that to me? Best regards from Italy, Marco

[@paultreviews]

Hi Marco, Glad you found the review useful. Yes, I can confirm that the fastest shutter speed is 1/30 second. All the Campark cameras I’ve tested are the same at 1/30. I agree that is too slow for fast moving animals - however to be honest I wonder if the trail cameras will trigger in time anyway if it is running across the field of view? I suppose if there are a number of animals and the ‘lead’ animal triggers so the others are well in the frame. I must say I don’t have much experience of this as I mostly shoot video. Cheers, Paul

[@marcofossa5741]

@@paultreviews Dear Paul, faster than lighting... ! thanks for confirmation.. useful for me.. I have some 10 camera traps, most of them aligned with the direction of the trail the animals are walking/running along.. trigger response time is also a problem, you right.. but sometimes animals (the pack ones typically) are in group of two or more.. I have deers of various kind, wild boars, smaller mammals and, every 10 days or so, my beloved wolves.. who are typically too fast for the Bolyguard 2060 shutter working at 1/100s.. and the good photos, are even better than videos.. thanks ! Keep on Reviewing !

[@paultreviews]

Thank you for your information- you have a fantastic array of animals! I am very envious. 👍

[@SmokyMountainBlessed]

I got 2 of the TC07 based on your review and another review, I like the solar but notice it still uses the batteries

[@paultreviews]

Hi Joy, I have put in batteries on the TC07 but it hasn’t used them at all - it should only use them if/when the internal battery gets down to 10% - I find the solar panel keeps the internal battery topped up - except when it’s raining the England!

[@Shotsofwildlife]

Does this trigger catch small birds such as wren's, blue tits etc?

[@paultreviews]

Yes it does. Obviously the closer the animal is - the easier it ‘sees’ it. It has also recorded mice running round and my tame robin whenever it passes. I have found this camera is one of the best I’ve used.

[@Shotsofwildlife]

@@paultreviews great thanks.

[@paultreviews]

I just want to add that the audio isn’t what I would consider good.

[@Shotsofwildlife]

@@paultreviews I've seen some videos on here and to me the audio seems decent for me. But won't know for sure until i try.

[@paultreviews]

Bird song and chirping does come out well and much better than other noises.

[@黃士珉-x9f]

Hi,I want to time lapse photography，but I set up record and 30sec put the camera in my garden one month,today I take out my sd card to watch,but just only record one days,which setting should I change

[@paultreviews]

Good Morning, sorry to hear you had a problem with the settings for a timelapse. Let's see if I can help. These are the important settings; Mode - photo Timelapse - on Set interval Loop recording - off Monitoring Period: decide what time you want your timelapse to start and stop. If you want it to run all the time then set monitoring period to off Image size I would recommend 8 or 12 Mp Picture No - 1 Shutter speed 1/30 Then turn camera to ON Perhaps you could first test your timelapse for a few minutes at 30 seconds interval and see if it has taken any pictures. Once it has worked you can then format your memory card and set your timelapse out in the garden. When shooting a timelapse you need to decide how long you want the final video to be. If you have an interval of 30 seconds and have it running for one month then the number of pictures will be 86,400 and your timelapse video will be 48 minutes long. So the best thing is to have a shorter period of time - maybe 5 hours or have a much longer interval. I would aim for a 20 second video at 30 frames per second. That would need 600 pictures. 600 pictures at an interval of 30 seconds would take 300 minutes or 5 hours. Note that the camera will take the pictures but then you have to make the timelapse video in a software - there are free software that will accomplish this. I hope my explanation was helpful - it is worth pursuing as fantastic results can be obtained. This is a timelapse video I did with a 25 second interval over about 5 hours: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXylaIForpmBZ9U

[@anneholohan8455]

Thank you so much for this video. It helped me so much!

[@paultreviews]

I am pleased - thank you for letting me know 👍

[@MostynDuVal]

Does the record feature do a continuous record until you stop it?

[@paultreviews]

No, you tell it how long you want each video to be.

[@franmansfield-clark7992]

thank you found this very helpful

[@paultreviews]

You are very welcome 👍

[@oldmanslickville1918]

Disregard, ejected the SD card and reinserted, working as advertised.Using ur GREAT video I selected the same options and downloaded & installed the WILDLIFE CAM APP. From the APP i can manually take pictures & create a video. If I walk in front of the camera, wave etc, go back to the APP, no video or pictures. Any words of wisdom

[@paultreviews]

Is the slider all the way over to get the countdown and ‘activate’ the camera or is it in ‘setup’ mode?

[@oldmanslickville1918]

@@paultreviews it is all the way to the right, sitting on the ON position.

[@paultreviews]

I know you'll have done all this but these are the things I'd double check: battery charged up, the settings OK - 'monitoring time' is turned to off, SD card of sufficient speed (slow cards can't record 4K), the card has been formatted in the camera. If all that is OK then I'd reset the camera by poking the end of a paperclip into the little reset hole.

[@deerohdeer8000]

Excellent review!! Ya great camera 🎥 & make campark !!! 👍

[@paultreviews]

Thank you - I appreciate your comment.

[@f13dfx]

Hi Paul, nice video as usual. Maybe this would be more appropriate for my use instead of the TC22. Wanted to ask you if the IR LEDs on this camera are visible to the human eye at night? If they are visible, is there a way to turn them OFF and do color all day & night without using the IR LEDs? As mentioned on your TC22 review, I do have ample street lighting to accommodate this.

[@paultreviews]

Hi, glad you liked the video. There are two 'types' of trail camera - the ones that use 840nm IR LEDS and the ones that use 940nm. Most use 840 'Low glow' IR. These emit a low red light glow when they are triggered. This is faintish but clearly visible to the human eye. The 940 are 'No glow' with no visible light to the human eye - or to most/all animals I believe. The problem is that the 840nm have much better night quality video and photos. The 940nm are OK but I find the night videos to look blurred compared to the 840nm. If you check my video on the TC21 you'll see what I mean - it's a 'no glow' camera - compare that to the night shots on the T300 and TC22 which are both 'low glow' and have superb night quality. They all the have excellent daytime quality. I really like the T300 and use it a lot. To answer your actual question: You can't turn off the LEDs. Some of these cameras advertise a kind of low light 'Starlight' facility where they claim the camera shoots colour in lower light situations than other 'non starlight' cameras. This could possibly mean that in your low light situation the camera will use the daytime lens and not turn on the LEDs. I haven't been able to verify this 'low light in colour' facility. It's probably 50% true/50% marketing but I have no evidence either way. None of the cameras will shoot colour at night - it is possible your street lights will be enough light for them to shoot in colour mode without them turning on the LEDs - but I actually doubt it.

[@Davenwolf]

Have you discovered what senor is used in the t300?

[@paultreviews]

Unfortunately I haven’t - I have asked but received a generic reply. Having said that the T300 is one of my favourite cameras and performs brilliantly with also having my preferred form factor.

[@oldmanslickville1918]

Great VIDEO, thank u. Have a question, will the app run on an iPad?

[@paultreviews]

That’s an interesting question. I’ve just tried it with my iPad and T300 camera and it does work.

[@oldmanslickville1918]

Using the WILDLIFE APP on my iPad (thanks to u), I haven’t been able to get pinch-to-zoom to work on the APP. Any words of wisdom?

[@paultreviews]

I've not tried pinching to zoom - maybe that's not a feature? My camera is out in the woods at the moment so can't check.

[@oldmanslickville1918]

@@paultreviews using Wildlife Cam Ver 1.0.2 after a few olives & testing pitch-to-zoom works on video, but not pictures.

[@paultreviews]

That’s interesting - I always use my phone - never thought of getting the iPad out.

[@colinlow1167]

Nicely composed & useful review

[@paultreviews]

Thank you.

[@gjones7547]

Thanks for the informative video on this trail cam. Well, you convinced me to go out and get one, we have a number of wild animals and birds in our garden and my wife is always saying. "What could that bird be?" So now she will know! I wonder if Campark could update their software for photo and video delay time to two seconds? Thanks again. 👍

[@paultreviews]

You’ll love it - it’s amazing what you’ll video. T300 is a great choice, I use mine a lot. I would love a shorter delay but I actually think it’s not possible due to the videos having to be written to the card. I get round it by increasing the length of the video so it doesn’t shut off too quickly - I have it at 40 seconds now - sometimes 60 secs.

[@BryWorYT]

The minimum interval on my T100 is 10 sec also - I'm sure it's same on all of their models. In addition to writing the video to card, maybe it needs that 10 secs to re-set the motion activation circuitry. Bear in mind also that using the record function in the 'live view' WiFi phone app it's possible to record clips of longer duration that the video length (max 3 mins) setting in the camera menu. Excellent feature - best of both worlds. It would nice if the app auto-connected to the camera Wifi directly i.e. without having to leave the app and go into the phone WifI settings to manually select the camera SSID - still it works well and is not prone to disconnection when kept within range.

[@paultreviews]

@BryWorYT. Thank you for those insights and tips. I know what you mean by having to go to the phone’s wifi to select the camera. I have noticed on the TC21 & 22 which uses a different app (Wildlife Cam app) it does self select - fortunately!

[@BryWorYT]

@@paultreviews That's good. Indicates they listen to their customers.