Does anybody know how to check trail cams with a smart phone?

[woodman]

I am placing trail cams deep in the woods far from my vehicle while I am hunting. I really don't want to hike my trail cam cards out to see what is on them and then hike back in to hunt just to see if anything has been through the area. Normally I just rotate cards, but I don't know what is on my cards until I get back to my laptop.

[Bob Williams1]

I bring my digital camera with me and plug the card in, in the field and check pictures.
It would be a fairly new technology and probably pretty spendy if you had a trail cam you could check from your phone.  If it has a micro card you may need a conversion device

[whacker1]

cell phone scouting cameras will send you an e-mail each time they take a picture, but require cell phone service.  cost is considerably more than you standard trail camera.

[woodman]

I bring my digital camera with me and plug the card in, in the field and check pictures.
It would be a fairly new technology and probably pretty spendy if you had a trail cam you could check from your phone.  If it has a micro card you may need a conversion device

Bob, thanks for your suggestions. My phone has a micro card and my trail camera cards are larger than my camera card, but I will see if I can figure something out.

[woodman]

cell phone scouting cameras will send you an e-mail each time they take a picture, but require cell phone service.  cost is considerably more than you standard trail camera.

whacker1 that sounds very interesting and would be pretty neat. I will see if I can learn a little bit about that online, thanks.

[whacker1]

I bring my digital camera with me and plug the card in, in the field and check pictures.
It would be a fairly new technology and probably pretty spendy if you had a trail cam you could check from your phone.  If it has a micro card you may need a conversion device

Bob, thanks for your suggestions. My phone has a micro card and my trail camera cards are larger than my camera card, but I will see if I can figure something out.

You can buy a card reader and some smart phones will allow you to view the trail camera photos by using the card reader.  I have not tried it, but know that it is possible.  I have a card reader, but have not tried it.  It is basically an adpater that allows you to plug the trail camera sd card into your phone with whatever connecting cord hooks to the smart phone.  I am guessing that this will take some trial and error to figure out how to do that.  most card readers are $15-45.

[whacker1]

cell phone scouting cameras will send you an e-mail each time they take a picture, but require cell phone service.  cost is considerably more than you standard trail camera.

whacker1 that sounds very interesting and would be pretty neat. I will see if I can learn a little bit about that online, thanks.

Let me know what you find.  I have been looking at them from $249 - $500.  Trying to determine the difference between the high end and low end.  but no one has weighed in when I have asked previous questions.  Keep in mind that you have to have cell phone service wherever you are placing the camera.  this eliminates certain places I would like to use them.

[Russ McDonald]

The sell micro sd cards, like what you use in you smart phone with adapters for converting it into a regular sd card.  Get one of these and use it in your camera then when you go out a check them just pop the sd card out them slip the micro out of the adapter then pop it in your phone.  View away. 
http://www.frys.com/product/7241633?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[MtnMuley]

cell phone scouting cameras will send you an e-mail each time they take a picture, but require cell phone service.  cost is considerably more than you standard trail camera.

whacker1 that sounds very interesting and would be pretty neat. I will see if I can learn a little bit about that online, thanks.

Let me know what you find.  I have been looking at them from $249 - $500.  Trying to determine the difference between the high end and low end.  but no one has weighed in when I have asked previous questions.  Keep in mind that you have to have cell phone service wherever you are placing the camera.  this eliminates certain places I would like to use them.

Gotta be AT&T service last time I checked into them, and it was spendy to add another line, like around a $70 monthly fee.

[bobcat]

I think Russ has the right answer. I'd like to do the same thing, but I have an iPhone, which does not use any kind of memory card.

I tried a card reader that plugs into my phone, but it doesn't work. Seems it only works with the iPad.

So, sometimes I will carry the iPad with me when I check my cameras. Or sometimes I just carry the laptop.

[jackelope]

If you've got a digital camera that uses an sd card and a trail cam that uses an sd card, that is the  best, most cost effective route. Otherwise if your phone is compatible with an sd card reader, you can go that route. The iphone has no such card reader available as Bobcat said. Only the ipad. You could always carry a card reader and an ipad.

[smdave]

This is what I would try, under $20.00 with shipping.

http://www.tinydeal.com/card-reader-pxyxeh-p-63342.html

[Austrian Hunter]

You can check your SD card on your Iphone. 

[Austrian Hunter]

You beat me to it smdave 

[smdave]

You beat me to it smdave 

Good now they are both up there one for Iphone, and one for Android.

[bobcat]

A digital camera is actually what I use most of the time for viewing pictures in the field. It's just much lighter and easier to carry. The problem is the viewing screen is very small, and even if that wasn't an issue, it's painfully slow in scrolling through pictures. It's not enjoyable when I've got hundreds, or thousands, of pictures to look at. Yes I could wait until I get home, but often it's advantageous to see all the pictures before leaving that location.

[notellumcreek]

There are SD cards with a plug in for a smaller memory card, the one that is small enough to fit in your phone. 8 dollars for a 2gb at walgreens

[billdo5]

A digital camera is actually what I use most of the time for viewing pictures in the field. It's just much lighter and easier to carry. The problem is the viewing screen is very small, and even if that wasn't an issue, it's painfully slow in scrolling through pictures. It's not enjoyable when I've got hundreds, or thousands, of pictures to look at. Yes I could wait until I get home, but often it's advantageous to see all the pictures before leaving that location.

I keep extra SD cards on me at all time so i can just swap them out without having to worry about missing a pic of something...

[turkeyfeather]

A digital camera is actually what I use most of the time for viewing pictures in the field. It's just much lighter and easier to carry. The problem is the viewing screen is very small, and even if that wasn't an issue, it's painfully slow in scrolling through pictures. It's not enjoyable when I've got hundreds, or thousands, of pictures to look at. Yes I could wait until I get home, but often it's advantageous to see all the pictures before leaving that location.

That is the reason I use my tablet. Bigger pics and they load faster.

[bobcat]

A digital camera is actually what I use most of the time for viewing pictures in the field. It's just much lighter and easier to carry. The problem is the viewing screen is very small, and even if that wasn't an issue, it's painfully slow in scrolling through pictures. It's not enjoyable when I've got hundreds, or thousands, of pictures to look at. Yes I could wait until I get home, but often it's advantageous to see all the pictures before leaving that location.

I keep extra SD cards on me at all time so i can just swap them out without having to worry about missing a pic of something...

Swapping cards is my standard practice as well. But I still like to look at the pictures while I am there. There may be something I see that gives me a reason to change my setup. It could be that a person walked by and saw my camera. In that case I would take the camera down, since I don't know if that person might decide to come back later and steal the camera. That's just one example.

I also like having the ability of viewing pictures when setting up a camera in a particular location for the first time. This allows me to adjust the camera until I get the position just the way I want it.

[Jonathan_S]

 
sometimes you need to know what's been coming in to a setup and you might end up moving the camera if you don't like what you see.

I actually just bring my Apple laptop to the woods with me.  Sure it adds a few pounds but I get a huge viewing screen and get to download the pictures to my Mac so I'll never lose them. 

[vandeman17]

sometimes you need to know what's been coming in to a setup and you might end up moving the camera if you don't like what you see.

I actually just bring my Apple laptop to the woods with me.  Sure it adds a few pounds but I get a huge viewing screen and get to download the pictures to my Mac so I'll never lose them.

I use our apple laptop as well. It adds some weight to the pack but makes it easier. The nice part is that I usually check my cams after a few weeks to a month so it can be brutal to go through 3000 pictures on a digital camera.

[Ridgerunner]

Getting updates sent to your phone sounds pretty sweet too.

[Jonathan_S]

The nice part is that I usually check my cams after a few weeks to a month so it can be brutal to go through 3000 pictures on a digital camera.

Getting updates sent to your phone sounds pretty sweet too.

That'd be a lot of emails and data 

[Pygmy]

Found a great solution for android phones.   Using galaxy note 2.  Bought a USB3.0 SD/MicroSD card reader from  Best Buy and a micro USB to USB adapter cable (Internet purchase) .   Both are about $10 ea.  Connect to phone,  insert game cam card and walla. No need to swap memory card or haul a laptop.

[Pygmy]

From the file screen you can look at the individual photos or watch the videos and then select the files you want to keep and copy them to your phones sdcard.  I'm running Android version 4.1.2  I think a few older versions may also support the external usb drive as this version does but I don't know exactly which ones.  An internet search for your phone should help.

[woodman]

Thanks for the input guys. I have already bought and installed into the trail cam what russ_mcdonald wrote. Pygmy, what you researched there looks pretty neat and I want to get a setup like that to play with, thanks.

[Pygmy]

Woodman, ping me next time you're checking your cams and I'll show you how it works 

[coachcw]

My leopuld casmera camre with a reader that down loads from the cameras card , you just plug in under the camera and check the card , If the cameras plugged into a reader it wont take a pictureaswell . Also it has a preview sceen so you can check your field of view live . It was $249.00 for a camera and reader . you can buy extra cameras for about $100.00 once you format the reader it formats new cameras and sync's the time and dates . they will also take videos .

[woodman]

The sell micro sd cards, like what you use in you smart phone with adapters for converting it into a regular sd card.  Get one of these and use it in your camera then when you go out a check them just pop the sd card out them slip the micro out of the adapter then pop it in your phone.  View away. 
http://www.frys.com/product/7241633?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

russ I tried your suggestion and it worked great, thank you!

[Russ McDonald]

No problem glad it worked for you. 

[huntnnw]

I use a Ipad with SD card reader..if you have a Iphone you can buy the same reader..cheap

[bobcat]

I use a Ipad with SD card reader..if you have a Iphone you can buy the same reader..cheap

I have the card reader that works in the iPad. It doesn't work in my iPhone.

[huntnnw]

my question is if you have a laptop..why dont you toss it in you backpack? I take mine in always,,much rather see pics on a bigger screen

[woodman]

my question is if you have a laptop..why dont you toss it in you backpack? I take mine in always,,much rather see pics on a bigger screen

I hunt pretty hard and am not going to carry a laptop around with me all day. it probably would get ruined.

[MP123]

Getting updates sent to your phone sounds pretty sweet too.

Moultrie has system that uploads to a website over cell phone technology to you can view remotely:
http://www.moultriefeeders.com/catalog.aspx?catid=game spy game management system

I can't imagine how expensive that gets to be if you have an annoying branch that blows in the breeze and sets off thousands of pictures. 

[huntnnw]

thats what a case is for...I dont mind any weight as my pack weighs no where near what it does packing in..My vid cam gear that I pack on every hunt is not in a case and twice as valuable than my laptop